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BBC licence fee 'to rise by 3%' |
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Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell is expected to announce the TV licence fee will rise by 3% over each of the next two years, the BBC has learned.
The deal, to be outlined in full in the Commons, will see the current fee of £131.50 rise to a maximum £151 by 2012.
Borrowing limits will also be tighter than requested. The BBC had wanted an above-inflation hike in the licence to boost programmes and digital services.
Unions have warned that such a deal would lead to "heavy job losses".
The corporation had argued it needed an extra £5.5bn over the next seven years to pay for more original programmes, new digital and local services and increased costs.
It also said the money was needed to provide free digital set top boxes for the elderly and infirm, and meet the £400m cost of relocating 1,500 posts from London to Salford.
Speaking at The Future Of Creative Content Conference, BBC director-general Mark Thompson said while a six year settlement was to be "welcomed" the details of the deal were a "real disappointment".
"Given our vision of the future, a vision broadly endorsed by the Government in its White Paper; given the Government's own requirements and ambitions, especially those around switchover; and not wanting our existing services to the public to be squeezed or diminished as we invested in the future; we'd argued for a licence-fee that would grow modestly in real terms," he said.
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