[Closed] BBC Licence fee.

I don't like peopel weedling out of paying the fee because they dont watch live TV.

How is it wheedling out of something? you either have to pay or you don't.

BBC Radio? iPlayer? BBC website?

You don't need a TV licence to use any of them though, so their relevance to the licence debate is limited

BBC Radio? iPlayer? BBC website?

I wouldn't miss any of them if they went. I listen to commercial radio 90% of the time, use iplayer no more then any number of other players and can and do receive all the information I get from BBC websites from other places.

As much as I didn't want to give in to Murdock I surrendered to Sky years ago as they simply offer the best all round package. This renders most of the BBC add-ons surplus to requirements.

You don't need a TV licence to use any of them though, so their relevance to the licence debate is limited

I would happily pay my license fee for Radio 4 alone (I suspect my kids would also club together to ensure Deadly 60 and Horrible Histories remained unsullied by adverts).

Apparently 10% of magistrate court cases are for non-payment of the license fee!

I think the solution to that is probably to make non-payment a civil offence, rather than a criminal one (i.e make it the same as any other bill).

FWIW I had SKY and cancelled it, quite simply wasn't worth £720 pa. Most of what I watch now is via YouTube/Vimeo/PAYG streaming services, that plus the News. If I could avoid the BBC licence fee I would, for me £140 is definitely a very high price for what I watch.

@Gunz, had to dig this out 😀 😀

Jambalaya, afrad I can't open that at work but I hope it's a video of Steve Bagshaw getting excited over 'the most amazing snake bite' he's ever had.

I feel the same about the BBC as i do about the Royals... [url= https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=462773960473045 ]https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=462773960473045[/url]

Can you see Sky making the equivalent of W1A?

With that level of (quite brutally at times) taking the rip out of themselves.

Plus W1A was shit - it tried to capture the genius of People Like Us, but with all the wit and subtlety removed.

Has nothing been said about the cultural influence of the BBC on British culture?
How many programs inform, educate & entertain the whole of our society i.e. children and old people - or are we fading into some Septic led (and Sky/Fox TV supported) 'I'm alright Jack, e**** everyone else' mentality?

Has nothing been said about the cultural influence of the BBC on British culture?

Not to mention the rest of the world.

Thick of It
News
Sherlock
Dr Who
The Office
Edge of Darkness
State of Play
Blackadder
Bottom
Monty Python
The Day Today

to name but a few

CBeebies!

I'd prefer to pay the BBC for my telly then Rupert Murdoch

@gunz, no it's the Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch about the BBC licence fee, from about 1980 I saw it first time around 😐 Comedy Gold 🙂

I don't have a TV and rarely watch iPlayer (never live) and still pay the TV License fee as I think the BBC is well worth funding.....

You don't need a TV licence to use any of them though, so their relevance to the licence debate is limited

so how are they paid for?

By the people who need to have a license, and pay for a license.

By the people who need to have a license, and pay for a license.

No TV licence system no free content for the[s] scroungers[/s] TV licence averse*
🙂

*and those poor souls not fortunate enough to live in blighty.

I don't shop at Sainsburys and would be 100% against having to pay a 'Sainsburys fee' every year for the privilege of not shopping there. If i did decide to one day venture in to buy a tasty ready meal, i wouldn't expect to pay £145 for doing so - two or three pounds would be a fair price. And i'd hate to be considered a criminal for not wanting to pay for something i don't use. It's pretty ridiculous really

I don't think your analogy works Euro

or are we fading into some Septic led 'I'm alright Jack, e**** everyone else' mentality?

Based on the recent election result I'd say we've faded.

spot on GrahamS !! kids telly without adverts is just the best, and consistently high quality programmes as well

and BBC4

oh and by the way, Channel4 gets a slice of the Licence Fee too so don't get too excited about using them as an example of commercial quality 🙂

And i'd hate to be considered a criminal for not wanting to pay for something i don't use. It's pretty ridiculous really

If you dont use it you do not need to pay

I don't shop at Sainsburys and would be 100% against having to pay a 'Sainsburys fee' every year for the privilege of not shopping there.

It's much closer to a tax than a usage fee. So a better analogy is [i]"I don't get ill so why do I pay for the NHS?"[/i] or perhaps [i]"I'm not homeless why do I pay for people who are?"[/i]

(And if you think those are a good questions then the "Why did you vote Tory?" thread is [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/anyone-on-here-voting-tory-why ]over here[/url]) 😉

ceebeebies is worth it alone

that and radio4
radio 6
bbc4, sometimes bbc3
iplayer
the sky at night!

If you dont use it you do not need to pay

[i]You need to be covered by a valid TV Licence if you watch or record TV as it's being broadcast.
[/i]

It doesn't mention BBC programmes only. I'm not against paying for telly, but my money doesn't go to the programmes/productuion companies that i actually watch (except MOTD as it's the only BBC programme that i watch). I can't see how that is fair, whichever way you look at it.

Bbc website is worth it alone cooking,education ect.

Put it behind a firewall and wait for all the people who don't pay right now start jumping up and down.

