A U.S. judge has rejected the BBC's application to stay discovery in the $10 billion lawsuit brought by U.S. President Donald Trump over its editing of a speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol, court documents showed on Thursday.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-rejects-bbcs-stay-application-trump-defamation-case-2026-02-12

It looks like the BBC may headed to a very expensive outcome, we will know next month, March?

If the motion succeeds (granted dismissal), the case ends quickly with minimal further costs. But given the judge's recent denial of a discovery stay (calling it premature), he's shown willingness to let things proceed — so denial in March is a real risk for the BBC.

A denial next month turns this from a manageable legal fight into a costly, invasive, and potentially damaging ordeal for the BBC. They're fighting hard to avoid it.

I bet the UK license payer will be happy?

23 hours ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

I bet the UK license payer will be happy?

Does anyone in the UK actually still pay the licence fee?

1 hour ago, Mutt Daeng said:

Does anyone in the UK actually still pay the licence fee?

Well apparently, quite a few?

Around £3.8 billion in 2024/25 (65% of BBC's total income), despite the drop in licenses.

As of March 2025 (the most recent full-year data available, from TV Licensing's official monthly reports), there were 23,792,200 licenses in force — down from around 24.1 million in March 2024 and a peak of over 26 million in 2017/18.