Television viewers can soon expect to pay less for their BBC licence fee as part of the austerity drive in public spending, Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, will signal on Saturday
The broadcaster has been responsible for “extraordinary and outrageous” waste in recent years and needs to recognise the “very constrained financial situation” the country is now in, Mr Hunt says.
In an interview in today’s Daily Telegraph, Mr Hunt says the broadcaster needs to change “huge numbers” of things that it does, warning the management that they should not interpret his silence on the issue of the licence fee since the election as a sign that he is happy with it.
In his most explicit statement yet on the future of the £145.50 a year levy, the Culture Secretary says that he can “absolutely” see viewers paying less following next year’s negotiations between the government and the BBC.
Responding to a question over whether the fee could fall at the next settlement, he says: “Yes I could. Absolutely. I think that’s the discussion that we need to have.
