Broadcasting bill - TV licence changes are welcome

Communications Minister Eamon Ryan announced a number of changes yesterday involving television licensing that will be incorporated into the forthcoming broadcasting bill.

A television licence could be required for all devices capable of receiving a television signal, such as mobile telephones, but the new bill would empower the minister to exempt certain devices.

The legislation would also provide for a greater distinction between large and small commercial operations. For instance, a B&B with four television sets currently pays the same licence fee as a 100-bedroom hotel. At the same time, a pub with a single set pays the same rate as a large establishment with numerous sets. This is clearly inequitable.

The new legislation would provide for a separate regime for larger establishments, modelled on other European countries. It should be remembered, however, that the cost is ultimately passed on to consumers in the form of a cover charge, or the price of drink.

Civil servants have demonstrated novel ways of coming up with new taxes and the licence fee is in reality a tax. Nobody should be deceived into thinking that only businesses will play the added cost. Such stealth taxes are inevitably passed on and everybody pays.

The Celtic Tiger economy was largely conceived on a regime of lower taxation. Revenue frequently went up when the rate of taxation was lowered. The corporation tax is a classic example of this phenomenon and we should be mindful of slipping back into bad habits.

A novel feature of the new bill will be the updating and modernising of the licence fee. An Post is to develop a system to allow for a licence to be purchased online. This should provide a more cost-effective method of collection. The money is needed to fund relevant home-produced radio and television programmes. The minister is introducing an initiative to speed up the collection of fines and make those fines more relevant to the changes that have occurred since the current level of fines were introduced in 1988.

For a first offence, the maximum fine would be increased from e635 to e1,000, and from e1,270 to e2,000 for a second offence. But at the same time, Mr Ryan plans to provide a reasonable alternative to prosecution. This would involve a substitute for court proceedings by introducing a fixed penalty payment — a kind of on-the-spot fine.

The collection agent would be authorised to issue an offender with a fixed fine of a third of the cost of the licence (ie e53 for a private householder), along with proof of the purchase of a licence within 21 days.

This would be expected to increase compliance and avoid unnecessary court appearances. The feature should be welcomed as a practical means of ready enforcement. Those who want their day in court could always have it, at the risk of the added costs, if they took such a step frivolously.

The minister confidently believes this approach would ensure greater compliance at less cost to the state.