Lords: Don't use licence fee for digital

A Lords committee has criticised the use of licence fee cash to support the switchover to digital.

The group, considering the BBC's charter renewal, said the government should not have told the corporation to use licence fees to help elderly and disabled people convert from analogue.

The government itself should pay to avoid switchover pushing the licence cost too high, said the committee.

Continuing fee rises "will damage the BBC by undermining support for the corporation", ruled the select committee's report. "The licence fee should only rise significantly if there are exceptional and well substantiated reasons."

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport rejected the conclusions. The BBC "should play a leading role in digital switchover, not least because it will ensure that all licence fee payers can receive the BBC's digital channels," he commented.