BBC says £10m Sky fees should be dropped


The BBC is lobbying for the estimated £10 million (€11 million) it pays BSkyB for retransmission of its TV and radio channels to be dropped.

The UK public broadcaster pays the pay TV platform operator the amount and says that if that obligation were removed the cash could be used to stave off planned cuts to its digital channels and local radio services. The public broadcaster is making wide-ranging cuts and recently announced 2,000 job losses between now and 2017. Broadcasters are lobbying hard in the UK ahead of a new communications bill, which will be unveiled next year.