United Kingdom

[GB] ITC Licence Fees 1998

IRIS 1998-3:1/25

Stefaan Verhulst

PCMLP University of Oxford

The Independent Television Commission (ITC) has announced the licence fee tariffs payable by its licensees in 1998. The Commission has set the total income required to meet its regulatory expenditure (the cost of licensing and regulating commercial television) at GBP 16.65m. This represents an average increase of 6% and is the first time an increase above the rate of inflation has been stipulated. The Commission announced also its intention to undertake a fundamental review of the licence fee structure in 1998 to reflect the impact of digital television. There are currently three categories of licences: Terrestrial licences (category A); satellite television services, licensable programme and commercial additional services licences (category B); and cable and local delivery services licences (category C). The tariffs for categories A and B relate to the licensee's qualifying revenue, whereby licensees pay proportionally more fees as their revenue (from advertising, sponsorship, subscription etc.) increases. The tariff for category B is less due to the 'lesser licensing and regulatory requirements' which apply to this group. The category C fee relates to the number of homes in the licensed area.