According to the Chancellor George Osborne, the BBC is "Tax Funded" and needs to look to the future for a different funding-mechanism.

According to "Ariel" here,

"The chancellor George Osborne has warned the BBC could suffer a "very sharp fall in income" in the future as viewing habits change.

"The big challenge is that how many of our children are going to own traditional televisions in 10 years' time," he said during a question-and-answer session at BBC North.

"I don't have an answer to this question but that is a big question for the licence fee, which is quite a traditional tax levy on people who own a television. And are we really going to be able to levy a tax on people who own a laptop or an iPad? The answer is no.

"If I was the director general and his team, that would be definitely something I would be thinking about.

"It's not going to be problem this year or next year or the year after, but jump forward to 2020 and suddenly it could be a serious problem for the BBC; you could get a very sharp fall in income."


He added: "It's heretic to say this at the BBC but I'll say it, the Treasury regard you as a taxpayer-funded public body and so you have to be accountable for that money.

"It is in fact a tax. You have to make sure you spend it wisely and show how it's been spent.""