This effectively meant that if you watched television without a licence, you committed a crime. Therefore, British people who did not pay the fee were charged with an offence and had to appear in a criminal court, where a conviction was recorded if found guilty and fines or gaol imposed.
It was using criminal law for what should have been a civil debt. A sledgehammer to open a peanut.
The UK government has now abolished the crime of watching television without a licence. This means that the BBC's only redress in recovering unpaid licence fees is through the civil court. The burden of proof in civil proceedings is much lower than criminal matters, but without the backing of a criminal law breach, actions against non-payers become much more problematic.
The BBC's funds will collapse in a short space of time.
This is clearly the intent of the British government. After many years of enduring complaints that the British public were paying money out of their pockets for content they did not watch, or worse vehemently opposed accompanied by an increasingly arrogant dismissal of complaints by the BBC the British Government has finally acted. This is a major issue in Britain, as the left will scream that their propaganda arm disguised as a public broadcaster is being persecuted by the right.
I suspect a number of public broadcasters like our ABC will suddenly start to shake with fear.