Time for Isle of Man (Mannin) to Ditch the BBC Licence Fee

Many Manx people are puzzled why they should pay a licence fee to a foreign (United Kingdom) broadcaster given that the Island is not part of the United Kingdom. The broadcaster in question is the British Broadcasting Corporation. As anyone who watched the coverage of the Scottish referendum campaign last year knows, it might as well be called the English Broadcasting Corporation given what many saw as the bias against Scottish independence it demonstrated at that time.

There is a requirement in the United Kingdom to pay in order to hold television licences to watch and record live TV broadcasts. Income from this licence is primarily used to fund the BBC. Those who do not pay this are liable for prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000. On the Isle of Man this results in foreign money collectors from England stomping around the Island enforcing this ridiculous levy and threatening Manx people with prosecution. It is not clear why the levy of a licence was introduced on the Isle of Man in the first place. In answer to recent enquiries by the Mannin Branch of The Celtic League it seems that as the UK Wireless Telegraphy Acts 1904 to 1926 were introduced long ago and at a different period in the Island’s history it is not possible to determine how the provisions were extended to the Isle of Man.

What we do know is that if the Manx ditched this requirement to pay licence fees the £4 million pounds currently exported to the UK could go into the Manx economy. There would not be a disruption to TV services which would come in via overspill from UK transmitter sites. Many thousands of people on the European Continent and in Ireland receive UK TV services in this way without a thought of paying the UK a levy. It is also the case already that many people in the South and West of the Isle of Man, receive TV services from the Irish Republic without a thought about paying a licence fee to Dublin. Additionally it will not disrupt the availability of Freesat services which carry more channels than the current terrestrial transmitters.

It is clear that the Manx government should inform the United Kingdom that agreements to collect broadcast licence fees on the Isle of Man (Mannin) are to be terminated.