A group of SNP MPs threatened to join a licence fee boycott unless major changes are made to the way the BBC is run in Scotland.
The four politicians made five demands in an angry backlash at "editorial balance" going back to what they claim was bias in the independence referendum.
A letter to the broadcaster and the UK Government was signed by Scotland's former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill and his Westminster colleagues Angus MacNeil, Douglas Chapman and Neale Hanvey.
However, the letter, published in The National newspaper, quickly provoked a split in the party. Glasgow South MP Stewart McDonald likened it to a Donald Trump-style campaign to "defund public service broadcasting".
"We've got nothing to gain by running a parallel campaign against the BBC - no matter how frustrating you find it," he added on social media.
It is illegal to watch BBC channels without a licence. In their letter to the broadcaster, the four MPs demand:
- Abolition of the TV licence in Scotland
- Devolution of broadcasting
- Powers for Holyrood to set a broadcasting tax, citing Sweden as an example
- A Scottish Government-funded BBC Scotland which buys programmes like in Ireland.
- Consultation to improve engagement with broadcasting potential.
MacAskill said he'd be prepared to join people boycotting the licence fee.
"If this situation continues and the crisis worsens then it may very well be there is no alternative," he said.
"I for one will not pay a licence fee for Tory propaganda."
A BBC spokesperson said: "We will respond in due course when we have seen the letter but it will appear that much of the content – on issues such as devolution – is a matter for the UK Government rather than the BBC."
