A Case for Abolishing the BBC

Since it’s foundation in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, the British Broadcasting Corporation has been a supposed “pride” of the British nation. As the world’s largest broadcasting corporation, it has been an inspiration and example for other broadcasting companies around the world to follow. Nevertheless, the nature of the BBC is based upon force. In this essay I shall, from a libertarian perspective, make a case for its abolition.

Coercion

At present, in order to fund the BBC, all owners of a television set in the United Kingdom must pay an annual fee to the government. This TV Licence is evidently based upon coercion. The Internet encyclopaedia Wikipedia defines taxation as:

A tax (also known as a "duty") is a charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state.

The Penguin Dictionary of Economics defines taxation as:

A compulsory transfer of money (or occasionally of goods and services) from private individuals, institutions or groups to the government.

By these definitions, the licence fee must logically be classified as a tax. To libertarians, taxation is theft. You and I forcibly donate money in the form of taxation to the state amidst threats of imprisonment and the denial of liberty, which are commonly used to support this instance of force. As a result, the licence fee is also a negative thing because its existence is contrary to the principles of voluntary human association. Of course, a libertarian would favour voluntary and non-mandatory associations as the basis of all human interactions.

Within a libertarian Britain, the BBC would not exist, as its function is inconsistent with protecting rights to the person and property. People should be free to retain the profits of their labour; since maintaining the fruits of one’s labour is a key aspect of the principle of self-ownership. Hence, no coerced tax money would be used to fund the BBC, or any other form of public/state-owned broadcasting, in a libertarian society.

The Market

A common criticism of BBC privatisation is that “low brow” programming will dominate TV schedules, once the BBC was sold off. People often cite the existence and popularity of “Big Brother” on Channel 4 and “I’m a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here” on ITV as examples of such a trend. Well there is a reason why these shows are well liked. This is due to consumer demand.

Free markets function by allocating the Earth’s finite resources on the basis of supply and demand. If a restaurant sold spoiled food, then it may lose business. People wouldn’t want to consume food that made them ill, or threatened their good health. Essentially, the restaurant would not be satisfying customer demand in this sense. Big Brother and I’m a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here are popular because the public like viewing celebrities and are interested in the lives of other people. Therefore, TV companies are simply meeting this demand so they can consistently attain high viewing ratings for their programmes.

The same rationale applies to television programming within a free market. If the demand existed for quality programming, then someone will meet it. In a free market, companies and individuals guided by self-interest would always seek to cater to demand in order to maximise profits. Few people would purchase a good or service if it weren’t tailored to their needs or wants. Even in the UK’s currently over-regulated business environment, companies continually respond to consumer demand. Today, there are numerous car insurance companies that cater only for women. This is because women are often safer drivers than men are and feel they shouldn’t pay high insurance premiums as a result. The Islamic Bank of Great Britain was founded to cater for the Islamic niche market. Since usury (or interest) violates Islamic law this bank was established to provide banking services to the Islamic community that were in accordance with the teachings of Koran.

In a free market, people can voluntarily obtain goods and services, without the existence or presence of force. After all, no one is forced to buy a Ford or Rover car. No one is forced to buy fast food at McDonald’s or Burger King. No one is forced to buy groceries at Tesco or Sainsbury’s. All of these organisations are private free market entities, which exist out of self-interest and responding to consumer demand.