Holby City will follow EastEnders at 8pm on BBC One tonight and viewers will think that nothing has changed at cosy old Auntie Beeb. Yet the reality is that Lord Carter’s Digital Britain means that after 87 years the corporation faces uncertainty over the billions of pounds it receives from the taxpayer.

The report signals that the BBC can no longer be sure that it will enjoy a monopoly over the riches that flow from the licence fee. Setting aside a portion of the £3.6 billion pool to fund regional news on ITV may seem like a small change, but the BBC knows that future governments could also offer incentives for children’s or arts programming to any broadcaster. And this from a Labour Government, the party that has traditionally seen the BBC as a bulwark against what it has often believed is a largely hostile national press.

However, with advertising collapsing and ITV and Channel 4’s ability to spend on programming under pressure, the BBC’s income — rising a couple of percentage points a year regardless of the economy — has become an embarrassment of riches.

As recently as two years ago the licence fee and advertising across all channels generated the same amount, £3.4 billion. This year the BBC will take £3.6 billion — while all its commercial rivals will share £2.6 billion — an unprecedented gap. To emphasise the point, ITV abandoned Primeval, its expensive, effects-laden Saturday-evening time travel romp yesterday, because it cannot afford to spend on dramas before 9pm. Over at the BBC, Doctor Who can look forward to regenerating forever under the current system.

Nor will the Conservatives — most likely the next government — offer much relief. David Cameron, a former ITV executive, understands the issues and has already demanded a £3 cut in the licence fee.

Politicians, fed up about their own pay and expenses in the spotlight, want the BBC to cut the pay of Jonathan Ross and other stars. Expenses for top executives, hitherto a secret, will have to be published from September 1. The show will go on, but the easy days for the BBC are over.

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