BBC faces ‘real jeopardy’ as licence fee payments fall faster than expected

Matt Brittin: ‘We have to ask ourselves, honestly: if we were inventing the BBC today, what would we do?’ Photograph: Andrew Matthews/AFP/Getty Images

The number of people paying the BBC’s licence fee has fallen faster than expected in the last year, with half a million more households opting out of the payment.

Matt Brittin, the BBC’s director general, said the broadcaster faced a “moment of real jeopardy”, as the licence fee funding model “ties us to the past”.