tv licence rip-off or vfm ??

[melloned]

:hmmmm: A reply in another thread by Pakmoto , just reminded me that we're now paying ?150 TV licence , in addition to any vermin / sly subs .
What do you think ? , personally i think it 's a disgrace and should have been scrapped decades ago .
If the programmes they show are that good , advertising sponsors would be queing for the priviledge of doing business , or is it that they're so sh*te , if it weren't for our ?150 hard earned every year , they'd sink without trace !
And how is it they appear to be allowed to increase the fee 5% or more each year , without any one batting an eyelid , i've not had a pay increase in 3 years ! :banghead:

[Meat-Head]

nah, you don't need tv, just DK

nothing but timeteam an wwii films on tv

[cgscott]

I think it should be scrapped. How many people sit with just a freeview box in there household now? Not many.

So the extra ?10 a month just for the privilage of owning a TV seems a bit harsh. That said how would the BBC survive?

Maybe they should look into commercials as well that way we can scrap the TV liscence.

[barrowmanandrew]

should have been scrapped years ago.
why should we be forced to take this subscription???
another thing that get my goat about license fee.
most of bbc's content is available online, bbci player etc.
this is paid for out of license money that british public pay, however, there is no restrictions on who can view or listen to this content.
therefore pierre in france and abdul in india can sit and watch bbc content on there pc, while joe c*nt is britain is left to pay for it....
:y::y::y:

[boomer39]

should have been scrapped years ago.
why should we be forced to take this subscription???
another thing that get my goat about license fee.
most of bbc's content is available online, bbci player etc.
this is paid for out of license money that british public pay, however, there is no restrictions on who can view or listen to this content.
therefore pierre in france and abdul in india can sit and watch bbc content on there pc, while joe c*nt is britain is left to pay for it....
:y::y::y:
abdul lives down the road from me!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cgscott]

should have been scrapped years ago.
why should we be forced to take this subscription???
another thing that get my goat about license fee.
most of bbc's content is available online, bbci player etc.
this is paid for out of license money that british public pay, however, there is no restrictions on who can view or listen to this content.
therefore pierre in france and abdul in india can sit and watch bbc content on there pc, while joe c*nt is britain is left to pay for it....
:y::y::y:

Some things can only be viewed in the UK. Mostly only guff you can view from abroad. Live footy etc cant be viewed in foreign countrys.

[boomer39]

I think it should be scrapped. How many people sit with just a freeview box in there household now? Not many.

So the extra ?10 a month just for the privilage of owning a TV seems a bit harsh. That said how would the BBC survive?

Maybe they should look into commercials as well that way we can scrap the TV liscence.
commercials!!!! ffs, cash for au, go compare, ..... would sooner pay!! btw, my missus is 75 soon, so will be free... big deal after 40 years of paying for crap...

[ManofScience]

i think we're priviledged to have an institution like the BBC whoever it does seem to waste a lot of money that could be saved.

[barrowmanandrew]

Some things can only be viewed in the UK. Mostly only guff you can view from abroad. Live footy etc cant be viewed in foreign countrys.
your probably right m8, but i enjoyed the rant anyway...:burnout:
we definately need a rant section.........

[Stephenw]

you need a tv licence for more than just a tv apparantly.. bloke told me a while back any pc's or hi tec mobile phones that can view tv will need require a tv licence.. pathetic

[kingkopo]

you dont know what ya talking about tv free from ads worth ?150 a year

[SatSearching]

Sly, ITV etc, are toss.

I think the BBC are fantastic, some quality home grown content, TV, Radio and Internet.

None of the other providers can touch them for quality.

SS

[barrowmanandrew]

Sly, ITV etc, are toss.

I think the BBC are fantastic, some quality home grown content, TV, Radio and Internet.

None of the other providers can touch them for quality.

SS
fair comment i'd say..
however itv dont ask for a penny and sly dont force us to take out a subscription....
this is the diffrence...

[SatSearching]

fair comment i'd say..
however itv dont ask for a penny and sly dont force us to take out a subscription....
this is the diffrence...

But ironically, the OP's avitar and your avitar are from programs that the BBC first showed?

SS

[trampjuice]

The public broadcasting element in the UK is not very good. In the US thanks to (privately funded) PBS documentaries on Heart Disease, a lot of the the public know how exactly how the immune system is the main cause of furred up arteries, and how massively important things which prevent infection in the bloodsteam are - like dental health.

