ITV is threatening legal action over plans to include catch-up viewing under the TV Licence fee.
It’s understood that chief executive Adam Crozier has written to ministers to express his concern over the plans that would impact on all broadcasters with public service obligations; the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
The BBC has long argued that viewing to the catch up element of the iPlayer should require a licence – at present a licence is only required for live viewing.
The proposal has long been lobbied for by the BBC that is looking to hold onto income from households that claim to have moved away from traditional TV delivery. It has also been hit by a £700 million bill to fund free TV licences for the over 75s.
Sky News reported that ITV has gone so far as to engage a QC to mount a legal challenge against the plans.
At issue is that while the PSBs are included in the Green Paper discussion, commercial services including Netflix and Amazon Prime video are not.
