The Conservative leader has warned the BBC that its present funding model cannot be guaranteed.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “certainly looking at” how the BBC receives its income, currently derived from the £154.50 payable by any adult under the age of 75 with a television.
Answering a question from a member of the public while campaigning in the North East on Monday he said: “Well, I don’t think at this late stage in the campaign I’m going to make an unfunded spending commitment like that.
“But what I certainly think is that the BBC should cough up and pay for the licences for the over-75s as they promised to do.
“But at this stage we are not planning to get rid of all TV licence fees, though I am certainly looking at it.”
In October, a group of MPs called on the Government to restore free TV licences to those over the age of 75 who are not in receipt of pension credit.
In its report the committee said it “was possible that the BBC never intended to fully fund the over 75s licences beyond 2020”, but this had not been included in the minutes amid tense negotiations.
Bulgaria, Hungary, Cyprus, Malta, Belgium, The Netherlands, Finland, Norway, and Iceland have all abolished their licence fees.
There is no licence fee in Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Russia, Spain and Ukraine.
