The Great Debate about the BBC and Licence Fee

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  • The BBC have reached an all time low with the quality of programmes over Christmas... Repeats of films, poor quality so-called comedy programmes and rehashing repeats of the worst of them. I'm pleased that I had recorded a whole load of programmes which I intend to watch.

    This dumbing down of the BBC is an insult to their license payers. Time to defund the BBC from the public purse...

    Agreed, and that is why it’s sensible to record the programmes you want to watch from the TV channels. Then you can watch them whenever it suits you.

    It is the dumbing down of scheduled TV which will ultimately lead to its demise.

  • Full survey details in linked article.

  • The problem with that survey is that the BBC like most other media, at least London based media, will always have certain "values". We need to decide whether we can tolerate a PSB which will always be politically at odds with its majority audience or not. Even if another organisation were chosen to take over from the BBC, it would still go down the London metro liberal elite route in the end.

  • The problem with that survey is that the BBC like most other media, at least London based media, will always have certain "values". We need to decide whether we can tolerate a PSB which will always be politically at odds with its majority audience or not. Even if another organisation were chosen to take over from the BBC, it would still go down the London metro liberal elite route in the end.

    Probably, but it shouldn’t be like that. What most people want to see is factual news, not biased news. Is it that difficult to report factually, and then present the main arguments for and against?

    And why are politicians running the country treated so disrespectfully by BBC interviewers? There’s no need for that, but they do it all the same. Most of the time it is politicians who sit right of centre who cop it, although to Andrew Neil, all politicians were fair game. He treated Jeremy Corbyn just as badly.

    Politicians are elected by the people of this country and by insulting them, they are insulting people who elected them. Criticise where criticism is due by all means, but the constant bickering and ‘gotcha’ mentality displayed by BBC interviewers is beyond the pale.

    The new GB News channel claims to want to redress the balance, but what we don’t need is another Fox News. A good, independent news channel is what most people want and it is a disgrace that the BBC cannot provide that.

  • Through the whole of this pandemic the rhetoric from the BBC is of being a government bootlicker even more so than usual. There is no journalism or real questioning and to me it is no longer a source of reliable public information. The propaganda is sickening and reminds me of the Nazi's and how they pushed propaganda. The only thing the BBC do well is natural history and even that has to be questioned these days and has been faked by capturing animals and putting them in some kind of studio set to film as being in the wild or filming them in a zoo. They are more interested in effects and fancy camera work than factual material that represents the truth and reality.

    It doesn't matter what one watches on the BBC now it all should be treated as fiction, a fairytale for entertainment purposes only. Even worse is the noticeable difference with other channels accept ITV which seems to follow the BBC but not quite as strong and approaches things from a slight different angle to make them out to be the good guys but eventually ends with the same result. The BBC and ITV seem to bounce off each other to some degree rather than compete with each other.

    The television media industry is a complete shambles and worryingly I am finding myself turning to places like Twitter as a better source of info which is dangerous and one has to filter out the real bad stuff and trust that genuine sources are genuine, for example if someone claims they are a professor then they are not a bad actor that has hacked and impersonating a genuine professors account. It's no wonder we have Corbyns brother and his bunch out there because we have so many lies built on lies. We have no genuine source of public information and news that can be trusted to be informing us with complete truth. 'What you say is what you get' kind of like WYSIWYG.

    The biggest danger we have is everything we do have now, even though is bad, is the risk of it being lost to some US complete and utter bigger crap on par with Donald Trumps backside. Complete junk like a McDonalds take-away and Hollywood f***ckwits on parade. Even that Tom Cruise swearing and recording of him having a go at the non mask wearers on set I think was setup otherwise why was it filmed. Who films that kind of thing and publishes it. Gorilla style movie publicity self promotional stunt IMO. The BBC is at least British and under our control. The control has gone bad and needs pulling back in line with what the British public want from it. It's become to institutionalised and that part of it needs breaking down along with the funny handshakes removed.

  • Fully agree with those last few lines there Norra, but the problem is how do we bring them back under our control? It's staffed by Oxbridge Islington sect types and I don't see that changing any time soon.

    They're always right and we, the peasants, are always wrong in their eyes.

  • The Beeb has gone past redemption. It no longer champions the views of the British people. It needs to be denied any funding from the public purse, so that if it wants to continue broadcasting, it will need to source it's income in a competitive commercial marketplace. The License Fee is wrong and should be abolished.

    The Voice of Reason

  • A former Goldman Sachs banker will this week be installed by Boris Johnson as the next BBC chairman amid a deepening debate about the fate of the television licence fee and unprecedented competition from commercial rivals.

    Sky News has learnt that the government is preparing to announce the appointment of Richard Sharp as Sir David Clementi's successor as soon as Thursday.

    A new Chairman for the BBC. He’s a Conservative through and through, but will he grasp the nettle and abolish the licence fee in favour of a subscription-based service.

