West MP warns BBC ‘is under severe pressure’

THE BBC should clearly set out how it plans to attract younger viewers as it faces “intense competition for attention” from other media providers, a parliamentary report has warned.

- JENNY GARNSWORTHY

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the BBC’s mission to “serve all audiences” is at risk as younger age groups view content elsewhere while it said the corporation’s digital first strategy could risk older or less digitally connected audiences being left behind.

The publishing of the report today comes as the BBC has been hit by a series of scandals in recent months, leading up to the resignation of director-general Sir Tim Davie, who gave evidence to the PAC for the report.

PAC chairman and North Cotswolds Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, inset, described the BBC as “an organisation under severe pressure”.

Among several findings, the report said the BBC is not doing enough to enforce collection of the licence fee, which it described as unfair to the vast majority of households who do pay for a licence. It said licence fee evasion and households not purchasing a licence together represented more than £1.1 billion in potential lost income in 2024/25.