64% dub BBC's licence fee a rip-off

Published on Saturday 29 November 2008 21:56

MORE than six in 10 people think the BBC's TV licence fee is a "rip-off", it was revealed last night.

Asked whether the 139.50 licence fee was good value for money, 64% of people chose the answer "No, it's a rip off".

Just 10% of people chose "Yes", while 24% chose "Just about, but they could do a bit more".

The poll of 2,062 adults across the country was carried out by market research company YouGov.

The news came as the controller of BBC1 revealed that multi-million-pound deals for BBC stars are "extremely unlikely" in the future.

Jay Hunt also said the return of Jonathan Ross following his three-month suspension over his role in the "Sachsgate" controversy presented the BBC with a "challenge".

Asked whether the affair was handled properly, 36% chose the answer, "Too little was done", 43% chose, "Harder action should have been taken" and 17% said, "It was blown out of proportion".

Asked to choose two or three shows from a list of seven which they would prefer to watch, more people opted for old favourites The Two Ronnies (49%), Morecambe And Wise (46%) and Michael Parkinson (40%) than Jonathan Ross (26%).

Hunt said she did not see herself agreeing to contracts that would pay presenters salaries like the 6m a year Ross is reputed to earn.

"I would say it's extremely unlikely," she said. "I believe that part of what I am there to do is to be a custodian of value on the channel and I take that very, very seriously."

Ross's salary is among the highest in British TV, with only X Factor's Simon Cowell's golden handcuffs deal with ITV believed to be in a similar region.

Speaking about the planned return of Ross to the channel in January, she said: "The challenge now is how we bring Jonathan back and give him the platform to re-establish that relationship with audiences."

The chat show host was suspended for his role in a BBC Radio 2 broadcast with Russell Brand during which the pair left obscene messages on the phone of Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs.

It later emerged that the BBC had received 38,000 complaints about the now notorious broadcast, after which Brand resigned from his 200,000-a-year radio show.

Yesterday, Melody Sachs, the 75-year-old wife of the actor, told of her distress about the episode, which aired while she was in hospital recovering from a hip replacement operation.

She said: "When I first heard the broadcast, I couldn't believe what I was hearing – the repeated abuse of my husband coming from the mouths of two grown men. It was very, very upsetting and I was incredibly hurt and angry.

"There's no doubt the stress made my recovery much harder, it made me feel weak. I'm not the sort of person who gets down, I'm very upbeat, but I felt depressed to have Andrew treated like this. I was breaking down in tears at night."

Mrs Sachs also reveals that she knew nothing about the career of her 23-year-old grand-daughter, Georgina Baillie, whose relationship with Brand, a former sex addict, was central to the broadcast.

Baillie is a member of girl group, the Satanic Sluts, who perform in scanty underwear.

"There are some things you would rather not know about your grandchildren," she said.

Learning about the Satanic Sluts on TV came as "dreadful shock" to both her and her husband. "Some of the images were obviously disturbing and we'd never heard of the Satanic 'whatevers.'"