Overview
- The Office for Budget Responsibility on Friday projected the annual TV licence fee will rise from £180 to £202.60 by 2031 while the number of paying households falls to about 19 million.
- The BBC is losing roughly 500,000 licence-fee payers a year, a trend the corporation says has steepened recently and that the OBR now expects to continue through the decade.
- Director general Matt Brittin has launched a two-year plan to cut £500 million, which could close channels such as BBC Three, eliminate programmes and lead to as many as 2,000 job losses.
- The BBC says 94% of households use its services each month but only about 80% pay the licence fee, a gap driven by audience moves to streaming services and social platforms and recent editorial scandals.
- Ministers are actively weighing reforms including a levy on streaming services, advertising, subscriptions or charges on household bills and are due to set out options in a white paper before Christmas.