    We wait with bated breath...

  • Yes, of course it's the funding, but its far wider than that. Anyway this bloke is the chairman, which means he doesn't run the day-to-day affairs of the BBC, just does a few days work for them every month... ;)

    While I've got the time OB, I'm going to go back in this thread a bit (and the streaming one if I can) and get to some earlier points.

  • The new GB News channel claims to want to redress the balance, but what we don’t need is another Fox News. A good, independent news channel is what most people want and it is a disgrace that the BBC cannot provide that.

    As I just said in the thread about GB News, the news should be separate from opinion. So that the facts are not "tilted" towards someone's views.

  • The BBC is to launch a new Amazon subscription channel, BBC Select. However, I think this will not be available in the UK.

    https://advanced-television.com/2020/12/17/bbc…nch-bbc-select/

    (Thanks for this link. It's a big media story and really deserves its own thread (which I might do) from the usual stuff on here.)

    I'm confused. Someone unconfuse, please. :P

    The BBC have Iplayer, Britbox. UKTV player. Netflix. Amazon. Stuff on Discovery+. Stuff on HBOMax in the States and other streamers, as well as linear channels and shows on channels such as America's PBS.

    Anyone care to explain to me their streaming and broadcasting strategy?

  • (Thanks for this link. It's a big media story and really deserves its own thread (which I might do) from the usual stuff on here.)

    I'm confused. Someone unconfuse, please. :P

    The BBC have Iplayer, Britbox. UKTV player. Netflix. Amazon. Stuff on Discovery+. Stuff on HBOMax in the States and other streamers, as well as linear channels and shows on channels such as America's PBS.

    Anyone care to explain to me their streaming and broadcasting strategy?

    I think things are developing rapidly!

    Ultimately, I think that BBC shows will progress to the I- Player for 12 months and then on to Britbox. That’s as I understand it, anyway! Not sure where Acorn TV comes into it!

  • OH dear. New research has found that half of all the people in this country aged between 16 and 34 don’t regularly watch ANYTHING on the BBC.

    And the problem is made worse by the fact that the BBC is desperately trying to woo these younger people by getting more and more right on. Which alienates the only audience they have left: Oldies.

    I look at all the “experts” on the Antiques Road show and think: “Yes, you are demographically correct, but do you actually know anything about antiques?”

    And I can’t be the only one who’s fed up with the way climate change is mentioned in every single programme. It’s so relentless that usually I turn over to watch Amazon or Netflix instead.

    Plus it’s not just the new streaming services that the BBC has to worry about. Because there’s also TikTok.

    Full comment piece on link.

  • I think things are developing rapidly!

    Ultimately, I think that BBC shows will progress to the I- Player for 12 months and then on to Britbox. That’s as I understand it, anyway! Not sure where Acorn TV comes into it!

    Things are indeed moving rapidly and I was going to make a post in the mergers thread and I still will, but it will be somewhat different now. I'll try to make it latter.

    The government has decided not to de-criminalise the licence fee for the time being.

    https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2021/01/22/uk-…bc-licence-fee/

    Hopefully, we will move to a subscription model when the licence fee is next reviewed, which will resolve the whole issue.

    If the fee was decriminalised, that would end the BBC there and then and with Cummings out of the way now, I think Boris is taking a more cautious approach to things.

    I still haven't given my updated view on the BBC and public service broadcasting in general, but briefly, here's a few points:

    1. Subscription. This is unworkable for the BBC until everyone has access to the internet and can access services that way, rather than through Freeview. As we know, millions of kids, let alone adults, don't have access to the net and I don't see this as a option any time soon. And to follow on from that, I don't think Freeview will be switched off for at least twenty years.

    2. PSB Broadcasting - on the subject of whether we need public service broadcasting in the age of Netflix and Amazon, the answer must be yes, for reasons stated above, but also the American streamers aren't interested in being PSB's. Amazon and Netflix's bosses were asked this directly last year whether they would like to do British PSB content and the answer was a resounding no. As we've seen with the virus, whether people are interested or not, having a channel like BBC 1 is essential for when the government needs to make important statements like their daily briefings. Imagine Netflix ever agreeing to show those briefings every day...

    3. BBC. On the question of the BBC specifically, I am not so sure. We need PSBs, but that doesn't have to be the BBC, but they're there, have infrastructure and it would take a massive effort to supplant them with something else, so probably the BBC will remain, but hopefully in a less London centric form in the future.

  • Until the PM gives the BBC an ultimatum that the License fee will stop .. The BBC will do absolutely nought to curb their obscene Salaries, their overuse of manpower, both on outside broadcasting and within the studios, also the number of channels they are supporting. The BBC will have to then compete in the marketplace on a level playing field basis.

    As far as PSB broadcasts are concerned they can bid for those along with other broadcasters.

    The BBC rip off must cease. NOW !!! X(

    The Voice of Reason

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