Households face a huge rise in the BBC TV licence fee charge. By the end of the decade, it’s projected that the fee will go up to nearly £200.

The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that the annual charge will jump from £174.50 to just under £197. This is largely due to inflation. Meanwhile, the BBC is due to lose around £1 billion in cancellations and non-payments which have occurred over the last year, reports GB News. Viewers are leaving in record numbers, with over 300,000 cancellations last year. Now, 3.6 million people say they don’t need a TV licence. The BBC has faced a series of scandals that culminated in the resignation of director-general Sir Tim Davie last month.

Huge numbers of homes no longer want a TV licence due to the rise of streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy must decide by February whether the licence fee will increase by nearly £7 this spring, pushing the annual cost beyond £180.

In 2022, the Conservative Government implemented a two-year freeze before agreeing to inflation-linked adjustments for the remainder of the Charter period.

Ms Nandy says the corporation requires sustainable financial support.

The BBC’s deteriorating finances have become a recurring issue, with licence fees already declining by 30% since 2010.

Latest discussions about the BBC also follow a report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) warning that the BBC is “under severe pressure” amid “intense competition for attention” from rival media outlets. 

Among other findings, it said the corporation was not doing enough to enforce licence fee collection, representing more than £1.1 billion in potential lost income in 2024/25.

The BBC’s Royal Charter is set to expire in 2027, meaning it faces pivotal negotiations in its near future.

The Royal Charter serves as the constitutional foundation for the BBC. It sets out the BBC’s objects, mission and public purposes. The Charter also outlines the Corporation’s governance and regulatory arrangements, including the role and composition of the BBC Board.

The current Charter began on January 1, 2017 and ends on December 31, 2027.

The Government will carry out a mid-term review of the Charter, focusing on governance and regulatory arrangements. This review is not a full Charter Review and so will not look at the BBC’s mission, purpose or the method by which it is funded.