£159 per year if you watch live broadcast TV, watch content on the BBC I-Player streaming service, or just generally watch live streams of shows on the likes of Amazon Prime, Now, Sky Go, All 4 etc.

It was a good idea back in the day of very few channels on TV as it helped pay for some great content that on paper was free from the usual pressures and it ensured that across the BBC channels, you had pretty much every base covered from Kids TV to News, Education, Sport, Drama, Comedy, Documentaries, Art, Religion etc.

But as competing channels became available through the likes of satellite and cable and then the internet came along with streaming the license fee has become increasingly contentious, especially as it racks up political scandals that call into question its impartiality.

Under the current Tory government, the plan is that the fee is being scrapped in 2027 and the BBC will have to sink or float like any other media company. The Tories will claim that this is to save the public money while people who hate the Tories will claim that its because they want to remove a source of media that on paper should be impartial and critical of them when required, as well as the usual motives of personal gain from handing their donors and friends contracts worth hundreds of millions.

Whether that will happen or not is unknown as the current Tory government is very unlikely to win the next election which has to happen by January 2025 at the latest. Labour who are widely expected to win the next election has been critical of the Tories intending to scrap the fee while at the same time not exactly stating what their own position will be, giving some wishy-washy answers that may or may not see the BBC continue as it does currently.

I myself am planning to scrap my license and TV package later this year when my contract runs out and switch to streaming services only. I barely watch live TV these days maybe 3-4 hours total per week and even then it's not content I care enough about to pay the fee for.