BBC Trust chairman says excess licence fee should be given back



Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, which governs the operations of the UK public broadcaster, has said that any excess funding received through the UK licence fee should be returned to licence fee payers, not diverted to other media organisations.

Lyons said that BBC-commissioned research shows the UK public does not want any extra cash diverted to other media outlets and would prefer the £142.50 (€162) license fee to be lowered by £5.47.
Commercial media organisations have been lobbying for extra cash to be spent on a range of possible services including new regional news channels. In an open letter to BBC licence fee payers Lyons said the research “reinforces our concern about any attempt to use the license fee to subsidise commercial operators, as proposed by the Government in its Digital Britain report.”