Here’s what new TV licence rules could mean for Netflix subscribers

Changes are being considered for 2027

The annual fee, which was put in place to feed the foundational stability of the BBC in 1946, recently jumped up by £5 from its original £169.50.

Now £174.50 is a good old chunk of change, equating to £14.50 per month, but as things stand you only need to pay it if you want to watch live TV or log in to BBC iPlayer.

Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, and Disney+ subscribers of course have their own payments to worry about, but due to the streaming boom and viewers moving away from more traditional avenues of entertainment, the BBC is feeling the financial strain and may soon drag the likes of Netflix into a new model.

The existing royal charter will expire in 2027 and now there's whispers of "modernising" how the public broadcaster is supported.

According to The Express, sources have hinted that the government is considering forcing streaming subscribers to contribute to the licence fees, while there's also talk of charging BBC Radio listeners or even introducing advertisements on its channels.

UK Culture Minister Sir Chris Bryant has reiterated the importance of licence fees, in that they create "massive" budgets for domestic productions.

"I do want the streamers to come here. Tom Cruise has made massive investments in the UK," he told the Culture, Media and Sport Committee at the start of this year.

"But I also want us to have a system where a British production company is commissioned by others to make something that where the Intellectual Property (IP), or some of the IP, remains with the production company. I kind of want a bit of both."

Change is coming.