The White Paper "A public service for all: the BBC in the digital age" made clear that the licence fee will continue to be the fairest and most cost efficient way of funding the BBC through the next 10 years.
But, as part of its overriding duty to ensure the BBC delivers value for money on behalf of the licence fee payer, the Trust will often need to choose between competing priorities. And any organisation of this scale must expect to bear down on its cost through efficiency savings. The BBC is no exception.
However, as the Green Paper set out, questions have been raised about the long-term future of the licence fee given the likely extent of technological change. We therefore confirmed that it would be our policy to review the scope for alternative funding mechanisms after the end of the next Charter in 2016, on the clear understanding that the BBC would continue to be funded by the licence fee for the next 10 years.
We expect this review to take place around the end of digital switchover, in order to allow for the necessary planning before any changes are implemented.
