Do I need a TV license to use an Amazon Fire Stick?

The government has announced an investigation into how sustainable the BBC license fee will be in the future.

If you watch or record broadcast TV programmes, you must have a TV licence, either by purchase or given free to those receiving pension benefits and aged 75 or over.

All forms of transmission include using the BBC iPlayer on a smart television, laptops and tablets.

The license fee had been frozen at £159 for the past two years and the government has announced that it will rise by £10.50 to £169.50 from April 2024.

However, this is a lower amount as the planned increase next year was around £15.

The license fee pays for TV, radio and online programs and services, including iPlayer, Radio 1, CBeebies and the World Service.

It also funds the Welsh TV channel S4C and local TV channels.

It is reportedly worth more than £3 billion to the BBC.

What will the assessment do?

The government said there are “challenges around the sustainability of the current license fee funding model” as fewer people take advantage of the license fee and watch television.

It also believes that enforcement of people who fail to pay the fee is “increasingly disproportionate in a modern public broadcasting system”.

The review will be led by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which will gather evidence from stakeholders and establish a panel of experts to assist with the findings.

The report, which will look at making the BBC more commercial, alternative funding models and how the corporation could transition, will inform the Charter Review and report in autumn 2024.

What are the alternative options?

Alternatives to the license fee could be a broadband levy, advertising or a subscription model.

A subscription model, as used by streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+, which have already announced price increases, has long been promoted as an alternative to the license fee.

For Netflix's most expensive ad-free service, the price in Britain will rise to £17.99 per month (£215.88 per year). The basic plan increases by £1 per month to £7.99 per month.

Disney+ also recently announced a major restructuring of its subscriptions, introducing an ad-supported tier in the UK from November 1.

All existing Disney+ customers have been automatically moved to the top tier premium subscription package, priced at £10.99 per month or £109.90 per year, unless they actively switch to another subscription.

Apple TV+ currently costs £8.99 per month, after a £2 increase from £6.99 per month.

Currently the BBC has no commercial breaks on its domestic TV channels and its website is ad-free.