Time to privatise the BBC

The new chairman of the BBC should be a radical who will ditch the news and focus on international markets, says Matthew Lynn.

Jodie Whittaker as Dr Who © BBC / Ben Blackall
Megabrands such as Doctor Who could earn more
(Image credit: © BBC / Ben Blackall)

Maybe it will be Charles Moore, once the editor of The Daily Telegraph. Perhaps it will be Nicky Morgan, the former culture secretary. Or possibly it will be someone else entirely. We don’t yet know who will be the next chairman of the BBC. But in fact the name doesn’t matter so much as the mission. And that should be to save one of the UK’s great institutions – by converting it into a private subscription service.

Okay, that might sound difficult. And admittedly when you already have 26 million licence fee payers handing over £157.50 a year for your service, it is hard to give that up. But in truth it shouldn’t be impossible. The BBC could be a great private business if it wanted to be.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.