The BBC could lose its license to broadcast to the EU

The BBC could set up a base in Brussels or Amsterdam after Brexit, its director-general has confirmed.

Lord Hall of Birkenhead said that establishing a small office on the Continent would allow the broadcaster to continue operating channels within the European Union.

Channels licensed in the UK can broadcast across the EU at present, but this arrangement is likely to end after Brexit. Lord Hall said he hoped all BBC operations could remain in the UK, and that no decision would be made before March 29, the day Britain is to leave the EU. He added that any BBC presence across the Channel would constitute only a handful of staff.

Lord Hall was asked by the Labour MP Meg Hillier at a public accounts committee