BBC isn't really government, and it's definitely an organisation that's often been quite advanced in pushing new broadcasting technology.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Un...
Makes for great public media in many cases.
Those could very well be provided by the private market.
The Wikipedia article you link to states "The money received is first paid into the Government's Consolidated Fund. It is subsequently included in the 'vote' for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in that year's Appropriation Act, and passed back to the BBC for the running of the BBC's own services (free from commercial advertisements)."
How do you see this as "no government funding"?
What funding package is that? Did you mean EU grants?
> that each UK citizen has to pay with the purchase of a TV)
The licence fee is payable if you are in the UK and watch live TV as it's broadcast. "live", "TV", and "broadcast" are defined in statute and statutory instruments.