The Great Debate about the BBC and Licence Fee

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  • Ok, read that article, thanks bryan.

    I agree that streaming is the future, but on the BBC, they already have two streaming services, the iplayer and Britbox (about to launch).

    I think the argument should be, should we still have publicly funded broadcasters in the streaming age? If we say no, then its up to the newly privatised BBC to decide what services it wishes to offer or not.

    The fact that the BBC charter isn't up for renewal until 2027, this argument will drag on for a lot longer to come, but at least the impact of all the streamers will be known by then on existing broadcasters.

  • I think that any public funded service, ie by the taxpayer should recognise that they spend those funds. At the moment the BBC acts as if it has the right to spend those funds as they see fit, on gross salaries for several people, on programmes they only a minority like to watch or listen to, and political correctness to the extreme

  • Although this is also about streaming the Ofcom report is specifically on the BBC. Full story on link above.

  • If people are prepared to pay for these ever growing streaming services who's to say that they wouldn't pay for the BBC

  • That's true bryan, they might. But would all of those "bright, young things" want to pay for BBC4 or Radio 2, because if the BBC were still offering all the services it currently does, the charge for those services will likely be far higher than what it is today, especially if millions of people choose not to take BBC services in the future.

    I think if Boris wins a general election (if it ever happens..) then the guns will be out for the BBC and there will be change, it's just a case of what change.

    That report talks about young people not liking stuffy news. I don't think the news is stuffy, in fact in many cases it's far more like entertainment now. Anyone ever seen the Simon McCoy Show? When did news become a show?

    The fundamental question that needs to be addressed is whether there should still be public service broadcasting (PSB) in the 21st century and whether that should be funded through compulsory means like the BBC is. What do others think?

    I think there still needs to be a element of PSB, Heero highlighted the shipping forecasts earlier in this thread, as an example of PSB that commercial services would never touch. But the flip side is, the BBC shouldn't be paying millions of pounds to "talent" like Graham Norton and Gary Linekar.

    I think a PSB broadcaster whether it be the Beeb or someone else, should have one tv channel that is broad and has something for everyone with main news bulletins in the morning, lunchtime and evening. Children's shows for breakfast time and when school shuts down. And some drama, comedy and factual programming to fill the rest of the schedule, with salaries capped for "talent." And perhaps a few radio services too, not the dozens that the BBC currently has.

    Let someone else do reality shows, celebrity chefs, talent shows and keep the PSB channel tightly focussed on what I've just outlined.

  • "That's true bryan, they might. But would all of those "bright, young things" want to pay for BBC4 or Radio 2, because if the BBC were still offering all the services it currently does, the charge for those services will likely be far higher than what it is today, especially if millions of people choose not to take BBC services in the future."

    But why should Joe Public pay for a service only relevant to a few

    It was the same when the Royal Opera House had millions if not billions of Lottery money for the refurbishment of Covent Garden, entertainment for a few

    Let the users pay for it

  • I tend to watch their dramas although recently they have been a bit dire (World on Fire excepted), and ITV ones have been very good

    I watch Strictly only because the opposition on Saturday evening is awful, but I would not miss it. To think that Saturday and Sunday evenings used to be peak viewing times

  • Does anyone here watch a lot of the BBC?

    Very little: Saturday Kitchen and the Sunday Best Bites plus the weather forecast. We used to watch Countryfile but it's been overwhelmed with PC content so not now.

    R4 "You and yours" consumer programme. Used to have "Today" and the PM programme on but with Brexit nonsense and mal-reporting pervading every report don't have those on either.

    Could happily live without those as there are adequate substitues on commercial channels.

  • I barely have any time for tv now, let alone the BBC, so I guess I can't really say what their shows are like at the moment, but I think forcing everyone to pay for the BBC is now well past its sell by date. If it has to be funded by direct taxation in the future, then ok, but no more licence fee.

