BBC Charter Review: Now or never for sustainable funding
The BBC has been doing more with less since at least 2010. Since then, licence fee income has fallen faster in real terms (28%) than its cost cutting (15%) can keep up with.
The funding base underlying the BBC must be widened, both to ensure sustainable funding levels, and to ensure the true universality of that structure in the face of changing consumption habits.
Maintaining the status quo would guarantee a meaningfully smaller BBC, with more cuts to content and services each year that goes by—to the detriment of the UK public and the wider media sector. Waiting another ten years is not an option.
Related reports
Public Service Media: At a critical juncture
11 September 2025The PSBs’ ability to fulfil their public service objectives is becoming compromised by declining TV audiences, mainly due to the rise of online platforms and the decline in funding levels.
Part of the solution lies in collaboration between the PSBs themselves, potentially through shared tech stacks across players.
Collaboration with third-party online platforms is also required. The Media Act is introducing prominence requirements for connected TVs, but extending this regulatory regime to video-sharing and AI platforms needs much more developed thought to clearly articulate its aims and begin to iron out its practical challenges.
Subscription and the BBC: Incompatible with public service
5 September 2024A subscription funding model would be antithetical to the BBC’s public service mission, necessarily ending universality of access and undermining its breadth of content.
Options like separating out “public service” content from other programming would result in a decline in news consumption, while the subscription model would risk sustainability and encourage short-term thinking.
Further, there are technical roadblocks to executing this model, meaning that it is not feasible until long after the end of the current Charter in 2027.
Changing PSB funding models: precedents and outcomes
24 June 2024Recently many countries, particularly in Europe, have moved away from funding their public service broadcasters via a licence fee.
Three main models have been adopted in its place: a state grant system, a ring-fenced income tax, and a premises levy—nowhere has chosen to fund PSBs solely by subscription or advertising.
Outcomes vary: Germany shows that a successful transition relies on years of deliberation and consensus, whilst Italy and France underline the perils of insecure funding arrangements.
BBC future funding inquiry: Evidence session
6 April 2022As part of the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee inquiry into the future of BBC funding, Claire Enders gave oral evidence. Here we reproduce her accompanying slides.
The presentation highlights the reliance placed upon the BBC for information during the pandemic, and contextualises the value of the licence fee to consumers alongside the cost of other sources of news and entertainment. It further notes the significant proportion of viewers that lack the means, or do not wish, to pay for any video service beyond the cost of the licence fee.
While a subscription model has been mooted as an alternative to the licence fee, recent volatility in the market has magnified concerns around the sustainability of the streaming model, and while growing penetration and investment in content by these services remains impressive, there is less certainty around the future plurality and distinctiveness of these platforms, and the related cost to subscribers.
Public Service Media: At a critical juncture
11 September 2025The PSBs’ ability to fulfil their public service objectives is becoming compromised by declining TV audiences, mainly due to the rise of online platforms and the decline in funding levels.
Part of the solution lies in collaboration between the PSBs themselves, potentially through shared tech stacks across players.
Collaboration with third-party online platforms is also required. The Media Act is introducing prominence requirements for connected TVs, but extending this regulatory regime to video-sharing and AI platforms needs much more developed thought to clearly articulate its aims and begin to iron out its practical challenges.
Subscription and the BBC: Incompatible with public service
5 September 2024A subscription funding model would be antithetical to the BBC’s public service mission, necessarily ending universality of access and undermining its breadth of content.
Options like separating out “public service” content from other programming would result in a decline in news consumption, while the subscription model would risk sustainability and encourage short-term thinking.
Further, there are technical roadblocks to executing this model, meaning that it is not feasible until long after the end of the current Charter in 2027.
Changing PSB funding models: precedents and outcomes
24 June 2024Recently many countries, particularly in Europe, have moved away from funding their public service broadcasters via a licence fee.
Three main models have been adopted in its place: a state grant system, a ring-fenced income tax, and a premises levy—nowhere has chosen to fund PSBs solely by subscription or advertising.
Outcomes vary: Germany shows that a successful transition relies on years of deliberation and consensus, whilst Italy and France underline the perils of insecure funding arrangements.
BBC future funding inquiry: Evidence session
6 April 2022As part of the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee inquiry into the future of BBC funding, Claire Enders gave oral evidence. Here we reproduce her accompanying slides.
The presentation highlights the reliance placed upon the BBC for information during the pandemic, and contextualises the value of the licence fee to consumers alongside the cost of other sources of news and entertainment. It further notes the significant proportion of viewers that lack the means, or do not wish, to pay for any video service beyond the cost of the licence fee.
While a subscription model has been mooted as an alternative to the licence fee, recent volatility in the market has magnified concerns around the sustainability of the streaming model, and while growing penetration and investment in content by these services remains impressive, there is less certainty around the future plurality and distinctiveness of these platforms, and the related cost to subscribers.