New Report Recommends New TV Licence Fee For Phones And Laptops

A new Oireachtas report released today has recommended that the TV licence fee in Ireland should be replaced by a ‘broadcasting charge’.

The 317-page report states that a ‘non-device dependent public broadcasting charge would be feasible’ meaning that households who aren’t in possession of a television would have to pay for accesssing content on other devices such as smarthphones, tablets and laptops.

A similar system exists in the United Kingdom as well as Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. 

The report adds that in the UK:

“A TV licence is required to (a) watch or record live TV programmes on any channel and/or to (b) download or watch any BBC programmes on iPlayer – live, catch up or on demand (since September 2016).

“This applies to any provider and any device, including a TV, desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone, tablet, games console, digital box or DVD/VHS recorder.”

Currently, the TV licence fee in Ireland stands at €160. You can view the full report called ‘Future Funding of Public Service Broadcasting’ here.

READ NEXT: Is This The Most Expensive Santa Visit In The Entire Country?