The Beeb to charge for web TV?

It seems that the government has turned its attention to the folks who have taken to watching TV on their computer to avoid paying for a TV licence.

Currently, if you watch live simultaneously broadcast programmes on your computer, you need a TV licence.

However, those who watch the Beeb’s iPlayer catch-up TV service aren’t required to stump up the licence fee – although it seems that may be about to change to some extent.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the Andrew Marr Show that times and technology are changing swiftly, but he rejected the idea of a PC based licence fee. He did, however, say that an assessment of the situation was necessary.

Apparently Hunt will be talking to Auntie Beeb about what sort of payment model they could possibly employ for online viewers, with The Daily Mirror mentioning the idea of a pay-per-view scheme.