The Great Debate about the BBC and Licence Fee

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  • OAP Brits have been urged to cancel their TV licence fee direct debits as millions of over 75s are sent letters today demanding they pay the £157.50 bill.

    The BBC has hired 800 licence fee 'agents' to ensure pensioners pay the annual levy as the war over it being scrapped for the elderly rages on.

    Campaigners have told over 60s to cancel their payments in solidarity with over 75s instead of offering to set up monthly instalments.

    Dennis Reed, from Silver Voices, one of the groups behind the protest, told The Times that they were planning a “long attritional campaign” to make the Beeb change their mind.

    Mr Reed said many of his members were refusing to cough up and he hopes the movement will throw a spanner into the TV Licensing’s enforcement and collection system.

    I wonder how much traction this will gain and hope that those who refuse to pay know their rights regarding TVL bozoe's:

    They have no statutary right of entry and if accidentally admitted must leave the moment you tell them to.

    They have no right to inspect any equipment that you may or may not have.

    You do not have to answer the door to them or take phone calls from them.

    They may not deviate from the path from the boundary to your front door. (Applies to any stranger)

    Ensure that your name(s) are only on the private electoral register, then they don't know who lives at your address and they cannot prosecute "The Legal Occupier" Only by name.

    Ensure that any TV etc cannot be seen from the street.

    TV detector vans are a myth. The van exixts but it's empty.

  • True but I was replying to the post speculating that the BBC might lose contributors if it goes down the pay to view road because they couldn't afford the high salaries. ITV can do it

    If the BBC was de-funded, with good efficient management they could make a profit by selling advertising space. All that's needed is to dispose of the mega expensive dead wood and practices and encourage new efficient talent. Their costs would plummet almost immediately..

    The Voice of Reason

  • Remember the law can change almost overnight at the moment

    For instance a week ago you could shop without wearing a mask :(

  • I think you're right that the licence enforcement powers on the immediate horizon add up to an empty hand.

    But I have a suspicion that this is just an opening gambit so as to avoid friction with the viewing public or embarrass our pass-the-buck government. It's the boil-a-lobster strategy. Start lukewarm and then progressively but gently, almost unnoticeably, raise the heat, so that by the time the population notices the ultimate final lap of deplorable tactics of licence fee enforcement it will have crept in as the norm and the BBC will have extracted with menace their licence fee.

    God forbid the BBC should prosper through merit. when they are allowed to do it through menace.

    It's a similar tactic as used in marketing, where a manufacturer wants to lower the quality of its food or drink product so as to save manufacturing costs. The solution is to downgrade in small barely noticeable increments stretched over a long enough period for several repeat purchases. In this way, each purchase is almost indistinguishable from the previous purchase. Hardly anyone wakes up one day and says "this product is unacceptable crap compared to what I remember it was like 2 years ago".

    In Britain - and to a far lesser extent in the US, we create and improve things to gain market share and upon achieving a strong enough position as a "reference brand", the quality can be progressively but surreptitiously downgraded to economise on production costs.

    One should never underestimate the British public's indifference or inability to discern quality.

  • The only forseeable change on the horizon is to de-criminalise non-payment.

    So you think the BBC may sit back and allow this sizeable chunk of their income to vanish

    I don't think so

    "BEEB BAILIFFS

    OAPs who refuse to pay BBC licence fee may face BAILIFFS as corporation splurges £38m on staff to collect £157.50 levy"

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12326581/…-bill-bailiffs/

    Edited once, last by bryanluc (August 6, 2020 at 1:08 PM).

  • "WALL TOGETHER NOW

    Danny Dyer’s The Wall will film in London this summer as the BBC spend a fortune recreating huge set from Poland"

    Now we know where the extra income from scrapping the free licence for the over 75s will go

  • It's what happens when you don't have to earn your money and the right to broadcast.

    That's right, and if the licence fee was scrapped so you could choose whether to subscribe, pensioners (or anyone for the matter) could choose not take up a subscription and just watch commercial TV and ad funded streamers instead. Nice little saving there for them.

  • It should be noted that pensioners don't have to pay the full cost if they receive or successfully claim Pension Credit or have rights (or preserved rights) to an Accomodation for Residential Care (ARC) licence. These pensioners pay £7.50 a year:

    https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ78 You do not neccessarily have to live in an elderly persons care home to claim this

    The rest are covered until 30/9/20, if they fail to buy or make arrangements for a free or reduced cost TVL by this date, they will be unlicensed from 1/10/20.

  • The best option is to make the BBC fund itself and scrap the license fee completely. Allow the public to choose what they watch without fear of huge fines and mandatory unnecessary taxation.

    The Voice of Reason

  • Those who continue to get the Savings Credit before the Tories scrapped it are able to qualify for a free TVL.

    There are two types of Pension Credit: Guarantee Credit and Savings Credit.

    To be eligible for Guarantee Pension Credit, you must be State Pension age. You can check when you'll reach State Pension age on Gov.uk.

  • My mother "became of age" over the last year to get the free tv licence, so got a letter a couple of months ago saying that as you're entitled to a free licence now we (the TV Licencing board) are refunding you and they sent me a cheque. Now, I've got another letter saying that the free tv licence has expired and I must renew, even though I already paid for a year. I haven't cashed the cheque from them yet and am tempted to let it "ride" and see what happens. What do you think?

    I barely watch the BBC now, in fact barely watch anything at the moment.

  • I haven't cashed the cheque from them yet and am tempted to let it "ride" and see what happens. What do you think?

    I would

    If she gets pension credit with the guaranteed element she gets the free licence

  • As I said before, she's entitled to pension credit.

    There are two bits to pension credit, it's the guaranteed bit that she needs

    "Guarantee pension credit can act as a 'passport' to other kinds of assistance. Even if it only gives you a small amount to top up your income, you will then also be eligible for help with things such as Council tax and some healthcare costs.

    Guarantee pension credit is not offered automatically when you reach the required age – it must be claimed.

    Although entitlement to these and other payments can involve complex rules, organisations like Citizens Advice and Age UK can help and it is worth asking for a benefits check."

    https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/pu…wE&gclsrc=aw.ds

    When I was working we visited an old boy who had chronic dementia and we advised his wife to claim council tax rebate which our LA provided for people such as him. She got a full rebate going back a number of years

    Good luck

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