The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Rt. Hon. Nadine Dorries MP, has reportedly frozen the BBC TV licence fee for the next two years.
With inflation currently running at around 5 percent, it is expected that the Corporation will need to find additional savings of around £2 billion before the end of its current Royal Charter on 31st December 2027.
The Government is about to undertake a mid-term review of the BBC's Royal Charter. The purpose of the review is to ensure that the BBC's governance and regulation is of the required standard, without having to wait several years for the current agreement to come up for renewal.
Dorries is no fan of the BBC, having previously described it as a "biased, left-wing organisation which is seriously failing in its political representation from the top down".
In relation to the TV licence fee, which she has previously described as "more in keeping with a Soviet-style country", she said: "In this day and age, a tax on the ownership of a television is a completely outdated concept that totally fails to take into account changes in the media environment over the past 50 years.
"The BBC as an organisation has become too big, too badly designed and consistently badly managed."
Of course she is incorrect that the TV licence fee is a tax on mere ownership of a television. It is actually a tax on the reception of television (or BBC on-demand) programmes.
The Government increasingly views the TV licence as outdated and irrelevant. Speculation is rife that an alternative method of funding the BBC looms on the horizon. The BBC may actually have to compete on an equal footing with its commercial rivals, instead of relying on £3.2 billion of state handouts every year. That's £3.2 billion handed to the BBC on a silver plate, however sordid its scandal or piss-poor inadequate its management and programming.
Speaking of the freeze, a source close to the Culture Secretary told the Mail On Sunday: "There will be a lot of anguished noises about how it will hit popular programmes, but they can learn to cut waste like any other business.
"This will be the last BBC licence fee negotiation ever. Work will start next week on a mid-term review to replace the Charter with a new funding formula.
"It's over for the BBC as they know it."
Dorries' own comments certainly suggest the the writing is on the wall for the BBC.
Writing on Twitter earlier today, she said: "This licence fee announcement will be the last. The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors, are over.
"Time now to discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content."
Oh, I really do hope so.
Be under no illusion that the upper echelons of the BBC are absolutely terrified at the prospect of losing the TV licence fee. Members of the BBC Executive Board are crying into their Ovaltine every night at the mere notion that the Corporation might have to do some work and be held accountable for its multitude of failings.
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