Television licensing in the United Kingdom (historical) Facts for Kids

A broadcasting receiving licence was first introduced in 1904. This licence allowed people to listen to radio shows. You had to pay for it once a year.

How the Licence Started
- The BBC's Early Days
  - Television Arrives
  - Colour TV and New Costs
How the Licence Fee Changed Over Time
Number of Licences Issued Each Year
See also

How the Licence Started

The BBC's Early Days

In October 1922, a group of companies that made radios created the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). The Post Office, which was in charge of communication back then, asked them to do this. The BBC's job was to make radio programmes for people who bought their radios. At first, the money to run the shows came from selling radio sets and from programmes that had sponsors (like ads today).

The Post Office also made a rule for the radio licences. It said that any radio equipment used had to be "Type Approved by Postmaster General" and have the BBC logo on it.

When the licence first started, it cost 10 shillings. This price stayed the same until after the Second World War.

In 1927, the British Broadcasting Company became the public British Broadcasting Corporation. After this, the Post Office gave almost all the money from the licence fees to the BBC to help fund its programmes.

Television Arrives

When the BBC started its first television service in November 1936, the regular radio licence also covered watching TV. You didn't have to pay extra.

However, television broadcasts in the UK stopped in 1939 because of the Second World War.

After the war, the BBC television service started again in June 1946. At the same time, a special television licence was introduced. This TV licence always included the right to listen to radio broadcasts too.

From 1971 onwards, you only needed a licence if you watched television. Licences just for radio listening were no longer given out.

Colour TV and New Costs

In 1968, a new fee was added for colour television. It was called a "colour supplementary fee" and cost £5 on top of the existing black and white TV licence. This happened after BBC2 started broadcasting in colour in July of the previous year.

How the Licence Fee Changed Over Time

The cost of the TV licence has changed many times over the years. Here's a table showing how the price for colour TV licences has gone up:

Date	Monochrome TV	Colour TV
July 1971	£7	£12
April 1975	£8	£18
July 1977	£9	£21
November 1978	£10	£25
November 1979	£12	£34
December 1981	£15	£46
March 1985	£18	£58
April 1988	£21	£62.50
April 1989	£22	£66
April 1990	£24	£71
April 1991	£25.50	£77
April 1992	£26.50	£80
April 1993	£27.50	£83
April 1994	£28	£84.50
April 1995	£28.50	£86.50
April 1996	£30	£89.50
April 1997	£30.50	£91.50
April 1998	£32.50	£97.50
April 1999	£33.50	£101
April 2000	£34.50	£104
April 2001	£36.50	£109
April 2002	£37.50	£112
April 2003	£38.50	£116
April 2004	£40.50	£121
April 2005	£42	£126.50
April 2006	£44	£131.50
April 2007	£45.50	£135.50
April 2008	£47	£139.50
April 2009	£48	£142.50
April 2010	£49	£145.50
April 2017	£49.50	£147
April 2018	£50.50	£150.50
April 2019	£52	£154.50
April 2020	£53	£157.50
April 2021	£53.50	£159

Cost of a colour TV licence

Cost of a colour TV licence (inflation adjusted)

Number of Licences Issued Each Year

This table shows how many broadcasting licences were active each year, usually on March 31st or April 1st. You can see how the number of radio-only licences went down as TV became more popular.

Year	Total Licences	Radio + B/W TV	Radio + Colour TV	Over 75s
1968	17,645,821	15,068,079	20,428	N/A
1969	17,959,933	15,396,642	99,419	N/A
1970	18,183,719	15,609,131	273,397	N/A
1971 ⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾	15,943,190	15,333,221	609,969	N/A
1972 ⁽¹⁾	16,658,451	15,023,691	1,634,760	N/A
1973	17,124,619	13,792,623	3,331,996	N/A
1974	17,324,570	11,766,424	5,558,146	N/A
1975	17,700,815	10,120,493	7,580,322	N/A
1976	17,787,984	9,148,732	8,639,252	N/A
1977	18,056,058	8,098,386	9,957,672	N/A
1978	18,148,918	7,099,726	11,049,192	N/A
1979	18,381,161	6,249,716	12,131,445	N/A
1980	18,284,865	5,383,125	12,901,740	N/A
1981	18,667,211	4,887,663	13,779,548	N/A
1982	18,554,220	4,293,668	14,260,552	N/A
1983	18,494,235	3,795,587	14,698,648	N/A
1984	18,631,753	3,261,272	15,370,481	N/A
1985	18,715,937	2,896,263	15,819,674	N/A
1986	18,704,732	2,679,396	16,025,336	N/A
1997	22,000,000	500,000	20,800,000	N/A
1998	22,300,000	400,000	21,300,000	N/A
1999	22,800,000	300,000	21,900,000	N/A
2000	23,300,000	200,000	22,400,000	N/A
2001	23,400,000	100,000	19,700,000	3,100,000
2002	23,800,000	100,000	19,900,000	3,600,000
2003	24,100,000	100,000	20,100,000	3,700,000
2004	24,500,000	100,000	20,400,000	3,800,000
2005	24,700,000	100,000	20,600,000	3,800,000
2006	25,000,000	100,000	20,800,000	3,900,000
2007	25,100,000	33,000	20,900,000	4,000,000
2008	25,248,000	28,000	21,081,000	3,953,000
2009	25,364,000	24,000	21,154,000	4,000,000
2010	25,459,000	19,000	21,171,000	4,088,000
2011	25,594,000	15,000	21,235,000	4,156,000
2012	25,706,000	12,000	21,306,000	4,206,000
2013	25,783,000	9,000	21,351,000	4,251,000
2014	25,879,000	8,000	21,367,000	4,328,000
2015	25,959,000	7,000	21,420,000	4,362,000
2016	25,997,000	7,000	21,441,000	4,363,000
2017	26,234,000	6,000	21,667,000	4,385,000
2018	26,239,000	6,000	21,611,000	4,455,000
2019	26,183,000	5,000	21,408,000	4,603,000
2020	25,946,000	5,000	21,128,000	4,669,999
2021	25,208,000	4,000	23,733,000	1,359,000
2022	24,906,000	4,000	23,760,000	1,034,000
2023	24,372,000	4,000	23,236,000	947,000

⁽¹⁾ Because of strikes at the Post Office, the numbers for these years might not be perfectly accurate.

⁽²⁾ Licences just for radio and combined radio/TV licences ended on February 1, 1971. From then on, only TV-only licences were issued.

Television licensing in the United Kingdom (historical) facts for kids

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