Museums may have to broadcast exhibitions live on a new digital arts “channel” in return for receiving government money, under a radical funding shake-up just proposed by the UK’s Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt.

The Culture Secretary urged organisations to embrace digital technology to reach a wider audience. Mr Hunt called for the creation of a new web-based arts channel and warned that future funding could be dependent on bodies making their work available digitally.

Mr Hunt did not say how the new channel would be funded but he promised that it would not be a traditional broadcaster which might challenge the BBC for licence-fee support.

The arts channel would be accessible through a set-top box streaming Internet Protocol television (IPTV). The plan was inspired by The Space, a pop-up digital arts channel set up by the Arts Council and the BBC, which lets viewers trawl through John Peel’s record collection or watch hip-hop dancing from Sadler’s Wells.

Speaking to an invited audience at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Mr Hunt said: “For too many cultural organisations technology is still about having a good website instead of a tool to boost artistic innovation, help fundraising and reach new audiences.

“But should we turn The Space into something more ambitious? Could we turn it into a permanent brand new digital arts channel with live performances every night of our finest cultural offerings?”