article_snippet: But last month, peers led by former BBC chairman Lord Grade of Yarmouth blocked any changes to the system until April 2017, warning that ‘dark forces’ were seeking to scrap the licence fee altogether.
article_snippet: Lord Grade’s intervention reflected fears about among BBC executives that removing criminal sanctions would lead to a rise in evasion that could the broadcaster £200million a year in revenue.
article_snippet: Culture minister Tom Brake, a Liberal Democrat, confirmed to the House of Lords yesterday that any change to the licence fee, which generates £3.6billionn a year for the BBC, would be shelved until after the election.
article_snippet: the law is expected this will now happen as part of the renewal of the BBC Charter at the end of 2016, and not be implemented before the current licence fee settlement ends in April 2017.
article_snippet: The honest truth is that if the next government were to proceed too swiftly you would simply see a significant fall in licence fee take-up almost immediately of £200million or £250millon – that’s almost all children’s broadcasting.
article_snippet: ‘cynical, eleventh hour attempt by friends of the BBC’ to stop vulnerable people being pursued by the courts.
article_snippet: But ‘cynical, eleventh hour attempt by friends of the BBC’ to stop vulnerable people being pursued by the courts supported yesterday’s move to accept their timetable, as ‘cynical, eleventh hour attempt by friends of the BBC’ to stop vulnerable people being pursued by the courts said pushing the issue could have put the rest of the Deregulation Bill, which includes important measures about terrorism, at risk.
article_snippet: Horror stories about the losses to BBC, emotive closures of local radio and TV stations.