The British government has recently announced that the cost of a TV licence will rise by £5 to £174.50 in 2025. In addition, more households will be offered support to pay the fee. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) revealed that the licence fee pays for BBC shows and services, and ministers will review the corporation’s future funding as the charter sets out its terms and purposes of existence. According to Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, there would be “an honest national conversation about the broadcaster’s long-term future”.
The increase in price will become effective in April, whereas Simple Payment Plan (SPP) will spread the annual payment into fortnightly and monthly installments, and 9,000 households struggling financially will benefit from the scheme. Meanwhile, the DCMS scrapped a review of the BBC’s funding model by a previous government, and disbanded its expert panel. The British government will examine the issue of BBC funding in the charter review process by incorporating independent expert advice, stakeholder views, and public consultation to decide the broadcasting company’s sustainable public funding model that supports its valuable work and is fair and responsive to those who pay for it.
According to Media watchdog Ofcom, which recently published its annual report on the BBC, the corporation is struggling to reach some audiences in the UK, especially younger audiences and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Ofcom said that although the broadcaster is still the most-used media brand in the UK across TV, radio, and online, certain sections of the audience are less engaged with BBC content in general. Moreover, the report revealed that BBC’s engagement with younger audiences and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds has been a longstanding issue.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy also announced an extra £32.6m for the BBC World Service in 2025-26. The government pledged to increase the cost of a TV licence in line with inflation annually until 2027 under an agreement signed in 2022, and it has returned to calculating the increase by utilizing an annual inflation rate instead of a monthly one, which was used last year
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