The TV licence ?

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

If you add the amount of money the BBC have made selling shows such as Strictly, Dr Who and Top Gear, they would pay for the licence fee alone, add to that advert shows such as the One Show/Graham Norton show which are just platforms to plug what's new to buy or see.

The 6 channels, wow, 2 don't even start till 7pm and BBC 3 ends up repeating Eastender's again, in-case you missed it on the first slot or even the late night slot on the same day!

Sports,,, what sports they have lost the rights to almost every major main line event that people may want to watch, oh goodie they have the FA Cup back, I'm sure millions will be happy, but millions more don't care about football.

50p a day, great but if like some on here you don't watch or need a TV, you may as well throw 50p away each day, a choice would be nice.

Adrian

[Alan 45]

If you add the amount of money the BBC have made selling shows such as Strictly, Dr Who and Top Gear, they would pay for the licence fee alone, add to that advert shows such as the One Show/Graham Norton show which are just platforms to plug what's new to buy or see.The 6 channels, wow, 2 don't even start till 7pm and BBC 3 ends up repeating Eastender's again, in-case you missed it on the first slot or even the late night slot on the same day!

Sports,,, what sports they have lost the rights to almost every major main line event that people may want to watch, oh goodie they have the FA Cup back, I'm sure millions will be happy, but millions more don't care about football.

50p a day, great but if like some on here you don't watch or need a TV, you may as well throw 50p away each day, a choice would be nice.

Adrian

From the licence fee and the selling of top shows the BBC made over 5 billion in revenew last year

[Guest]

It's always been a rip off I remember we bought a vcr when they first came out and we had a black and white tv. The detector van came round and we got done as we only had a black and white licence apparently as our vcr received colour signal we had to have colour licence even though our tv was black a

[rickoshea52]

Okay so some folk don't watch the BBC and feel irked for having to pay for it. How many of us pay council tax and don't visit a library? Paying a fee for the BBC isn't an issue for me but what they spend that fee on is a problem.

[rickoshea52]

Ox

The licence fee pays for the production of programmes like Doctor Who, Top Gear, all those Attenborough wild life series which actually go on to make big money through licensing and franchising.There are also more serious questions about the independence of commercial broadcasters who might be owned, just like newspapers, by tycoons with an agenda. I've watched Fox News in the US and wouldn't want to see that sort of thing unchallenged here.

I know you can argue that the government might have its own agenda for the BBC, but Winston Churchill wouldn't agree with you and I doubt Cameron would either

It is an antiquated system and it does need updating or replacing, the initial question is with what? If there is no suitable answer to that then the second question is whether it is worth maintaining a public broadcasting service at all?

It's a much more complicated problem than at first meets the eye.

Cheers

Steve

Fox News is the best comedy show in the world. People who criticise Daily Mail readers for being right-wing would wince at the output of Fox News, in fact, Daily Mail readers would wince at Fox News , try watching a Nancy Grace interview.

[Guest]

personaly don't agree with it feel conned!! as I don't watch much bbc, but we have to pay to get channels then pay more on top of that for certain channels ie discovery, history etc. but were being more and more forced into it as sky keep buying the rights for things., I used to love watching all the f1 on bbc but now can only see highlights. unless pay for the f1 channel, which wont do as don't watch much sport ,cant stand football!!

[Ian M]

And I have to ask. Do you also have to pay a licence in the UK to own a PC or a smart phone?

