BBC TV is blanked by 20 per cent in capital

Nearly one fifth of London viewers never watch the BBC.

TV audience figures show that 1.9 million of the capital's 11.2 million viewers do not tune into Britain's public service broadcaster.

It signals a drop of 100,000 on 2003 figures, when 9.4 million Londoners watched.

The figures, compiled by ratings organisation Barb, form part of a nationwide decline. Seven million viewers across the UK never watch BBC TV - down 800,000 in a year.

The news will be a blow for corporation bosses, who face a government review of the BBC's royal charter. The charter, which expires in 2006, guarantees the licence fee - which raises ?2.3 billion a year to fund the corporation.

But the fall in audience figures raises fresh questions about whether it is fair to charge the public for a service not used by everyone.

The figures show the weekly average audience reached by the BBC - that is, how many of the UK's 55 million viewers tune in for 15 minutes or more to any BBC channel, on average, each week.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "Any slight fall is in line with the rest of the industry."