In the UK, thanks to our crappy overpaid bloated public services most health workers, never mind the public, still don't know how heart disease - the number one killer in the US/UK - actually forms! Here - from years and years ago - find out how you and your loved ones might die suddenly by a decent public broadcaster http://www.pbs.org/previews/heartdisease/

This is the absolute direct domain of public broadcasting. Here in the UK it should be common knowledge to the public via public funded bodies like the BBC, but they fail us. I would have expected at least one program on this. If they fail us over this - what good are they? We do get a lot of sad old 1970s z-listers like June Whitfield talking to us like 3 year olds, telling us how we should be eating fruit, no doubt for millions in pay.

Don't forget of ?164.50 per year, the millions on Johnathon Ross and the BBC executives. Russell Brand anyone? (1.1m per year) Zany. The only good stuff is some science/documentary on Radio 4, WorldService, things like Blue planet etc...

Public broadcasting like public health should be limited to what people need, i.e. whats good for them. Maybe its hard to define what that is? It seems pretty easy to define BBC tv as being whats so far out of this scope it's on another planet.

It's not Chris Evans or Bruce Forsythe on 0.7m hosting Dancing with the stars and the bloated rest of the overpaid crap. Its not 90% of BBC output that is 'public service'.

I get really riled up by all this because I used to work with a bunch of people at the BBC they used to get to work 11am and then fiddle the timesheets doing naff all - with the full complicity and approval of their manager.

[lfc4life]

i can understand why people dont pay there tv licence when the money earned from it goes on alot of the time on poor tele! and fat cats big pay :(

[barrowmanandrew]

But ironically, the OP's avitar and your avitar are from programs that the BBC first showed?

SS
not true, first channel it was shown on was abc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Caveman_and_the_Teen_Angels)
it will have been the first channel to show it in uk, though
but you have to remember, this was in the days before satellite, cable etc
you had 4 or 5 ~~~~in channels and that was it.
bbc made sense back then, but now seems outdated and not no longer value for money (in my opinion)

[Sirus]

It's a ploy alright... typical government ploy... we all have tv's that are capable of viewing bbc, so we all have to pay whether we watch bbc or not, or face a big fine... total disgrace

What about chnls like GOLD, Dave, etc...(all previously called "UKTV" chnls)... they constantly show bbc re-runs.. I know there's also some other programmes from other chnls on them too, but 90 percent of their programmes are all bbc re-runs.. and they're all broke up with advertisments

Is that the bbc in disguise?... even if not they would still get cash from selling their programmes, and is paid for from those chnls advertising.. so it;s kind of the same thing when you think about it

Gold, Dave etc.. = bbc with advertising..... or bbc programmes paid for by the chnl broadcasting it advertising(same thing)

[fukwullie]

dont pay them & when thay come to ur door dont let them in to ur house then fone up & complaine that the guy at the door was shouting abuse at u saying u had tv when uve not he never evan came in to have a look just treating u with court thay say there sorry & will send some1 out within the week (so no tv 4week) & if it turns out uve not picking up any tv channales then thayer not aloud to come near ur house for 3 year

ive never payed & never will get 1 vist ever 3year thay evan send me letter out to tell me its due

[PaphosAL]

I think it should be scrapped. How many people sit with just a freeview box in there household now? Not many.

So the extra ?10 a month just for the privilage of owning a TV seems a bit harsh. That said how would the BBC survive?

Maybe they should look into commercials as well that way we can scrap the TV liscence.

But they ARE into commercials, dear boy! You remember the old 'UKTV-blah blah' channels, all now neatly renamed into weally twendy names?

50% owned by BBC and 50% by Virgin Media. And each and every channel carrying (apparently) more ~~~~ing adverts than actual program content!!

Then there's the BBC World tv service via satellite. A mix of BBC NEWS interspersed with popular BBC program content. Available globally, except in the UK. Who the ~~~~ pays for this? Yep! Us TV Licence payers...

Plus- they make ????millions each year flogging their content to other broadcasters around the world. Are these profits used to slim down the licence fee? No! They're used for fat-cat salaries, pensions, perks, bonuses, world-wide 5* jollies for presenters, etc etc

And exactly HOW MUCH of our licence fee actually goes to Auntie Beeb, compared to the slice retained by HMG as yet another Stealth Tax, eh?

Cheers- AL :banghead:

[boomer39]

does anyone know if the radio times is still going??? advert free tv?? but that bbc mag was was full of adverts.. 3 faced effers...

[barrowmanandrew]

does anyone know if the radio times is still going??? advert free tv?? but that bbc mag was was full of adverts.. 3 faced effers...
it's still available online (http://www.radiotimes.com/).
dont know if its stilll in print though....

