OfCom has said that some of the TV licence fee could be given to commercial broadcasters, which I think they may have said before, but whatever. The plan would be designed to help commercial broadcasters like ITV, Channel 4 and Five to fulfil their public service obligations, including news, local and children's programming. Channel 4, in particular, have recently been saying that the traditional commercial TV business model will not be enough to support their wide public service aims in the long term. But, of course, if some licence money was to go to commercial broadcasters, that could be problematic for the BBC, who are already coming to terms with the budgetary impact of a less than hoped licence fee rise.
OfCom boss Ed Richards said this week: "Public service broadcasting is at a crossroads. Viewers still want a mix of high quality UK-made content, but the traditional television model is not enough to meet all their needs. Today's proposals outline options for a securely-funded PSB [public service broadcasting] future. Now is the time for a wide-ranging debate looking carefully and dispassionately at all the options".