BBC licence fee is ‘regressive tax’, broadcaster’s former chair says

Michael Grade said the BBC board needs to be more open about what it thinks about ‘some of the stuff that becomes controversial’. Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA

The head of Britain’s media regulator and a former chair of the BBC, Michael Grade, has described the broadcaster’s licence fee a “regressive tax” that needs to be re-examined by the government.

Pointing out that both he, a well-paid executive, and a single mother living on a low income, pay the same £159 licence fee, the former ITV and Channel 4 boss said one of the big questions for the next BBC charter review was whether the broadcaster should be allowed to compete for advertising revenue against commercial stations.