[Jim.Mahoney]

Here in South Africa we get the following BBC channels:

BBC World - News and News Related Documentaries.
BBC Knowledge - A poor man's Discovery Channel!
BBC Entertainment - Various out of date BBC programs!
BBC Lifestyle - Was called BBC Food but has some other stuff amongst Jamie Oliver cooking pasta for his mates!
BBCeebies - Repetitive Children's Channel.

All are included in top tier DSTV subscription.

For terrestrial services we have the SABC channels, all carry adverts! Plus eTV which is independent. The latter shows films after midnight that would need to go on the Adult channels in the UK.

The TV License fee is R260 (around ?22) per year.

The downside for SABC is that English news reporters can't actually speak English! With lines like "peace in Africa" sounding like "piss en afreecar" it's almost amusing!

[SatSearching]

not true, first channel it was shown on was abc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Caveman_and_the_Teen_Angels)
it will have been the first channel to show it in uk, though
but you have to remember, this was in the days before satellite, cable etc
you had 4 or 5 ~~~~in channels and that was it.
bbc made sense back then, but now seems outdated and not no longer value for money (in my opinion)

Still, was first shown in the UK by bbc?

If the BBC dissapeared, not only would you lose lots of TV channels, Local Radio, cracking Internet content, but a lot of quality content from other providers that they sell on.

Even BBC 3 and 4 has some cracking stuff now, not just repeats from sister channels like ITV 2, 3, 4, plus 1 hour etc etc

Easy to knock the BBC, but if you travel a lot, the BBC always has something for you in near every corner of the world.

Give them more funding I say.

[ManofScience]

Totally agree with SS, BBC is so unique to the UK it would be a MASSIVE loss to this country. It's not just the award winning home grown TV they produce - it's the news, internet, interactive, radio - ALL advert free! Name 3 good shows Sky make regulary? or Vigin?

using the same arguement, you could get rid of the NHS - but would you want to ?

Yes, it has some waste like ALL organisations, especially publicly run ones - but don't you also think they're under lots of scrutinty too? even more so with the financing published like no other private broadcasters. they're an easy target of the "ooo look how much whatshisface is getting paid" tabloids.

and you blame them for selling these shows to other countries what you can see for free, at peak time, before anyone else on the most watched channels in the country? don't watch UK Gold then - it's a repeats channel!

you don't know a good thing till you've lost it.

[boomer39]

i was under the impression, that even if you dont have a tv, if you have anyway of receiving tv, ,ie, internet, you still had to pay a licence fee.. not 100% on this tho'...

[ManofScience]

i think it's LIVE TV as it's being broadcast. or somefink.

[barrowmanandrew]

i was under the impression, that even if you dont have a tv, if you have anyway of receiving tv, ,ie, internet, you still had to pay a licence fee.. not 100% on this tho'...


look at this (http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/)

seems you now need a license for a ~~~~in mobile phone if it can receive broadcasts...

[super jumbe]

The question is why we are forced to pay for BBC TV licence when others are for free the answer is the government need your money for example we are forced to pay council tax and we are forced to pay for road tax and not a penny going towards upgrading and maintaining our roads network. Most of our money could be used in war, they could not give you a toss if you are skin or not. Try asking them how they work out.
:barscarf:

[ManofScience]

The question is why we are forced to pay for BBC TV licence when others are for free the answer is the government need your money for example we are forced to pay council tax and we are forced to pay for road tax and not a penny going towards upgrading and maintaining our roads network. Most of our money could be used in war, they could not give you a toss if you are skin or not. Try asking them how they work out.
:barscarf:

so many incorrect statements i don't know where to start!

[janobi]

Its a rip off. Nothing more to say.

[DarkKnight]

I think its actually more straight forward than anyone would believe.

As far as I am concerned the BBC is owned by the Government, your ?150+ per year is going to Westminster, not all of it goes into making Tv & Radio, hence the reason why there are so many repeats.

They hardly make anything fresh these days but they still put the Fee up every year.


The fat cats who run it get a big reward and the rest goes into the Prime Ministers back pocket.

[mikeyb]

The fee is practically optional, it's easy to avoid paying. I pay it as I feel it's a good service. Additionally you get no adverts!

Somethings are worth paying for and keeping.

[boomer39]

The fee is practically optional, it's easy to avoid paying. I pay it as I feel it's a good service. Additionally you get no adverts!

Somethings are worth paying for and keeping.
can you please explain by "practically optional, its easy to avoid paying"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
btw , are you over 75? because my missus is 75 in october and we will get a free licence... big effin deal after 40 years or more of paying .. think it costs ?145 p/a,..thats ?5800 we have spent for advert free tv!!! pity we are not blind... we could also get it free!!!!!