BBC director-general Matt Brittin has said BBC News should be available on streaming and social media platforms including Netflix, YouTube, TikTok, Spotify and Instagram as part of a wider reform of how the broadcaster’s content is consumed and funded.
Speaking on the Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Brittin said the BBC needed to modernise its current model so that its services were available wherever audiences were watching and listening.
“What we need to look at is the current model,” he said. “You pay the licence fee if you watch live TV or you’re on iPlayer.”
He added: “I’d like to see reform that allows us to be where audiences are. I think BBC content should be on Netflix, on YouTube, on TikTok, on Spotify, and Instagram, and everywhere where audiences are.”
Brittin said news was particularly important in this approach, describing it as part of “disinfecting misinformation”. He said: “It’s our job to be everywhere.”
The BBC is predominantly funded through the television licence fee, which rose earlier this year to £180 annually. The current arrangement is being reviewed ahead of the renewal of the BBC’s royal charter, which is due to end in December 2027.
The standard television licence is legally required to watch or record television on any channel or service, watch live television on streaming services and use BBC iPlayer.
Brittin has previously said the corporation is “held back” by the television licence fee, which he described as “no longer fit for purpose”. He has also suggested a household levy as a possible alternative funding model.
During the programme, he said a household levy was used in many other countries to fund public media and could provide a fairer system. He said a report published that week had suggested that if every household paid, the charge could be lower, while collection costs and evasion could also be reduced.
However, he acknowledged that introducing such a system would represent a significant change at a time when households were facing difficult living costs.
When asked why people should pay a levy if they did not use BBC services, Brittin said: “Ninety four per cent of households every month are consuming BBC content. That’s incredible, but yet only 80% are paying.”
He said this created a fairness issue and argued that if the BBC was intended to be for everyone, it should be funded by everyone. He also said the way such a system was modernised would be critical.
Brittin later clarified that a universal household bill was not the specific model he was advocating. Instead, he said it was one of the ideas being discussed as part of broader reform.
“What we’re advocating is reform that allows us to offer the services universally and that is modernised towards where people are watching today,” he said.
The BBC’s licence fee income has fallen by more than £1 billion in real terms over the past decade. The broadcaster’s 2026 annual report also revealed that the number of television licences fell by more than half a million during the 2025/26 financial year.
The royal charter sets out the BBC’s governance arrangements, including how the corporation is funded. It currently has to be renewed every 10 years, with the present charter scheduled to end in December 2027.
