BBC wants licence fee increase

The BBC wants to increase the licence fee by 2.3% above inflation to boost its digital services and other output.

The corporation is to present its bid for the next licence fee settlement to a House of Commons select committee.

If the government accepts the BBC's proposal, the licence fee would rise by £3.14 per year from £126.50 to £150.50 by 2013, not allowing for inflation.

BBC director general Mark Thompson said the rise would fund the switch-over to digital TV and BBC on-demand services.

More from BBC News.

Helpfully (?!) BBC News offers a prominent link next to this story to an item from July detailing the bounuses received by BBC executives.

Stephen Dando is the director of BBC People, which was formerly human resources and internal communications. He is responsible for all BBC people and organisation issues.

His division is taking one of the biggest hits in the job cuts with 1,730 going under the umbrella of professional services.

His salary for the year was £245,000, with a bonus of £65,000.