'BBC’s leaders need to open their minds to new sources of cash' - Saga
Saga UK responds to Labour's campaign to block the Government from forcing the BBC to pay for free TV licences for the over-75s.
Paul Green, director of communications for retirement specialists Saga said:
"Our research shows that the benefit of a free TV licence for those over the age of 75 is hugely valued, in a poll of 10,000 older people, three-quarters of the over 70s were opposed to taking away the free TV licence. It is important that in transferring the responsibility for funding the TV licence, there are also some protections put in place to ensure this benefit is retained for the most vulnerable and lonely in our society. If there are issues surrounding funding then there is a growing sense that the BBC must look wider than the licence fee alone. Saga’s members applaud the absence of adverts interrupting programmes, but 63% of those who supported change thought that sponsorship of programmes should help balance the BBC's books. The BBC’s leaders need to open their minds to new sources of cash and ensure funds raised go back into programming and not into BBC Bureaucracy."
