Estate agents threaten TV licence boycott

Posted by James Michael on 8 April 2009 at 12:26
Tags: Advertising, Agencies, BBC, Broadcast, Media Business, Television

Estate agents are threatening to withhold their BBC licence fees in protest against a BBC television programme that encourages people not to use them, the Daily Telegraph reports today.

The BBC One programme ‘Axe the Agent?’ has been criticised for the way that it instructs viewers to buy and sell property and avoid paying agents fees.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Lee Bramzell, chief executive of the property industry website propertyindex.com, said that the programme’s premise and title were “deliberately antagonistic”.

“This is the kind of irresponsible broadcasting one might expect to see on Channel 5 but not from the state broadcaster,” he said.

Bramzell has written a letter of complaint to Mark Thompson, the director-general of the BBC.

But a BBC spokesman told the Daily Telegraph: “The programme has no intention of depriving estate agents of their livelihood and it complies with the BBC’s editorial guidelines. The question mark in the title is deliberate in making this a question and not a statement.

“At the beginning of each episode we also make it clear that not using an agent is a huge step and not to be taken lightly.”

Tags: Advertising, Agencies, BBC, Broadcast, Media Business, Television