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Low licence fee rise ‘will hit BBC shows’

Published Thursday 18 January 2007 at 11:15 by Liz Thomas

BBC director general Mark Thompson has warned that programming budgets will further suffer following today’s disappointing licence fee settlement.

BBC Director General, Mark Thompson

BBC Director General, Mark Thompson Photo: BBC / Jeff Overs

Speaking at a conference, Thompson commented on figures leaked before Christmas, ahead of the government’s official announcement which is expected to come later today.

He explained that the expected settlement of a 3% rise in the licence fee for the next two years, followed by increases of 2% for the following three years and between 0% and 2% in 2012-13.

In real terms this means around a £20 jump in the levy to £151 by 2012 but it is the first time that the licence fee has not been tied to inflation. Originally the BBC had been hoping for a rating at 1.8% above the RPI.

The shortfall Thompson said would cut £2 billion from spending plans and in added that such a low deal from the government “risks diverting money away from content creation”.

He added the quantum of the deal was a real disappointment and warned that money would have to be saved by cutting many of its proposed investments and moving money from existing departments to new initiatives.

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