The nation is split nearly 50:50 on the BBC funding itself through the license fee according to new research from ComRes. However, the corporation points out that its support rating, of 53 percent, is an improvement on the 31 percent figure of ten years ago. The research was commissioned by The Whitehouse Consultancy, which claims a split is developing between older people, who support the fee, and younger demographics who believe the BBC should be more commercial.