BBC bids to stall licence fee carve-up

The BBC is lobbying the Government to let the public decide whether licence fee money should be used to fund regional news on ITV, the Standard can reveal.

Senior executives at the broadcaster want the licence-fee payer to choose whether the corporation should give up some of its £3.6 billion annual public funding — a proposal set to be made in a White Paper this week.

They hope that a public consultation would delay the implementation of any top-slicing of the licence fee up to the next general election, when a Tory victory could take the process back to square one.

Communications minister Lord Carter will tomorrow present his Digital Britain White Paper to the Cabinet.

This will suggest that up to £100 million of BBC funding could be used to pay independent companies to make regional news programmes for ITV, which says it can no longer afford to produce them.

Another £30 million of licence fee money could be made available for producers to make current affairs documentaries for TV or the internet.

Key figures including BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons will push for a public consultation period on the paper.

The broadcaster's position was set out in a meeting between senior BBC executives and the new Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw.

A source said: "Sir Michael is loath to allow a decision of this importance to be pushed through by politicians without a public consultation."

ITV and Channel 4 have been hit by falling advertising revenues and want the licence fee carved up to secure their futures.