More than a third of Britons feel BBC is ‘too woke’ as half of viewers say licence fee is ‘bad value for money’
- Almost half complained that the BBC is not in tune with people outside London
- John Whittingdale had said licence fee could be replaced by subscription charge
- Survey for Defund The BBC reveals widespread dissatisfaction with licence fee
- Poll found that 51 per cent of British adults think the broadcaster is bad value
The BBC licence fee came under fresh attack last night as a poll revealed that most people think it is now ‘bad value for money’.
Over a third of Britons also feel the Corporation is ‘too woke’, with almost half complaining that it is not in tune with people outside London.
Only last week, Media Minister John Whittingdale said the licence fee could be replaced by a subscription charge once everyone had access to high-speed broadband.
The latest survey, for the campaign group Defund The BBC, reveals widespread dissatisfaction with the licence fee, which will rise next month from £157.50 to £159.
The BBC licence fee came under fresh attack last night as a poll revealed that most people think it is now ‘bad value for money’ (file photo of the BBC’s headquarters in London)
The poll, conducted by Savanta ComRes, found that 51 per cent of British adults think the national broadcaster is bad value.
A third of people even describe it as ‘very bad value’, with only one in five respondents saying it is ‘good value’ and just eight per cent giving it a ‘very good’ rating.
To make matters worse for the national broadcaster, the survey found that 34 per cent of Britons believe the BBC focuses too much on ‘woke’ issues.
The poll found that the BBC was not in tune with people outside the capital, as almost half of Britons (47 per cent) believe it represents the views of those in London more than it reflects opinion in the rest of the country.
Men and older adults were more likely than women and younger people to believe that ‘woke’ issues and Londoners’ views were over-represented.
In light of recent rows over stripping older pensioners of their right to a free licence, more than two thirds of the public insist non-payment of the fee should not be a criminal offence for the over-75s.
The latest survey, for the campaign group Defund The BBC, reveals widespread dissatisfaction with the licence fee, which will rise next month from £157.50 to £159 (file photo)
And 38 per cent of adults recommend decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee generally.
Rebecca Ryan, campaign director of Defund The BBC, said the ‘damning poll’ showed how out of touch the BBC was ‘with the vast majority of people in the UK’.
She said the Government must decriminalise non-payment of the fee and then ‘change the law that means you have to pay the licence fee in order to watch or record non-BBC live TV’.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘The BBC is the most used media brand in the country, with 91 per cent of adults coming to us each week.
‘We are committed to serving all parts of the UK with brilliant content our audiences love.’