We do. A 'medielicence costs DKK2460 her in Denmark, that is around £200 so stop ya whinging! o.O

BBC do make some great programs though

Ian M

[PaulTRose]

im kind of mixed on this

i dont mind paying a fee...........i object to how much the fee is..........i object to seeing it spent paying 'stars' huge wages

i have no problem with their output, i like lots of programmes they make and listen to BBC radio everyday, and often use the iPlayer but i object the the fact that it is a 'tax' of sorts that they take for granted which they squander as they feel fit, especially when they make even more money from it when they sell programmes abroad

i think it would be easier just to make them go commercial and be done with it..........often read how they argue against this saying it would cause the 'quality of programmes to drop'.....how?....if commercial companies can make programmes of equal quality to the Beeb then that argument dosnt hold water

[stona]

If the BBC as a public broadcasting service isn't financed in some way from the public purse, be it from a licence fee or some other form of taxation, direct or indirect, then we will have no public broadcasting service and we may well find the level of programming falling towards the lowest common denominator which means cheap TV.

How much Kim Kardashian or Real Housewives of Somewhere can you take?

I receive literally hundreds of channels in my package (Virgin keep upgrading it for free every time I threaten to move to another supplier as I'm a 'valued customer') but I hardly watch any of them.

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

.if commercial companies can make programmes of equal quality to the Beeb then that argument dosnt hold water

They can, but rarely do. Such programmes usually involve substantial investment and that is a risk which many commercial companies (not just TV production companies) are unwilling to take. Far easier and safer to make some cheap reality programme for the masses than a 'Horizon' for a potentially more limited audience.

Cheers

Steve

[PaulTRose]

i disagree there................and equally the beeb make complete garbage just like the commercial channels

[spanner570]

I'd love to add my comments to this, but I can't.....My wife and I haven't had a T.V. licence for four years now.

We don't miss it, nor want to return to it - ever. We've been camping close to my son's for the last 3 days and what we saw on his flat screen only helps us realise just why we gave it up in the first place.

For entertainment (apart from actually doing things and talking to each other) we get a perverse pleasure out of watching people's reaction when we tell them we don't watch t.v. It's as though we have just crawled out of a garden pond! Luckily, our amazing revelation usually stops the conversation dead...then we can get on with having a drink!!!

[Alan 45]

I'd love to add my comments to this, but I can't.....My wife and I haven't had a T.V. licence for four years now.We don't miss it, nor want to return to it - ever. We've been camping close to my son's for the last 3 days and what we saw on his flat screen only helps us realise just why we gave it up in the first place.

For entertainment (apart from actually doing things and talking to each other) we get a perverse pleasure out of watching people's reaction when we tell them we don't watch t.v. It's as though we have just crawled out of a garden pond! Luckily, our amazing revelation usually stops the conversation dead...then we can get on with having a drink!!!

Fair play Ron isn't it funny how people are shocked if you don't live your life the same as them ?

Each to there own

[spanner570]

Fair play Ron isn't it funny how people are shocked if you don't live your life the same as them ?Each to there own

To each his own indeed.....We have even been to 'do's' and had people we don't know, come over to us and ask if we are the couple who don't watch t.v.! Dead true....

[Guest]

Well, all I can say on the subject is my own opinion

I believe this is like a tax. You have to pay for something wether you want it or not. Yes, it can be argued that its there if you need it. If the BBC was like, for example, Sky TV then I personally wouldnt pay for it and would be happy to not recieve it.

Secondly, the OP says about value for money. Well, value for money is a personal justification. How many of us have been told that scale modelling is a waste of money. To the person making the comment perhaps so, but to the person whose hobby is to pain stakingly create something in minute format its not. On the other hand, I think spending £200 on a night out on a friday is a waste but to some its actually a lifeline.

Thirdly, I have the belief that the BBC is a stealth advertiser. They run "TV Trailers" for up and coming programs encouraging you to watch. You then watch them and then they inform you that this program is now available to buy on DVD. By coincidence the DVD is owned by the BBC.

If you didnt watch the program you probably wouldnt buy the DVD so the "TV Trailers" are in fact a form of advertising, IMO.

However, I can understand how some people believe that they get value for money for the TV licence. My Great Aunt used to watch the 9 o clock news every night then retire to bed. That was her lifeline and she believed that the BBC was worth every penny, even though she watched that one and only program daily, and who am I to take that away fro her.