Latest news with #streamingServices
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
BBC director pushes for higher licence fee after ‘grinding cuts'
The BBC director general has called for a higher licence fee after taking aim at a decade of 'grinding' cuts. Tim Davie said he was open to reform of the fee and its enforcement, but made it clear that he wanted more money from the public to enable investment. He said: 'I do want universal funding and I want proper investment and not begrudging, grinding cuts to the BBC, which you've had in the last 10 years, which have just not helped.' The call for investment amounts to a demand for a higher licence fee, which makes up two thirds of the BBC's income. The BBC received around £3.7bn from the fee last year, which currently stands at £174.50. It will rise in line with inflation until the end of the charter period in 2027. However, bosses have warned that previous cuts have left a black hole in the corporation's finances that have forced the BBC to wield the axe on programming and jobs in a scramble to cut £700m in costs. The public service broadcaster said that its income from the licence fee dropped by 30pc in real terms between 2010 and 2020 after a series of freezes and cuts to the levy. Mr Davie's comments come as the BBC is locked in discussions with ministers over the future of the licence fee. The upcoming settlement is viewed as pivotal in deciding the broadcaster's future as it struggles to compete with new US streaming services and faces calls for the licence fee to be scrapped. The BBC's declining income has been compounded by a fall in viewer numbers as audiences increasingly ditch the broadcaster in favour of rivals such as Netflix and Disney. The number of UK households paying the licence fee dropped by roughly half a million last year, with younger viewers in particular turning their backs on the broadcaster. The crisis has fuelled calls for the licence fee to be replaced with a different system such as a subscription service. Speaking at the Deloitte and Enders Media and Telecoms conference in London, Mr Davie said his major concern was a 'mainstream weaponisation where people don't care' about the BBC. He said the broadcaster would be wrong to 'assume' that the public cared about its future and had to prove its worth to the country. He defended the BBC by saying it was not just a vehicle for programming but also 'venture capital for the UK', pointing to its ability to drive investment in cities such as Birmingham and Manchester. Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, has previously branded the licence fee as 'unenforceable' and ruled out funding the BBC through general taxation. Speaking in London on Tuesday, Ms Nandy said the Government wanted to 'support a BBC that is empowered to continue to deliver a vital public service, funded in a sustainable way'.
Phone Arena
11-05-2025
- Phone Arena
List reveals which subscription-based apps subscribers want to stop paying for
Some people end up signing up for online services for their mobile devices that they forget about and never use. That's why there are services that go through your list of subscrioptions and help you unsubscribe from them. Others turn to Google Search and seek information on how to cancel a subscription. Some are so fed up with an app that they not only want to cancel their subscription, they also want it deleted from their device as though it never existed in the first place. Sparrow, a service that helps you file claims with courts related to class-action lawsuits, put together a list of the apps that subscribers are the most desperate to unsubscribe from. The list was created by searching keyword data for words and phrases like "unsubscribe," "delete," "cancel," and "cancel subscription." Looking at the monthly total search volume for these words, a list was created that shows which subscription apps users want to get rid of ASAP. Topping the list with 578,000 searches related to cancellation each month is Amazon Prime. The latter had 45% more cancellation-related searches than the runner-up, Disney Plus. The streaming service from the House of Mouse generates close to 398,000 cancellation-related searches each month. The list looks like this: Amazon Prime (578K total monthly cancellation searches)-this app is the subject of 447,000 searches for "Cancel" each month. Disney Plus (397.7K)-this app has the highest monthly search for "cancel subscription" with an average of 79,000. Hulu (149.7K)-received 113,000 searches each month from subscribers trying to find out how to cancel the service. Snapchat (143.6K)-with 143,000 searches for delete each month, subscribers want to do more than just stop paying for the app. Paramount (139.4K)-in a competitive streaming industry, this app generates 106,000 monthly searches for "cancel." Audible (136.9K)-is the only audio-related subscription service in the top ten. Peacock (106.7K)-the video streamer receives 27,000 "cancel subscription" searches on average, each month. TikTok (101.7K)-with 101,000 monthly searches for "delete," this is another app that those leaving the service want removed from their device. Spotify (95.1K)-brings in a balance of "cancel" and "delete" search requests monthly. Netflix (93.1K)-with fewer "cancel subscription" searches than the competition, Netflix is in a good place among video streamers. Of course, some of these apps are among the most installed. After all, you can't be among the apps getting the most search requests related to cancelling service unless you have a large number of subscribers in the first place.
