ISP’s could be taxed to pay for News

The future funding of how certain public service programmes are paid is being considered by the regulator Ofcom. One of the proposals is a type of tax that will be thrust upon the ISP’s, services and even websites within a couple of years.

However this is just another additional cost that is being levied onto service providers. But these costs will no doubt be passed onto the consumer leading to higher charges for broadband and other services.

Public service television plays an important role in today’s society, and while the BBC is funded through the licence fee, commercial TV is not and as such programming could be at risk of being scrapped in favour of more profitable and attractive television.

Clearly there are other alternatives to a broadband tax, like sharing the licence fee to fund this type of programming. But the money has to come from somewhere and Ofcom is currently looking into alternative financing of which the broadband tax is just one factor.