    I used to like Countryfile too, until the PC crap...:thumbdown:

    I tend to watch their dramas although recently they have been a bit dire (World on Fire excepted), and ITV ones have been very good

    I watch Strictly only because the opposition on Saturday evening is awful, but I would not miss it. To think that Saturday and Sunday evenings used to be peak viewing times

    Saturday evening is my main free time of the week and thus I generally spend it sleeping, or at least half asleep if I'm not on here.

    I used to love weekend tv, especially when our ITV company here in London switched over from Thames to LWT at 5pm on Fridays. Then you knew the weekend had started.:) Whether Play Cards Right, THe Generation Game etc etc would work today, I'm not so sure, but we all watched them, didn't we?

    Up until last year, Strictly was a staple in my household, sadly no more. It's just too noisy and I can't have it on.:(

  • I think forcing everyone to pay for the BBC is now well past its sell by date.

    The tipping point will come well before the next charter renewal, expect to see the de-criminalisation of watching TV without paying the BBC tax pretty soon.

    But another facet is the ever increasing numbers who simply refuse to pay, over 3 million at last estimate, and with a little knowledge you can thumb your nose at TVL.

    An interesting example from history concerned CB radio in the early '80's: Bootleg imports of CB equipment from the states was rapidly increasing (I had a rather nice Tandy unit about the size of a double DVD). BT had been told to get us off the air and that there would never be CB radio in the UK, but it was a fruitless attempt as every CB'er who spied a BT detector van put out on the calling channel (14) "Eyeball the busby's* at <location>" thus rendering enforcement impossible. Disguised antennas were also the norm. Mine was an electric telescopic unit. Only give away was it was fatter then normal due to the end loading coil and SWR adjuster.

    With over 3 million users the government capitulated and made CB legal though you were supposed to buy a licence. Nobody did that either and they gave up.

    One of the great pleasures of CB'ing was when there was a "lift" and you could talk over huge range. I remember listening in on a fellow CB'er talking to someone in Madison Square Garden (USA) clear as if they were a mile away. Best I managed was someone in the Shetlands on only 4 watts.

    Mobile phones have largely rendered CB obsolete in the UK.

    *Busby was BT's logo at the time, a strange yellow bird of some kind.

  • My dad was a serious radio ham many decades ago, and had quite a large set with an aerial in the back garden mounted on a 70ft rotating mast. He was licenced though, and it was all via morse code in those days. Quite boring to anyone else though, as all they 'talked' about was where they were from, their call sign (as every contact had to be logged) and what kit each other had.

    Mark Twain — 'Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.'

  • My son persuaded us to have a CB radio, really thrilling conversations with strangers such as "what did you have for tea tonight" :thumbdown:

    When I was a boy a friends neighbour was a radio ham with huge aerials in his back garden, and one time he invited s in to listen. I remember him chatting with the King of Jordan who briefly said hello to us

  • Presumably, that would be via watching live tv online??

    No.

    There's no such thing as a TV detector these days*, oh there are a fleet of 26 vans with TV detector written on the side, parked in prominent positions, but they are empty. Confirmed by the fact that nobody has ever been allowed to look inside. TV "detection" consists of the Bozos looking in the window or listening through the letterbox. The whole "enforcement" thing relies on myths and lies. Jo public is finally waking up to it. As well as the fact that a TV can be used for viewing any amount of content that is not live broadcast.

    TVL Bozos have no more powers than your local double glazing salesman. You do not have to answer the door to them, you do not have to let them on the premises or "examine" your equipment. If by some accident you actually let them in you can tell them to leave at anytime and if they don't you can use reasonable force to expel them.

    * In the old days of CRT TV it was possible to detect emissions from the line output stage that scanned the screen, roughly display picture content and correlate that with a broadcast channel. Not these days with the cacophony of emissions and the fact that the cable modem emissions are indistinguishable from the cable TV emissions.

  • Thanks for that Heero.

    As my mother just had her 75th birthday last week, I'm going to get a refund of the tv license which I've paid for and then claim a free one while I still can. Then and as when, I will come back to your post and refresh myself on what you've said.;)

    There's no way I'm paying for wall to wall celebrity chefs and Eastenders anymore.

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