tv licence rip-off or vfm ??

[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
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bbc made sense back then, but now seems outdated and not no longer value for money (in my opinion)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

[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.
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
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

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.

[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.

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