The BBC TV licence fee is set to rise by £5.50 to £180 a year in a bid to ‘keep the BBC on stable financial footing’, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has announced.
News of the price hike is set to deal a further blow to millions of households already struggling with rising costs and comes despite the BBC and the previous government striking a deal to keep the licence below £175 a year.
In 2022, it was agreed the licence fee would be linked to inflation until at least 2027.
When the agreement was reached, the licence fee was £159 and was projected to cost less than £175 by its final year.
However, high inflation has driven up the amount TV viewers are charged.
Last November, the Labour Government announced it would rise from £169.50 to £174.50 from April.
The corporation raked in almost £4billion from the levy in 2025.
But the future of the licence fee has come under scrutiny amid a sharp decline in the number of people watching traditional TV channels as viewers continue to turn to streaming services such as Netflix and Prime Video.
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