Although Jeremy Paxman spent several decades working for the BBC, the presenter took an opportunity at a Royal Television Society talk today to cast doubt over its future.
With the BBC’s charter renewal looming, the former Newsnight presenter said that the TV licence ‘can’t last’:
‘As platforms become interchangeable, as computers and televisions become indistinguishable, a tax on the ownership of a particular piece of technology becomes very, very hard to justify, I would say almost impossible.’
Paxman even went so far as to suggest that the new culture secretary – and BBC enemy number one – John Whittingdale could be ‘terribly good’ for the Beeb. Given that Whittingdale previously described the licence fee as ‘worse than a poll tax’, Mr S doubts Paxman’s former colleagues will share the same sentiment.
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