Government considering charging BBC license fee to people who only use Netflix

They are also contemplating asking those who listen to BBC radio to pay a fee.

The extension of the fee to streaming applications would apply to people who watch content on Netflix and Disney as opposed to regular television.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are said to be seeking ways to modernise the way it funds the public-service broadcaster.

According to Bloomberg, the government is in the early stages of examining how to overhaul the funding of the BBC when its current 11-year charter ends on Dec. 31, 2027.

Alternatives under discussion also include allowing the British Broadcasting Corp. to use advertising and asking those who listen to BBC radio to pay a fee.

Viewing habits have changed in recent years as users gravitate toward on-demand services, leaving ministers with a decision to make - either retain and alter the current television license fee model or scrap it and instead fund the BBC through alternative models.

Another option is to leave the license fee largely as it is, with a few tweaks, a continuation of uprating, and better enforcement, a source told Bloomberg.

The same source added that if there were an obvious alternative model, the license fee would have been scrapped already.

The TV licence fee is set to rise again in April, making it the second year in a row the cost has gone up.

The fee will rise from £169.50 to  to £174.50. The government said the 2.96 per cent increase of the licence fee aims to provide the BBC with a “stable financial footing.” 

Announcing the new licence fee price, culture secretary Lisa Nandy said: “The BBC provides much-needed programming for households across the country, including children’s education, world-class entertainment and trusted news for all people in all parts of the UK. I want to see it thrive for decades to come.”

Nandy also said the licence fee model would continue until 2027, but said an “honest national conversation” would take place about its “long-term future.”