UK Has ‘No Option’ but to Keep BBC Licence Fee Until 2038, MPs Say

People arrive and depart from Broadcasting House, the headquarters of the BBC, in London on July 2, 2015. Paul Hackett/File Photo/Reuters

The UK will not be able to do away with the BBC licence fee for at least another 17 years, a group of MPs has said.

The government “will be forced” to maintain the licence fee as a result of its failure to enable a viable alternative form of funding for the BBC, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee said in a report published on Thursday.