Criminal sanctions against TV licence evasion are recognised as being “increasingly disproportionate and unfair,” the UK government said on Thursday in response to a public consultation on the matter. However, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport said that decriminalising licence evasion is “problematic,” so it “remains under consideration.” “The government remains concerned that a criminal sanction is increasingly disproportionate and unfair in a modern public service broadcasting system,” it said in a statement. “However, it wants to ensure that any future changes to the TV licence sanction or enforcement scheme are not seen as an invitation to evade the TV licence requirement, nor privilege the rule-breaking minority over the rule-abiding majority.” Decriminalisation of TV license evasion will be a part of discussions to set the 2022–2027 licence fee with the BBC, which is primarily funded by the fee. “Whilst the delivery of decriminalisation right now is problematic, we …