Category Archives: BBC licence fee

‘Know your audience’: BBC 5 Live chief on the station’s staying power

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On 5 Live’s 30th birthday, Heidi Dawson says more of the BBC should be based outside London to reflect the national conversation

More of the BBC needs to be based outside London to reflect the “conversation of the nation” and secure its future, according to the controller of BBC Radio 5 Live.

As the station celebrates its 30th birthday on Thursday, with a series of shows and tributes, Heidi Dawson says 5 Live is well placed to see off the multiple headwinds buffeting its HQ in London, including a further £200m in annual cuts announced by the BBC’s director general this week.

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BBC set to receive below-inflation rise in licence fee

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Imminent announcement likely to signal further cuts to broadcaster’s staffing and programmes

The BBC will receive a below-inflation increase to the licence fee, the culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, has effectively confirmedafter Rishi Sunak said he welcomed cuts made by the corporation to its spending and services.

The £159 annual fee has been frozen for two years, and if it were to increase in line with inflation it would go up by about £15. During an interview round on Monday, Frazer said this was extremely unlikely to happen.

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BBC faces broad backlash over cuts to local radio output

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Exclusive: Fallout includes anger from listeners, potential legal action and concerns from Ofcom

The BBC is facing a backlash from listeners, concerns from the regulator Ofcom and potential legal action over controversial cuts to its local radio output.

Complaints have been made about the corporation’s decision to share more programmes across its 39 local stations and about the axeing of presenters.

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BBC to suspend licence fee for King Charles coronation ceremony

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One-off dispensation for weekend celebrations will allow venues to screen events without a TV licence

The BBC is to suspend the licence fee as part of a one-off dispensation for the king’s coronation weekend.

The move will allow venues to screen the live coronation ceremony coverage on 6 May and the coronation concert on 7 May without needing to buy a TV licence.

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PMQs: Boris Johnson faces Jeremy Corbyn – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs

The SDLP’s Colum Eastwood asks about the involvement of the IRA in the murder of Paul Quinn in 2007. It was claimed Quinn was a criminal, he says. That was a lie, he says.

Johnson says the government will implement the Stormont House agreement so as to provide justice for victims.

The SNP’s Owen Thompson asks when the report into Russian interference in UK elections will be published.

Johnson says it will be published when the intelligence and security committee is reconstituted. He says conspiracy theorists will be disappointed by its conclusions.

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Hostile politicians, cuts and controversy: why the BBC has never been so vulnerable

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After a shocking week for the broadcaster, what are the issues it must tackle to keep its place in the nation’s cultural landscape?

In his eye-catching pitch for his new job as chair of the powerful parliamentary group that monitors the BBC, Julian Knight, MP for Solihull, promised, among other things, to run the culture, media and sport select committee, as an “unofficial ‘Royal Commission’ on the future of the corporation”.

Last Thursday, a victorious Knight swiftly underlined his plan to “ask difficult questions about the BBC’s future funding model”. He also applauded a suggestion from fellow MP James Cartlidge that a more commercial BBC could become “a top export service”. These words sent a renewed January chill down the corridors of New Broadcasting House.

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