The boss of the BBC is on a collision course with MPs after he insisted the licence fee will work for at least another ten years . Last week , the Culture , Media and Sport Select Committee said the £145.50-a-year charge was ‘ anachronistic ’ and should be scrapped within the next decade in favour of a flat-rate broadcast levy on all households . But Lord Hall , the Corporation ’ s director-general , insisted yesterday that the licence fee ‘ has got at least another ten years in it ’ , adding : ‘ I think it could go well beyond that. ’ Not dead yet : BBC Director-general Lord Tony Hall has said he believes the licence fee ‘ has got at least another ten years in it ’ Even if the fee is axed , he said it should be replaced by an equivalent charge . Despite MPs painting a damning picture of the BBC – which they said had blown billions of pounds of licence fee payers ’ money trying to be ‘ all things to all people ’ – Lord Hall was optimistic . ' I think the committee ’ s report should really be commended because they have raised something which says , you know what , the licence fee isn ’ t dead , ’ he said . ‘ The BBC ain ’ t dead . Actually , it ’ s got a real future. ’ Auntie is watching : The BBC has unveiled plans to ask users of its news app and iPlayer catch-up service to sign up to ‘ myBBC ’ , so it can learn about individuals ’ viewing habits . MPs said last week that a blanket levy on all households – not just those with televisions – should replace the licence fee which has funded the BBC for the past 69 years . Yesterday , Lord Hall backed the proposal , but said it was simply ‘ another way of the licence fee being modernised ’ . But he also warned that the BBC risks ‘ sleepwalking into decay ’ unless it reinvents itself for the internet age by collecting users ’ data . Lord Hall said the Corporation is in danger of becoming ‘ irrelevant ’ if it does not gather information about viewers to tailor its services , in a similar way to Amazon and Netflix . His remarks came as the BBC unveiled plans to ask users of its news app and iPlayer catch-up service to sign up to ‘ myBBC ’ , so it can learn about individuals ’ viewing habits and send them recommendations for other programmes and articles .
Lord Hall believes the licence fee ‘ has got at least ten years in it ’ He said even if the fee is axed , it should be replaced by a charge . Follows critique from MPs that the charge is ‘ anachronistic ’