Category: ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½
Date: 12.10.2004
Printable version
81% of the UK population agree that the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ is worth
£121 per year
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Over half the respondents value the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ at twice
the current licence fee
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The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s digital services are highly valued by
audiences in both analogue and digital homes
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10 million households would lose access to the
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ under any proposed subscription-model with a resultant drop in quality
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News, soaps and home-grown comedy and drama are considered the most
important genres
Overwhelming public support for the licence fee emerged
as the key finding of a survey - Measuring the Value of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½
- published by the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ today (Tuesday 12 October 2004).
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Commissioned from Human Capital and GfK Martin Hamblin,
a nationally representative panel of 2,257 people were questioned in
May 2004.
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Following 19 exhaustive pilots this is the most comprehensive
study of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ since the Ehrenberg & Mills study for the London
Business School in 1990.
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As well as the vast majority of people supporting the
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s current licence fee value, on average people think the Corporation
is worth double the current fee level.
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Asked to put a value on the Corporation, respondents
valued the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ at between £18 and £24 per month.
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The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s digital channels were also positively received
by respondents and in particular ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ THREE, CÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and CBeebies.
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The high value that respondents placed on the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s
digital services was linked to both trust and quality even for those
respondents who did not have direct access to the channels.
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In non-digital homes, respondents placed particular
importance on News 24.
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The study also reveals the effect of introducing a subscription-funded
model for the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.
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If the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ was to charge a £13 fee per month,
only 14.8 million households would subscribe, leaving 9.7 million without
access to the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and its services.
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This would not only result in the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ losing over £500m
in revenue with the resultant loss in the quality of the services it
provides, but the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ would not be able to fulfil its core citizenship
roles, including support for democracy, education, culture and social
cohesion.
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As well as the high value attached to the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s services,
respondents also considered high quality programming as vital.
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The highest ranking genres were news, soaps and home-grown
drama, comedy and film.
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