London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 24, 2025

BBC loses 200,000 licence fee payers as boss watches numbers ‘like hawk’

BBC loses 200,000 licence fee payers as boss watches numbers ‘like hawk’

The BBC saw the number of households choosing not to pay for a TV licence and therefore not use the broadcaster’s services rise from 1.5million to 1.7million in 2020.

On Monday March 22, Tim Davie, director-general of the BBC, Glyn Isherwood, interim chief operating officer at the BBC and Charlotte Moore, chief content officer of the BBC, met with the Public Accounts Committee in the House of Commons to discuss the ‘future of the BBC’ and the firm’s financial strategy moving forward.

During the committee meeting, Glyn explained that there are more than 27 million households across the UK, of which ‘1.7million elect not to have a licence and do not enjoy the BBC services’.

The interim chief operating officer stated that while they did not have the figures for the past five years, ‘we do know that last year there was a small increase’ in the number of people choosing not to pay for a licence.

‘The current figures show that 1.7million people have taken that option and that grew from the previous year of about 1.5 million people. So it is still a relatively small number, and it is within the context of having annual licences of between 25million and 26million each year,’ he said.

BBC boss Tim acknowledged that TV licence fees make up the ‘majority’ of the BBC’s revenue, stressing that it is ‘utterly critical to us’.

Tim Davie, was appointed director-general of the BBC in September 2020


‘Just to be clear, there are two levers to the number we are talking about in terms of our income risks. One is the level of households, obviously, and the other is this number of 1.7 million that say they no longer need or technically don’t qualify for the licence,’ he said.

‘It is worth saying that we are watching that number like hawks. It is the majority of our revenue, so it is utterly critical to us.’

When asked how the BBC could ‘persuade the next 200,000 people to carry on paying’, Tim explained that it’s ‘understandable’ that viewers may choose on-demand TV over live TV viewing.

‘The reason why they are not is that they are understandably saying – this is exactly the conversation we have been in – that in the land of a lot of competition, are they watching a live television stream?’ he said.

‘It is not surprising that when on demand is burgeoning in the way that it is and other services are there, you are going to get some marginal erosion of people who are not watching a live stream or television.’

BBC Three’s return as a broadcast channel was recently announced


However, he added that the BBC’s ‘role is not to beat Netflix’, emphasising that the company has to be ‘incredibly well focused on where we differentiate ourselves versus the rest of the market’.

‘Just to be clear to the Committee, we are not going to beat Netflix. We need to do something radically different,’ he said.

Tim continued, stating: ‘We always have sat alongside competitors. The issue is that the BBC needs to be highly distinctive, whether that be Bitesize education provision or locally made drama.

‘I remain optimistic that we can maintain reach and maintain our value, but I have been very clear with the BBC: there is jeopardy there and we have no inalienable right to exist.

‘There can’t be room for complacency about that, but I do not subscribe to the view that universality is an impossible mission to deliver.’

On the government’s website, it outlines that a TV licence costs £157.50 for homes and businesses, with the licence costing £53 for black and white TV sets.

Households must pay for a TV licence if they watch or record programmes on a TV, computer or other digital device as they air and to download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer, either live or on demand.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
×