This is listen2voa(Japanese English listening material site with transcript BBC: TV licence fee decriminalisation consultation launches.
Currently, anyone who watches or records live TV or uses iPlayer without a TV licence is guilty of a criminal offence and could go to prison.
Baroness Morgan said it was time to think about keeping the fee "relevant" in a "changing media landscape".
The BBC said a 2015 review found the current system to be the fairest.
The consultation, which will last eight weeks with the government publishing its response this summer, will also look at the viability of an alternative enforcement scheme.
Decriminalisation would not mean non-payment would become voluntary. It could instead mean it would become a civil offence similar to non-payment of council tax or an electricity bill.
Do I need a TV licence and what does it pay for?
In a speech on Wednesday, Baroness Morgan said many people thought it wrong that "you can be imprisoned for not paying the TV licence and its enforcement punishes the vulnerable".
"We are launching a public consultation to make sure we have a fair and proportionate approach to licence fee penalties and payments, that protects those most in need in society," she added.
Media captionBaroness Morgan said it was time to think about keeping the fee "relevant" in a "changing media landscape"
Licence fee increase.
The culture secretary also announced a new flexible payment scheme, called the Simple Payment Plan, to help those struggling to pay, including the over-75s.
It will allow people to spread the fee out into a number of manageable instalments.
"This will help prepare the BBC and public service broadcasting for the future and make sure it continues to work for our society, our economy, and the public which funds it," said Baroness Morgan.
Last year, Treasury minister Rishi Sunak said the Prime Minister Boris Johnson had ordered a review of the sanction for non-payment of the ￡154.50 charge, which funds the BBC.
Confirmation of the consultation comes two days after it was announced the fee is to increase by ￡3, from ￡154.50 to ￡157.50, from 1 April 2020.
It also follows the controversy last year over the decision to scrap free licences for some over-75s, a decision which saw a number of celebrities joining the call for the decision to be overturned.
Cost of annual household licence from April 2020.
Freefor those aged 75+, claiming pension credit (from June)
121,000people convicted for evasion in 2018.
￡176average fine levied on those people
From June, only over-75s who are claiming pension credit will be eligible for a free TV licence.
Former BBC chairman Lord Grade's urged the government not to "impoverish and weaken" the corporation, which he described as the "corner stone" of the creative industries in the UK.
He said the BBC had "huge success in promoting the brand of Great Britain around the world", adding that any plan to decriminalise non-payment of the licence fee "feels like another attempt to impoverish the BBC and weaken it" and should be "abandoned immediately".
Baroness Morgan said her plans should not be seen as "any kind of attack on the BBC".
The broadcaster is an "incredibly important organisation in the UK and around the world", she said, but added it was the government's "duty" to look into the issue of funding.
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