BBC is essentially the Ministry for Propaganda - This is not to say it hasn't made some wonderful stuff over the years but in the bigger picture I see a demise as a good thing ..

I think it is a bargain and people should fight for its protection. To destroy it would be a crime, especially to as part of a deal with Murdoch.

I think it is a bargain and people should fight for its protection. To destroy it would be a crime, especially to as part of a deal with Murdoch.

Spot on. Being able to watch or listen to entertainment or education for a) not a huge amount of money and b) not being bombarded with adverts is priceless.

I'm sure, like most large organisations there's areas and things that could be run better but that's not a reason to scrap it.

Someone earlier suggest a model like the Germans. That sounds like a good idea. Have the funding ring fenced and taken from a small rise in general taxation which then means it's not hitting the poor the hardest.

ditch everything on the BBC except the things I like!

(6music, radio 4, bbc2 and bbc4, just in case you were wondering)

wouldn't do it as ringfenced from general taxation, since ringfencing is nonsense and doesn't work, and is just a political manifesto.

but council tax is already collection of numerous levies for numerous authorities and agencies. stick tv licence there, and it's ringfenced in the sense that a fixed amount per household is to fund public tv/radio stations.

those on minimum wages and some with disability get a discount.

and you save all the admin of tv licensing, threatening people with "detector vans", and is probably cheaper.

Happily pay it for things like Peaky Blinders and Wolf Hall. Not a lot really is it

BBC is essentially the Ministry for Propaganda - This is not to say it hasn't made some wonderful stuff over the years but in the bigger picture I see a demise as a good thing ..

Leaving the way open for some nice unbias neutral telly like Sky, Fox or Russia Today ??

The most important thing about the BBC isn't the lack of adverts, it's the obligation it has to inform and educate.

This is why, even when it makes car crash reality TV, it also (usually) offers good insight about the situation from which we can learn. Bank of Mum and Dad was an example. Yes, we can all goggle at the dreadful behaviour, but it was fascinating to see the psychology underlying the behaviour.

The fact the BBC is so good raises the bar for the rest of the UK's TV output. If you don't agree just spend some time in the US. Between the blockbuster shows it's absolutely disgraceful. And about 40% adverts.

Licence or advertising is a straw man argument.
If it's as great as the supporters say, it will attract plenty of subscribers.
Add it to my rates ? You can stick that.

If it's as great as the supporters say, it will attract plenty of subscribers.

That doesn't work. The BBC can only make niche and minority interest programmes precisely because it doesn't need large viewing/listening figures to pay for them.

Total ****ing bargain. Ministry Of Propaganda aye, but it's cheaper than 2 pints.

I work with too many morons who dodge paying it "because I don't have a tv, tv is for idiots".

And then torrent Sherlock.

I'll never forget watching Newsnight days before the first Invasion of Iraq - Panel of "Military Strategists" pontificating over pragmatic approaches to what was being garnered as unequivocal evidence based on intelligence reports of weapons of mass destruction .. And we're expected to pay for this ? I promise I'm not trying to sound facetious but it really sums up the state of our country when folk chime in citing how good Wolfhall is - Talk about the demise of the middle class .. BBC is void of journalistic integrity and is awash with bought and paid for shills .. And it's a totally moot appraisal to suggest that in the event of the BBC loosing it's Royal Charter that other "worse" Media conglomerates would be the natural replacement.. Collectively the sum total of independent media consumption is rapidly becoming more significant than that of the BBC's competition ..

I'll never forget watching Newsnight days before the first Invasion of Iraq - Panel of "Military Strategists" pontificating over pragmatic approaches to what was being garnered as unequivocal evidence based on intelligence reports of weapons of mass destruction .. And we're expected to pay for this ?

I'm not sure why that makes them a government mouthpiece?

Given the heated situation in Iraq and the WMD "September Dossier" at the time I'd expect any decent news organisation to be discussing it as war was increasingly likely.

Incidentally, where was the first place we learned that the dossier had been "sexed up"?

Oh yes. [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Gilligan ]Andrew Gilligan on BBC Radio 4.[/url]

Yes; and how would the Beeb handle a similar story now? Far more timidly if at all I'd venture.

If it really is the ministry for propaganda, why are the government trying to target it?

ac282 - Member
If it really is the ministry for propaganda, why are the government trying to target it?

To make absolutely sure those few marginalised independent voices of integrity who remain are silenced. But given the rampant dumbing down which has taken place, they need not worry. What passes for my BBC local radio station (BBC Sussex) has featured 'stories' about a dog eating shoelaces and kittens with too many toes in its morning 'news' programme. As for BBC Radio Solent, the last time I listened I could feel the pain of brain cells dying.

Hammer the effing stake through its heart, and quickly!

it's noticeable that in the "good" / "carp" lists above, the programmes in the latter list are almost all the ones with big budgets and big casts i.e. the TV that is actually valued is cheaper to produce. So there's a saving right there... scrap Casualty and Eastenders (£40m a year) and use the money to create a load of new interesting programmes that can be produced at lower cost.