It seems that the BBC had a tad overly laid back approach when it was speaking about the possible charges to its iPlayer video on demand service - but in fact the charges might be quite significant because of the content they will give viewers access to.

After the broadcaster recorded that it got roughly 2bn programme requests, it started to push the idea that Licence Fee payers may be charged for certain content.

The BBC said that it wanted to make more content available online for viewers to enjoy, which led it to think about a pay-per-view model.

The idea is to make older videos available online (those which were uploaded more than seven days ago) for an additional charge.

The BBC issued a statement saying:

"We never stop future-gazing at the BBC and there are always a number of new ideas under discussion.

"Any such ideas would need to be developed in conjunction with the industry and with rights-holders and they would certainly not lead to a two-tier licence fee."

In fact, it has been reported that the plan is to go far beyond the 7 days period and make content from the 80s, 70s and even the 50s available to watch for those who were keen on opening "80 years of history" via the BBC.