The Minister for Media and Data has reported a “decline in willingness to pay the licence fee” of the BBC. Campaigners against the BBC licence fee, including Defund The BBC, said that the remark showed that “the clock is ticking for the BBC”. Rebecca Ryan, the campaign director at Defund The BBC, told talkRADIO last night that the demise of the licence fee was “inevitable”.

She praised media minister John Whittingdale for being open about the BBC.

During an appearance at the Edinburgh TV Festival this week, Mr Whittingdale warned that a “decline in willingness” among Britons to pay the TV licence fee is going to become a real challenge for the broadcaster.

He said: “I think it is inevitable that certain trends which are now already clearly visible will continue.

“One is the switch away from linear viewing.”

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Mr Whittingdale continued: “The second is in the longer term the decline in willingness to pay the BBC’s licence fee.

“And those are going to put real challenges on all of the UK public service broadcasters.

“So I think this debate about how we sustain public service broadcasting is only just beginning.”

TalkRADIO host Kevin O’Sullivan reacted to the speech, saying: “The BBC is organically dying out because more and more people are not paying for it.

Mr O’Sullivan added: “The fact of the matter is they are flogging a dead horse.

“We’re paying the state broadcaster to watch Strictly Come Dancing.

“This is a dead tariff walking, isn’t it?”

Ms Ryan continued: “The clock is ticking on the BBC. Young people are not remotely interested in live TV.”

One million households have stopped paying the fee over the past two years, according to the corporation’s annual report.