BBC Licence Fee Set For Debate

The way in which the BBC is funded in the future is to be further analysed.

The Government intends to discuss whether a TV licence fee "is the right way" to fund the BBC - and as early as next year, a full five years before the end of its charter - it may be seeking the change the system.

While the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt has insited that he is "committed to the principle that the BBC should have a ringfenced pot of money over a multi-year period" and stressed his support for the BBC and its independence, but remains ambiguous about the corporation's long-term funding.

"The BBC is a huge national crown jewel and we want it to carry on doing the things it does well into the future.

"That's not to say there aren't some things it could do differently and better, but that's a discussion for when we start discussing the licence fee."

He believes changing viewing habits, with an increasing number of people watching TV content online, will make the annual charge for television ownership obsolete sooner rather than later.

"We also recognise, as technology changes, we may need to adapt the way it's collected. It is not going to be possible to have a tax every time anyone buys a computer."

Also, as one who criticised the pay of corporation executives when in opposition, he also said the public wanted "value for money" from the corporation.

"All I can do is advocate changes at the BBC while respecting editorial independence upon which the success of the BBC rests. I can't do anything that requires the BBC to pay certain people certain amounts."

In his review of the industry commissioned by the Tories in opposition, former BBC Director General, Greg Dyke, is understood to have backed scrapping the licence fee in favour of direct taxation - but this was rejected by Labour as well as some members of Dyke's own review team.

Hunt, however, said that the report was never finished. "I hope Greg will deliver that report," he said. "I never saw sight of it before the election and I shall look forward to reading it," he told the Media Guardian.

(BMcC/GK)