In a poll, commissioned by the Defund The BBC campaign group, it found 40 percent of people backed the idea of a subscription-based service while 37 percent favoured the current system and the £157.50 fee.
Rebecca Ryan, campaign director of Defund The BBC, said: “The British public want the licence fee to move to a subscription model that would mean people have the right to decide if they want to access BBC content or not.
“It is clear from this poll that there is a huge swathe of the population who do not feel the BBC’s Christmas schedule is on a par with what it should be and many will be watching far less BBC content than they did last year.
“A major factor of this is undoubtedly the subscription choices in the form of Sky, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video which have a raft of on-demand content.
“The BBC licence fee is outdated and unwanted.”
Now Express.co.uk is asking, “Should non-payment of the TV licence fee be decriminalised?”
Yesterday, Labour MPs said plans to decriminalise non-payment of the licence fee should be dropped following reports the Government is planning to delay the move until 2022.
Kevin Brennan, a Labour member of the digital, culture, media and sport select committee, said he was in favour of keeping the licence fee unchanged.
Latest calls to decriminalise non-payments of the licence fee come as the BBC’s new director-general, Tim Davie, vowed to make changes in the corporation.
READ MORE: BBC licence fee U-TURN as Boris Johnson scraps plans to decriminalise
She told Express.co.uk: “If he does not deliver on promises he could lose the Red Wall.
“It’s very clear there were a huge amount of votes that were lent to the Conservative Party based on their promises basically for reforming the establishment in a lot of ways.
“Certainly delivering Brexit and on dealing with the BBC as well.
“You can look at it and say he has got another four years anyway, in the interim if he can claw that back.
“But if he doesn’t deliver on those, there would be a huge amount of people voting against Conservatives in the country.”
Ms Ryan went on to add the Prime Minister risks losing seats from all over the country as their supporters feel “completely marginalised”.
The BBC has come under fire from the campaign group and the public after scrapping the free licence fees for most over-75s.
As of August this year, three million pensioners have been forced to pay £157.50 for a TV licence after the BBC ditched its pledge of free TV licences for the over-75s.
Only those who receive pension credit benefit and are aged over 75 will be eligible for a free licence.
The licence fee is the annual cost viewers must pay in the UK and funds the TV, radio and online services of the BBC.
Those caught watching television without a licence can be fined up to £1,000 in addition to court costs.
