By Jess Jones For millions of Brits, the BBC is New Year’s eve: fireworks and Rick Astley are a classic combination for the ‘bed just after midnight crowd.’ But as the singer crooned to the masses, he rang in a very uncertain year for the public broadcaster. The BBC is in a funding quagmire as the renewal of its governing charter looms in three years’ time. Currently, the cogs are kept turning by the licence fee, paid by the public to watch live programmes and iPlayer shows. Following a two-year freeze, this fee is set to rise in April from £159 to £169.50 a year – not as much as the BBC had h…