Questions & Answers
Q1
Partial Answer
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Context
Following a fire at the Bilsdale mast, many residents in Redcar and Cleveland lost TV reception. Constituents were not given refunds, prompting questions about fairness and expectations of similar services.
The Minister will know that there is growing support for scrapping the licence fee or axing the TV tax, not least in Redcar and Cleveland, where the Bilsdale mast fire left people without TV reception. Does the Minister agree that this is not an acceptable situation and that if the BBC were a satellite, broadband or phone provider, a refund for time without service and, in some cases, even further compensation would have been expected? Given that the BBC is using my constituents' licence fees to pay celebs hundreds of thousands of pounds—
I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting the plight of his constituents after the mast fire in Bilsdale. I have been working very closely with Arqiva to try to restore those services urgently, and I believe 98% of households have now had their Freeview restored, but I believe the BBC has also been issuing refunds. It has got to something like 11,000 refunds now; if my hon. Friend wishes to take this issue up with the BBC, I recommend that he do so.
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Assessment & feedback
Further compensation or changes in policy for refunding TV reception issues
If My Hon. Friend Wishes To Take This Issue Up With The Bbc
Response accuracy