The Conservative Party leader David Cameron and shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt suggested that a proportion of the licence fee go to other broadcasters to encourage diversity in programme genres such as children's TV and current affairs, areas where the BBC dominates.
Hunt said that while the BBC would still receive the bulk of funds, other broadcasters would be entitled to apply for money.
"We need structures that will maintain the creative diversity that has made British public service broadcasting famous throughout the world," he said in a statement.
The Conservatives have released a paper arguing the case for releasing public service funds to TV firms other than the BBC, stipulating that: "[Broadcasters] should only be able to bid for licence fee money in specific areas where plurality of provision is lacking". The paper added that the BBC's online footprint was in danger of stamping out innovation.
According to The Sun, Cameron also wants to scrap the BBC Trust and replace it with a public service broadcasting commission.
The idea of making public service funds available to other broadcasters was mooted by Labour in January, when former culture secretary James Purnell raised the possibility that other broadcasters would be able to bid for a portion of the £3.4bn of public service funding.
At the Oxford Media Convention on January 17, Purnell said: "Let's put the question starkly: do we think it's sustainable for every penny of the licence fee to go to a single organisation in an industry which now has very many providers rather than just a handful? Would some form of contestability for licence-fee funding help to sustain quality, innovation and efficiency?"
The idea has been vehemently opposed by Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, who has argued that the move could undermine the BBC's public service remit.
Separately, on Friday the BBC and workers unions the National Union of Journalists, Bectu and Unite reached an agreement ending the threat of strike action over proposed redundancies at the corporation.
Unions at the BBC had voted in favour of action when the BBC said it would cut 1,800 jobs. But after talks through the night of March 27, the unions and the BBC drew up a policy agreement. It includes assurances that the BBC will maintain employment for staff where possible, give any staff being made redundant before March 31 2010 at least five months' notice and find new jobs within the corporation for a minimum of 12% of "displaced" staff.
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