Does anyone still buy a tv license?

[quiet_riot]

The bottom line is that I'm being forced to pay for something I don't want in order to watch television.
The technology exists to just let me receive the free view channels and not the BBC.
There's a generation coming up that won't pay for content and they will see off this regressive, anachronistic tax.

As I stated previously, you're required to have a TV license in order to watch ANY LIVE TV channels. Not just the BBC.

 

[Two Gun Bob]

Are you bringing your kids up with that corrupt moral code Marco?

I had to break off from my donkey ride for this one Dennis.
The phrase moral code when debating the BBC made me come over all giddy.





.

 

[pace89]

I have one and am thankful we benefit from it. Every BBC service for a fraction of commercial subscriptions and without the commercial considerations which make ITV's programming, for example, so utterly dismal and intellectually insulting.

That said I am resent any of my fee going to the rag idiots that infest BBC Sport.

 

[Two Gun Bob]

If it's so fandabbydozy and the Beeb know they own a winning product then why don't they simply scramble the channels and ask consumers to subscribe.
I guess it is because deep down they have no confidence their product will sell.

 

[supa-dapa-dan]

I don't contribute to the paedophile enabling fund.

 

[GortonBlue62]

As I stated previously, you're required to have a TV license in order to watch ANY LIVE TV channels. Not just the BBC.

The BBC is funded entirely by the licence fee (C4 receives some funding from the licence fee).

If the BBC didn't exist there would not be a licence fee.

It'll eventually go the way of the dog licence, but until then I'm going to have to put up with having my pocket picked once a year, when the whole thing could be funded by ads.

 

[Ezra]

I have one reluctantly. Like @aguero93:20 says it is a possible avenue of hassle so i just pay it to keep any prying eyes looking elsewhere. Not in my best interests to goad the authorities or otherwise give them reason to look into my circumstances :-)

Guy. Anything to do with the snow never settling on your roof!? ;0)

 

[billfromthehill]

dont think I have ever had one in the twenty odd years I have been responsible for having one?

Do they still send detector vans round? Seems absolutely mad in this day and age - especially when I pay about 100 a month to sky, bt etc.

Wtf?

 

[che_don_john]

It'll eventually go the way of the dog licence, but until then I'm going to have to put up with having my pocket picked once a year, when the whole thing could be funded by ads.

Which would be horrendous. Commercialism does bad things to television and to creativity. You only have to look at America and many channels there; like Comedy Central, where advertisers started to put pressure on programme makers to cut out jokes about their products which we being advertised during and afterwards. Hell, just look at the effect it has on the quality of programming here, particularly with the likes of ITV.

Imagine if Panorama wanted to do an expose on the practices of a clothing manufacturer, but that manufacturer had already signed a lucrative advertising deal with the BBC. Who do you think is going to win that battle?

There's a reason why the likes of Murdoch and Dacre want to turn the BBC into a commercial entity; it's so they can gain financially from it whilst utilising it as a mouthpiece for their own political and corporate agenda. So they constantly woman and moan and spout nonsense about it so that we believe their crap and start doing the same. Already these papers and the Tories had started the dismantling process by forcing the BBC to disclose the salaries of staff above a relatively modest threshold; with that kind of pressure and scrutiny the talent will naturally move over to commercial channels where they can be paid more and won't have their payslips viewable to the public. The BBC is having to produce more and more programmes, or better and better quality, with fewer freedoms and less talent.

The BBC ain't perfect but it does try to give something for everyone and it does at least try to remain impartial (yes, certain individuals working there are partisan and this inevitably seeps through, but it's still nowhere near as bad as the commercial channels). People like to woman and moan about it but along with free health and free education it is probably the best thing we have in this country. I reckon everyone has got their money's worth out of it if they bother to think about it; Christ, I'd happily pay the license fee now and forever more in gratitude for the fact that Blackadder ever existed! And then there's The Mighty Boosh, The Office, Alan Partridge, QI, University Challenge, Would I lie to You, HIGNFY....so many things have made it worthwhile.

 

[GortonBlue62]

I have one and am thankful we benefit from it. Every BBC service for a fraction of commercial subscriptions and without the commercial considerations which make ITV's programming, for example, so utterly dismal and intellectually insulting.

Whether it's 1p or £145.50 it's the principle that matters.

The BBC

Which would be horrendous. Commercialism does bad things to television and to creativity. You only have to look at America and many channels there; like Comedy Central, where advertisers started to put pressure on programme makers to cut out jokes about their products which we being advertised during and afterwards. Hell, just look at the effect it has on the quality of programming here, particularly with the likes of ITV.

Imagine if Panorama wanted to do an expose on the practices of a clothing manufacturer, but that manufacturer had already signed a lucrative advertising deal with the BBC. Who do you think is going to win that battle?

There's a reason why the likes of Murdoch and Dacre want to turn the BBC into a commercial entity; it's so they can gain financially from it whilst utilising it as a mouthpiece for their own political and corporate agenda. So they constantly woman and moan and spout nonsense about it so that we believe their crap and start doing the same. Already these papers and the Tories had started the dismantling process by forcing the BBC to disclose the salaries of staff above a relatively modest threshold; with that kind of pressure and scrutiny the talent will naturally move over to commercial channels where they can be paid more and won't have their payslips viewable to the public. The BBC is having to produce more and more programmes, or better and better quality, with fewer freedoms and less talent.

The BBC ain't perfect but it does try to give something for everyone and it does at least try to remain impartial (yes, certain individuals working there are partisan and this inevitably seeps through, but it's still nowhere near as bad as the commercial channels). People like to woman and moan about it but along with free health and free education it is probably the best thing we have in this country. I reckon everyone has got their money's worth out of it if they bother to think about it; Christ, I'd happily pay the license fee now and forever more in gratitude for the fact that Blackadder ever existed! And then there's The Mighty Boosh, The Office, Alan Partridge, QI, University Challenge, Would I lie to You, HIGNFY....so many things have made it worthwhile.

Again, it's your choice to pay the licence fee.
As it stands I don't have a choice, I'm forced to pay for something I detest.

The programmes you mention could and would still be made without the BBC.
They are made by independent production companies and would find a platform elsewhere.

Do you seriously think British TV compares favourably with American TV.
I can't imagine a British TV company, let alone the BBC, making The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Elementary etc.