Funding of the BBC World Service
There will be a Westminster Hall debate on funding of the BBC World Service at 3pm on 26 June 2025. The debate will be opened by Peter Prinsley MP.

This briefing provides statistics on the TV licence fee and general television viewing trends. TV licence fee revenues in 2023/24 were £3.66 billion. Total BBC income in 2023/24 was £5.4 billion. TV licence fee revenues accounted for around 68/% of total income.
TV licence fee statistics (3 MB , PDF)
This briefing provides statistics on the TV licence fee and general television viewing trends. The Licence fee concessions and payment amounts are set by Parliament under the Communications (Television Licencing) Regulations 2004 (as amended). As stated by TV Licencing:
“It is an offence to watch or record television programmes as they are being shown on any channel and on any broadcast platform (terrestrial, satellite, cable and the internet) or download or watch BBC programmes on demand, including catch up TV, on BBC iPlayer without a valid TV Licence”
Currently the annual TV licence fee is £174.50 for colour and £58.50 for a black and white.
TV License fee revenues in 2023/24 were £3.66 billion which was lower than the 2022/23 figure of £3.74 billion (in cash terms).
Total BBC income in 2023/24 was £5.39 billion, 68% of which came from the licence fee revenues. The remaining 32% or £1.73 billion came from commercial and other activities (such as grants, royalties and rental income).
The BBC estimates that the evasion rate rose from 10.58% in 2022/23 to 11.30% in 2023/24. The main drivers for this increase have been attributed to changing viewing habits, a slowing of household growth and cost of living pressures
The TV Licence fee amount in the UK was ranked 4th highest by the European Broadcasting Union compared to other European countries as of January 2024. The average fee paid in EU countries was 116 Euros.
The data for this publication can be found in our downloadable Excel file above. Full source details are available in the briefing paper PDF and Excel file. Please get in touch with us at papers@parliament.uk if you would like to access the data in a different format.
Detailed information about TV licence fee collection, concessions and complaints is available on the TV licencing website.
TV licence fee statistics (3 MB , PDF)
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