Lord Redwood, a key figure in Margaret Thatcher's privatisation drive, has proposed a radical overhaul of the BBC, suggesting it be transformed into a mutual where every licence fee-payer holds a single share and has a say in choosing the director general.
The former director of the Number 10 policy unit argues that the current model is failing, with UK viewers increasingly turning to US streaming services while still paying the licence fee. He highlighted that BBC Commercial delivered revenues of £2.2 billion in 2025-25, returning £377 million to the BBC, but believes "the UK can do much better than that if we change the management and model of this state broadcaster."
Streaming surge
Lord Redwood's intervention comes as the BBC's mission and operations are under review as part of the Royal Charter review. He noted the rapid growth of streaming services, with Netflix present in 18.1 million UK homes in the first quarter of the year, Amazon Prime Video in 13.7 million, Disney+ in 7.8 million, and Discovery+ and Paramount+ each in 3.5 million, while Apple TV was in 3.1 million.
He warned that "the UK media industry is losing out massively to the US as UK customers choose to spend their money on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney to get the programmes they want, whilst also having to pay the UK TV tax, the BBC licence fee." The US media majors, he said, have a combined turnover 30 times that of the BBC, with Netflix alone reporting revenue of $45.2 billion last year and over 325 million paid memberships.
Radical reform call
Writing for the Institute of Economic Affairs, Lord Redwood described how the BBC "slumbered and grumbled as Netflix surged from nowhere," and is seeing its market share, purchasing clout, and ability to attract talent badly squeezed by more agile rivals. He told the Sunday Express: "The BBC should be a mutual with all licence fee-payers holding a single share, choosing the director general and influencing the services they want."
He also proposed that the BBC's commercial arm should "raise substantial new capital on the UK stock market and put the money into new technology, talent and programmes."
Charter review context
A BBC spokesperson acknowledged the need for change, stating: "The current licence fee model can no longer support the BBC's public service mission, and Charter Review must deliver radical reform to secure a funding model that is universal, fair, sustainable, and future-proof." According to BBC analysis, the number of households requiring a licence has fallen from around 96% in 2016-17 to 90% in 2024-25, while evasion has increased from around 5.3% to 12.5%, and total licences in force have dropped from 26.3 million to 23.8 million.
A spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: "The BBC must be funded by a model that is sustainable and fair to all those that are paying it. Through Charter Review, we are looking at a range of options, including how the BBC can operate more efficiently, generate more commercial revenue, and how the licence fee could be reformed."
