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<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'>It was never estabilshed as "The BBC Licence Fee".<BR>
As I recall, it was put in place as the mandatory "Licence to Operate a Radio (later Television) Receiver" under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949.<BR>
The offence was always "to operate" and the defence was that "operating" had to be proved.<BR>
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Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2014 11:33:26 +0000<BR>From: p.lewis@londonmet.ac.uk<BR>To: marilyn@northernvisions.org<BR>CC: cma-l@commedia.org.uk<BR>Subject: Re: [cma-l] The Guardian 14/02/14 - Ofcom boss: 'BBC licence fee should be shared with other broadcasters'<BR><BR>
<DIV dir=ltr>Over three decades ago, COMCOM, predecessor of the CRA/CMA, wrote in its <I>Comments on the Annan Report</I>, "the licence fee revenue should ... cease to be the exclusive property of the BBC. It is not their's by divine right" (quoted in my chapter in Janey Gordon's <I>Community Radio in the Twenty-First Century</I>). Of course, at the time, this was regarded as outrageous nonsense.
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<DIV>Peter Lewis</DIV></DIV>
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<DIV class=ecxgmail_quote>On 16 February 2014 11:24, Marilyn Hyndman <SPAN dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:marilyn@northernvisions.org" target=_blank>marilyn@northernvisions.org</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
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<DIV style="WORD-WRAP: break-word">Press statement from the sector?
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<DIV>On 14 Feb 2014, at 18:38, CMA-L wrote:</DIV><BR></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV>The <A title="More from the Guardian on BBC" href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/bbc" target=_blank>BBC</A> licence fee should be shared with other broadcasters to promote "competition, dynamism and innovation", according to the outgoing chair of media regulator <A title="More from the Guardian on Ofcom" href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/ofcom" target=_blank>Ofcom</A>.
Colette Bowe said she thought some <A title="More from the Guardian on BBC licence fee" href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/bbc-licence-fee" target=_blank>BBC licence fee</A> funding should be "contestable", with other media companies allowed to bid to make public service broadcasting programming.<BR>
"I am an economist. There is a lot to be said for contestable funding on competition grounds ... The counter argument is that once you start stripping away great chunks of funding you weaken the stability [of the BBC]," Bowe said on Thursday night, at a Royal Television Society all party parliamentary group dinner <A title="" href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/dec/17/colette-bowe-confirmed-as-ofcom-chair" target=_blank>marking her departure from Ofcom after five years as chair</A>.<BR>
"I have got sympathy with the idea that some more of the funding currently available for public service broadcasting should be contestable. Because on the whole I am on the side of the people in the sector who believe that what we need is even more competition and dynamism and innovation than we have got."<BR>
Bowe added that examples such as the Labour government's abandoned plan to use licence fee money to fund local news showed that it was "very, very difficult to see a way to make [contestable] work" in practice, but this "doesn't mean there is not a good reason to do it".<BR>
"I think the challenge for the BBC, leaving aside political will to continue with a hypothecated tax, the challenge is going to be enforcing the payment for the licence fee," she said, in the face of technological changes.<BR>
Bowe served as an Ofcom board member for several years before taking over as the media regulator's chair in 2009.<BR>
She is stepping down on 31 March, <A title="" href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/dec/04/dame-patricia-hodgson-favourite-chair-ofcom-bbc" target=_blank>to be replaced by Dame Patricia Hodgson</A>, the former BBC policy director and trustee who is Ofcom deputy chair.<BR></DIV><B>Maggie Brown, Friday 14 February 2014 17.50 GMT<BR><BR></B><A href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/14/ofcom-bbc-licence-fee-shared-other-broadcasters" target=_blank>http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/14/ofcom-bbc-licence-fee-shared-other-broadcasters</A><BR><BR>\\<BR><BR clear=all>
<DIV>Community Media Association<BR>-- <BR><A href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/" target=_blank>http://www.commedia.org.uk/</A><BR><A href="http://twitter.com/community_media" target=_blank>http://twitter.com/community_media</A><BR><A href="https://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation" target=_blank>https://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation</A><BR><BR>Canstream Internet Radio & Video<BR><A href="http://www.canstream.co.uk/" target=_blank>http://www.canstream.co.uk/</A><BR><A href="https://twitter.com/canstream" target=_blank>https://twitter.com/canstream</A></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>_______________________________________________<BR><BR>Reply - <A href="mailto:cma-l@commedia.org.uk" target=_blank>cma-l@commedia.org.uk</A><BR><BR>The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - <A href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/" target=_blank>http://www.commedia.org.uk</A><BR>Twitter: <A href="http://twitter.com/community_media" target=_blank>http://twitter.com/community_media</A><BR><A href="http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation" target=_blank>http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation</A>
<DIV><BR>Canstream Internet Radio & Video: <A href="http://www.canstream.co.uk/" target=_blank>http://www.canstream.co.uk/</A><BR></DIV>_______________________________________________<BR><BR>Mailing list guidelines: <A href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/" target=_blank>http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/</A><BR>_______________________________________________<BR><BR>To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:<BR><A href="http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l" target=_blank>http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l</A></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR>
<DIV><SPAN style="TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium Helvetica; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px">Marilyn Hyndman<BR>Northern Visions/NvTv<BR>23 Donegall Street<BR>Belfast<BR>BT1 2FF<BR><BR>Tel: 028 9024 5495 ext 207<BR>Fax: 028 9032 6608<BR><BR>NvTv <BR>Belfast Community Television<BR><BR><A href="http://northernvisions.org/" target=_blank>http://northernvisions.org/</A><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR></SPAN></DIV><BR></DIV></DIV><BR>_______________________________________________<BR><BR>Reply - <A href="mailto:cma-l@commedia.org.uk">cma-l@commedia.org.uk</A><BR><BR>The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - <A href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/" target=_blank>http://www.commedia.org.uk</A><BR>Twitter: <A href="http://twitter.com/community_media" target=_blank>http://twitter.com/community_media</A><BR><A href="http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation" target=_blank>http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation</A><BR>Canstream Internet Radio & Video: <A href="http://www.canstream.co.uk/" target=_blank>http://www.canstream.co.uk/</A><BR>_______________________________________________<BR><BR>Mailing list guidelines: <A href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/" target=_blank>http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/</A><BR>_______________________________________________<BR><BR>To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:<BR><A href="http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l" target=_blank>http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l</A><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><BR clear=all>
<DIV><BR></DIV>-- <BR>
<DIV dir=ltr>Dr. Peter Lewis<BR>Senior Lecturer in Community Media<BR>Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities<BR>London Metropolitan University<BR>Room BP 1-25<BR>Tower Building<BR>166-220 Holloway Road<BR>London N7 8DB<BR><BR><A href="http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/faculties/faculty-of-social-sciences-and-humanities/people/surnames-k-to-m/peter-lewis/" target=_blank>http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/faculties/faculty-of-social-sciences-and-humanities/people/surnames-k-to-m/peter-lewis/</A><BR></DIV></DIV><PRE>Companies Act 2006 : http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/companyinfo
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