{"id":258009,"date":"2026-01-26T07:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T07:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/258009\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T07:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T07:22:07","slug":"bbc-faces-profound-jeopardy-without-funding-overhaul-tim-davie-says-bbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/258009\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC faces \u2018profound jeopardy\u2019 without funding overhaul, Tim Davie says | BBC"},"content":{"rendered":"

The BBC<\/a> will face \u201cprofound jeopardy\u201d over its future unless it embraces significant changes to its funding, its outgoing director general has said, as he signalled his support for an overhaul of the licence fee.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Guardian, Tim Davie<\/a> called for supporters of the corporation to \u201cstand up and fight\u201d for it, amid increased hostility from its commercial and political critics.<\/p>\n

He said the BBC would be \u201cin trouble\u201d without serious changes to its funding model and more flexibility over the services it offers.<\/p>\n

In a sign that the BBC leadership is looking at changes that would draw more households into funding the broadcaster, Davie said he did not want to simply increase the amount demanded from each licence fee payer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do want reform,\u201d he said. \u201cWe do want reform of the licence fee. However, we\u2019re not just about driving the amount we get from households higher.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest fears are that we just roll on and think it\u2019s going to be OK. We don\u2019t reform enough. At that point, we don\u2019t get regulatory reform and more flexibility. That\u2019s my biggest worry. And I think, if we don\u2019t do that, we\u2019re in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Davie rejected a suggestion that the BBC should be funded by advertising or subscriptions \u2013 options raised in a government paper on the public broadcaster\u2019s future<\/a> released last month.<\/p>\n

Tim Davie rejected the idea that the BBC should be funded by advertising or subscription. Photograph: Andy Rain\/EPA<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go to advertising or subscription, you\u2019re no longer a universal service,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a societal choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBC is in the process of examining how the licence fee could be made more progressive for some groups. Samir Shah, the BBC\u2019s chair, has previously suggested switching to a household levy that could be collected through council tax.<\/p>\n

It would remove the need to enforce licence fee payment through controversial home visits. It would also allow the payment to be adjusted so that poorer groups pay less.<\/p>\n

However, the move would be controversial as it could remove the ability of households not to pay the levy.<\/p>\n

Davie, who resigned last November<\/a> after the fallout from the BBC\u2019s edit of a Donald Trump speech, said he was opposed to a hybrid funding system, in which licence fee payers funded services such as BBC News and an additional payment was needed to watch BBC drama.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re fundamentally opposed to is splitting the BBC up by genre,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you did \u2018the drama is over there, the news is here,\u2019 local news, which I think is really important, suddenly becomes very small, very fast. That would be the end of public service broadcasting.\u201d<\/p>\n

After concerns that his resignation, and that of the head of BBC News, Deborah Turness, came after political interference by the BBC\u2019s board<\/a>, Davie said he was in favour of changes that increased the broadcaster\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n

The head of BBC News, Deborah Turness, also resigned over the fallout from the BBC\u2019s edit of a Donald Trump speech. Photograph: PA Images\/Alamy<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a big fan of the independence of the BBC,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need governance reform. I believe in an independent BBC, and so do our audience. We did a survey of 40 million people. I wrote to 40 million people. The biggest thing they wanted was an independent BBC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davie repeated his concern that attacks on the BBC over its errors had been \u201cweaponised\u201d by opponents<\/a>. \u201cWeaponisation is not about the battle of an individual cock-up or one fact,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about proportionality.\u201d<\/p>\n

His intervention comes with talks beginning in earnest over the future of the BBC\u2019s royal charter and funding. The current charter is due to expire at the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

The BBC has faced significant financial pressure as the licence fee has lost about one-third of its real value since 2010. Meanwhile, non-payment of the fee, which stands at \u00a3174.50 a year, has been slowly increasing.<\/p>\n

Davie indicated he was pushing for more leeway from the government and the media regulator Ofcom to allow the BBC to innovate, as media consumption continues to switch to digital platforms.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Guardian revealed the BBC was considering <\/a> an outsourcing drive to cut costs. Such plans would prove controversial inside the broadcaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth is, the jeopardy is high,\u201d Davie said. \u201cThe BBC has never really had profound jeopardy. What do I mean by that? It has, of course, had lots of drama and editorial crises in its time. But that\u2019s actually not deathly jeopardy for the BBC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat represents deathly jeopardy for the BBC is if it\u2019s not relevant \u2026 If we\u2019re going to survive, we need permission to reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels the jeopardy is high, and we have got to stand up and fight for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davie also said the decline of public service media across the world had led to negative consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a thinning of public service media around the world,\u201d he said. \u201cThe situation is perilous. You look at many other countries, public service media is doing brilliant work, but it\u2019s not now mainstream. The whole thing coming together as one market has been brilliant for the UK. It is really important to who we are, from a societal point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBC is searching for Davie\u2019s successor, who will lead the its negotiations over its new charter. With the corporation facing huge competition and heightened political hostility from Trump and Reform UK, some in the BBC had been hoping Davie might change his mind over leaving.<\/p>\n

Some of the names touted to succeed Davie<\/a> are Jay Hunt, a former BBC and Channel 4 executive who is now at Apple, the BBC\u2019s former chief content officer Charlotte Moore, and the former Channel 4 chief executive Alex Mahon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC will face \u201cprofound jeopardy\u201d over its future unless it embraces significant changes to its funding, its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[146,85,46,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-258009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}