How many of you bulk at paying your TV licence because the quality of television is poor? When you have to pay to fund shows like ‘My Hero’ on BBC 1, it could really put you off wanting to cough up the money.

However things might be getting worse, as Ofcom (the Broadcasting Regulator for the UK) say that UK residents might soon have to pay a new tax to fund even worse TV programs on C4 and ITV. The new tax; the iPod tax.

Ouch.

It’s not just iPod and MP3 users who would be targeted though, as people with Sky dishes, Freeview boxes and even just an Internet connection would be expected to fund the dross on C4.

Ed Richards is the CEO of Ofcom, and he thinks that consumers should be taxed for everything from blank DVDs and CDs to just owning computers. This is one of the many options that Ofcom is looking at to provide funding for public service broadcasting.

Advertising spend is currently leaving the television industry and disappearing online, so according to Ofcom the three junk channels, ITV, C4 and C5, would require somewhere between £145 million and £235 million in order to keep making the rubbish that they’re producing right now.