BBC licence fee could be abolished in favour of Netflix-style subscription

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"This licence fee announcement will be the last"

Blue planet
(Image credit: BBC, Blue Planet)

The streaming wars has risen to the top of the UK government’s party packed agenda with the revelation this weekend by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries that its forthcoming announcement regarding the cost of the BBC’s annual licence fee “would be the last”.

The annual payment for the service, typically set to change on April 1st each year, is expected to be frozen at the current rate of £159 (monthly that’s around £13.25 /  $18 / AU$ 25) until April 2024,  before rising slightly for the following three years. The BBC’s Royal Charter, which guarantees the public service broadcaster’s editorial independence and outlines how it is funded, will expire in 2027.

After that, the BBC will have to renegotiate a new funding model. It looks increasingly likely that the compulsory purchase of a licence fee for those who own a television or view the service online will be abolished. 

While Doris’ description of licence enforcement is emotively worded, hundreds of thousands of people are prosecuted every year for non-payment of the licence fee.

Potential options for alternative funding models include a levy paid on every broadband connection in the UK, the introduction of advertisements across the BBC’s UK output, part-privatisation, direct government funding or a subscription service.

Mary Stone

Mary is a staff writer at What Hi-Fi? and has over a decade of experience working as a sound engineer mixing live events, music and theatre. Her mixing credits include productions at The National Theatre and in the West End, as well as original musicals composed by Mark Knopfler, Tori Amos, Guy Chambers, Howard Goodall and Dan Gillespie Sells.