THE BBC license fee is so vital it would have to be invented if it did not exits, the broadcaster’s boss has insisted.

BBC director general Tony Hall has defended the licence fee and said the corporation’s opponents have to be “honest about the consequences” of their plans for the organisation.

In a speech at New Broadcasting House in central London, he said the corporation was at “a crossroads” and the licence fee - which is not currently required to watch catch-up TV on iPlayer - must be amended to cover “catch-up television as soon as possible”.

A select committee report last week raised the prospect of the licence fee being dropped in favour of a household levy.