ITunes

• The TV licence is as much part of British life as the BBC, which it helps to fund.
• Late in 2023, the government launched an expert panel to examine the future of the licence and BBC funding.
• He also said the threat of criminal prosecution faced by licence-fee evaders – a PR disaster for the BBC – might be limited or removed.

Why do viewers pay a licence fee?

• In their rush to make money, US entrepreneurs established stations without enough listeners or advertisers, and many quickly went bust.
• To reduce opposition from newspaper companies, on-air advertising was ruled out, in favour of a listener licence fee.
• The licence fee also gave the BBC a measure of independence from politicians and civil servants.
• Those who wanted to watch the BBC’s fledgling television service (introduced in the 1930s but suspended during the second world war) had to pay double – and the TV licence was born.

Commercial BBC

• The BBC also has a long history of generating commercial revenue without on-air advertising.
• The BBC would go on to run a range of other profitable publications on a similarly commercial basis.
• The BBC was obliged to sell off some of its most profitable commercial offshoots (including the Radio Times), and scale back others.

• Indeed, in March the BBC announced plans to introduce commercial advertising on its podcasts on platforms like Spotify and iTunes.
• And while Davie has said that the BBC remains committed to a universal fee, he also aims to double the revenue generated by its commercial arm, BBC Studios, to £3.2 billion by 2027-28.

Could the licence fee be abolished?

• If the TV licence were abolished and the public corporation dissolved, BBC Studios might carry on as a fully commercial concern, making BBC-branded programmes.
• The TV licence still exists in part because it is difficult to find a viable alternative.
• Read more:
  BBC licence fee: culture minister hints at a future in competition with Netflix for UK public broadcaster

  Alternatively, direct government funding might undermine trust in the BBC in Britain and abroad.

Simon Potter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.