The government has confirmed that the annual cost of a licence fee will rise by £1.50 from April 1.

The price hike is in line with inflation - a rise that was agreed between the BBC and the government for a five-year period covering 2017 to 2022.

The corporation has guarantees that it will be funded by the licence fee until 2027, although the government is currently consulting on both the licence fee's future beyond 2027 as well as any changes to the licence fee for the period from 2022 to 2027.

The news means that the cost of a licence will rise from £157.50 a year to £159 from April 1, while the cost of a black and white licence - now extremely rare in number - will go from £53 up to £53.50.

The licence fee raises around £3.7 billion a year in revenue for the BBC.