BBC drops “There There” from a TV licence advert

The BBC has taken “There There” off a TV licence trail after one of Radiohead's managers complained, MediaGuardian reports. The trail, which urges viewers to pay the £116 fee by direct debit, had been running for only a week, and it stays on air with other music behind it.

TV Licensing denies doing anything wrong, saying the music was used under its agreements with the British record industry and was changed to reflect reported concerns from one of the band's managers¹.

The band never gave permission for the song to be used. Parlophone say the BBC went too far, in the band's view as well as the label's, and have passed the matter to their legal department. A spokeswoman said other people had asked to use the song and been turned down, and now the label was being told it had let the BBC have it. Radiohead are not interested in that kind of advertising, it's not something they would OK.¹