Free to air Ashes cricket, over 75 TV licences & Johnson
Since are both noted cricket fans it was no surprise that both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn tweeted about England’s uplifting victory in the third Ashes Test at Leeds on Sunday. No surprise either that Corbyn was the one that noted, given the interest and heroics on display, that it might be an idea if Test cricket was on free to air TV*
The following day the media were reporting that Johnson had told the BBC that they must fund free TV licences for the over 75s.
This directly contradicts a statement on page 66 of the 2017 Tory Election Manifesto which states that this benefit will be maintained as is. No doubt Johnson didn’t bother to read the Manifesto and doesn’t care if his latest statement makes him look like a hypocrite.
The cost to the BBC of funding the licence would mean cuts in staffing and programming. Johnson knows that but it would of course allow space in the broadcasting market for his hard-right friends although specifically who they are now that Murdoch has sold Sky is less clear.
What is certain is that if Ashes cricket is going to be on free air to TV that means someone has to pay the cost. Whoever that is, Johnson clearly has no intention of it being the Government, hence the lack of reference to it in his tweet. The BBC could show it on BBC4, which doesn’t broadcast in the day or Channel 4 could (as with the recent Cricket World Cup final) but one senses that public service broadcasting and Johnson do not compute.
*this paragraph appears in the Guardian 27th August. The following 4 paragraphs expand on the point in a way that a letter cant (and shouldn’t)
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