Government ‘genuinely open-minded’ on BBC funding future, says culture minister

The UK government is “genuinely open-minded” over the BBC’s funding model, culture minister Julia Lopez has said.

In January, the Conservative government – which has spearheaded a years-long campaign against the pubcaster – confirmed plans to abolish the licence fee in 2027 and cut funding to the BBC. It was later revealed that this would force the BBC to cut £2.5 billion over the next five years, though director general Tim Davie later said that he was “open-minded” on its future source of funding.

Echoing those sentiments, the minister of state for Media, Data, and Digital Infrastructure appeared before the Lords Communications and Digital Committee and said: “The Government is genuinely open-minded about the right model and we are seeking for somebody to surface the choices open to any government about the right way of funding the BBC and we are doing that in advancement of 2027 so that when we look at what we seek the BBC to achieve post-2027 we have a sense of how the best way of funding that will be.”

She described the current setup of the licence fee as “regressive” that Brits “pay the same regardless” of circumstance.

The minister, speaking to the Lords as part of an ongoing inquiry into the BBC’s future funding, also said that administering the licence fee is “also quite expensive… so any model has to seek to try and overcome some of the shortcomings of the existing model.”

Lopez said that the government is expecting to select an independent reviewer to examine the funding model before the Commons breaks for its summer recess, and that a decision would be made “as part of the charter review process”.

The minister was also asked about the government’s plans to privatise Channel 4 in spite of only 14% of Brits backing the decision.

Of this, Lopez said: “We as ministers have a responsibility to look at a whole range of questions and the fundamental one we look at in relation to Channel 4 was what is the best thing for the sustainability of the public service broadcasting sector … and we came to the conclusion that the way in which Channel 4 was structured is a future impediment to it being a successful business.

“The Government is still within its rights to come to a different view than the one expressed by the majority to those who have responded to a consultation.”