Households not holding a TV licence will lose out on 4,000 hour of BBC iPlayer content when payment for the service becomes mandatory on 1 September.
According to Ampere Analysis, the fee currently paid for by around 26 million households.
This 4,000 hours, spanning nearly 6,000 episodes across 1,000 titles, includes around 2,600 hours of catch-up content from the past month, as well as many Olympic events which are not accessible on any of BBC’s linear channels.
Those not paying the licence fee will now face a fine of up to £1,000 for using iPlayer, which, according to Ampere, is used in the average month by more than a third of consumers.
The closure of the loophole is aimed at discouraging cord-cutter households from evading the licence fee, which currently stands at £145.50 per year.
Any additional funds raised will contribute towards the upcoming deficit of £650 million per year when the BBC has to cover the cost of TV licence fees for those aged over 75; currently subsidised by the government.
