Are you sure?
Charlie Brooker, on his series “Screen Wipe” in an episode about programme making, mentioned the BBC’s “unique agreement” with regards to the use of music in programming. He even went as far as saying he could play as much Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as he liked without it costing the production a penny but couldn’t show the album cover because it would.
Every organisation is free to negotiate their own terms with copyright holders. Perhaps the BBC agrees an overall fee with the rights-holders (or more likely the representative collection organizations) meaning that individual programme makers don’t have to account for it in their own budget. In any case, the BBC does pay.
Here’s a link a link to the per-minute rates paid by various UK broadcasters, and here’s one that shows that both the BBC and ITV have blanket agreements.
ETA sorry, that first link is what the royalty due to copyright holder is - over £20 a minute will soon add up for a popular band!
Even if you only listen to talk radio they want their money, because of the music in the jingles, etc.