Crawley MP Henry Smith has joined the call for the scrapping of the TV licence and a review of BBC funding.
Mr Smith, who described the TV licence as a “regressive television tax” was one of around 50 MPs to throw their weight behind backbencher Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen, who appealed to Culture Secretary Sajid Javid to launch the Government review.
Explaining his position, Mr Smith said he felt licence payers were being “discriminated against” due to the free availability of the BBC’s online service, iPlayer.
While supporting a review of spending, he stressed there should be a sustainable funding model in place for the future of the BBC, which would allow it to continue producing world class programmes as well as provide local information, such as BBC Radio Sussex.
Henry said: “The TV Licence fee dates from 1946 and is basically a regressive television tax whether people watch the BBC or not.
“We have seen significant change in the increases in broadband speeds, the advent of the iPlayer and subscription channels such as Netflix in recent years let alone since mid-20th century BBC Charter.
“With nearly 500,000 people accessing BBC services via the iPlayer for free, licence fee payers are being discriminated against to the tune of around £70 million, and that number will increase.
“Therefore the current BBC funding structure is increasingly becoming unsustainable and out of keeping with the modern media environment.
“I believe strongly that the BBC should be planning for a future and we should investigate alternative models that preserve access.”
Henry’s views received support from social media.
Liz Shakira Oke wrote: “Scrap it! We all pay a fee for TV and extras that the BBC can’t offer so the licence fee is no longer fair.”
Andy Clark added: “Totally agree. It’s outdated and should be scrapped.”
Chris Oxlade, Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Crawley, pointed out that public service broadcasting had been the backbone of the UK for many years.
But he added: “With more and more channels on digital and free for view, there is an argument in favour that the licence fee should be looked at and looking at where the money is spent.”