Thank God For The BBC and The Licence Fee.

[tyred]

Just pay the b&w fee of £54 then.
Conscience clear and you're paying for a great service.

Out of curiosity, does anyone still have a working black and white TV and actually use it?

They were great for snooker

I know there is a 14" b&w portable in my parent's attic which at least did work but the tuning knob was broken so tuning it was a bit tricky (which was why it was decommissioned at the time).

If I had kids I'd get it set up and demonstrate it to them for a laugh.

 

[Salty seadog]

Not sure why I bother paying themlicence fee as I don't watch the beeb. When its due for renewal I may not bother.

Hold on there Pilgrim. That licence fee I would happily pay for the 6am 1pm and the snappily titled PM radio 4 output. It supports one of the largest websites out there. It is yet again under government attack, for what?. Its independence.

 

[Salty seadog]

If you travel far and wide you’ll find 2 British institutions universally admired: The BBC and The NHS. BBC news is the most trusted single source worldwide.

It’s a shame the Tories don’t seem to understand this and constantly seek to run both into the ground rather than invest in enviable success….

Wholeheartedly agree. I'd pay the licence fee for radio 4 alone.

 

[Salty seadog]

I don't think this is the case anymore, Tony Blair emasticated the BBC news long ago and the tories have done nothing to rectify this.

I do have a TV and a licence but hardly ever watch more than one or two programs per month. So to me it's not good value at all. I should really just bin it and save myself the money.

The radio.?

 

[Mike_P]

In this day and age what ought to be offered by BT/Virgin/Sky is the ability to pick exactly what channels you want rather than stupid packages that are full of channels you never watch. In comparison out of the BBC for 43/44p daily I get county wide news from Local Radio, national radio news / sport breakfast (5 Live) , national TV news (6 o clock), Sports round up (news channel 1830) plus any evening programmes on 1, 2 or 4 and record the local TV news at 1830 just in case anything other than the weather is of interest. Any programmes on commercial channels get recorded and watched back later so skipping as breaks.

 

[Salty seadog]

We had a lecture at our ham radio club from an old boy who'd done a load of sneaky beaky monitoring for MI5 in the 50's and 60's, and he told us they were a sham.



Ad it happens I do have a licence...at the moment, but won't when it expires.

But sadly you are a little out of date. The law has changed and you no longer need a licence for simply owning equipment that is capable of receiving a tv signal.

As the law stands now you only need a licence for watching - or recording - live tv. On demand streaming of the likes of Netflix, Prime, Britbox, or catch-up services, even the Sky movies box office, does not require licence as it is not live tv, even if you physically watch it on an actual television.

I must agree that watching the Beeb on catch up without a licence is morally wrong, but as I don't watch the Beeb anyway - or even listen to them any more - my soul shall still pass into heaven.

C'mon Barnard

We had a lecture at our ham radio club from an old boy who'd done a load of sneaky beaky monitoring for MI5 in the 50's and 60's, and he told us they were a sham.



Ad it happens I do have a licence...at the moment, but won't when it expires.

But sadly you are a little out of date. The law has changed and you no longer need a licence for simply owning equipment that is capable of receiving a tv signal.

As the law stands now you only need a licence for watching - or recording - live tv. On demand streaming of the likes of Netflix, Prime, Britbox, or catch-up services, even the Sky movies box office, does not require licence as it is not live tv, even if you physically watch it on an actual television.

I must agree that watching the Beeb on catch up without a licence is morally wrong, but as I don't watch the Beeb anyway - or even listen to them any more - my soul shall still pass into heaven.

C'mon Bernard auntie is needed and requires our support.

 

[Milkfloat]

On that subject ... what are folks typically paying for non-BBC content packages? (where a comparable monthly/annual inclusive deal is available).

( Everyone's taste is different. IMHO BBC content is mostly far superior to the stuff from american studios, so I can't imagine swapping, but I appreciate others may have the exact opposite view. I think The Simpsons is the only program that has ever made me jealous of Sky subscribers, but there may be things I don't know I'm missing :P )

Typically Netflix and their ilk are about half the price of the Beeb, Amazon Prime is part of the delivery packagae and Sky ranges from twice as much to five times the amount as Auntie.

 

[Rusty Nails]

However, how long this will continue is anybody's guess, just announced yesterday that all of Wales's autumn rugger games will no longer be free to air and with be behind an Amazon pay wall.

That will not be a problem. Rugger is not played in Wales.

 

[Baldy]

On that subject ... what are folks typically paying for non-BBC content packages? (where a comparable monthly/annual inclusive deal is available).

( Everyone's taste is different. IMHO BBC content is mostly far superior to the stuff from american studios, so I can't imagine swapping, but I appreciate others may have the exact opposite view. I think The Simpsons is the only program that has ever made me jealous of Sky subscribers, but there may be things I don't know I'm missing :P )

Nothing I don't have any.

 

[Drago]

I'd happily pay 5 times the current cost of the TV licence.

There's no punch-line to this. I would because it's worth it.

Very generous. That means 5 of us can duck out and the corporation won't suffer.

 

[Drago]

Hold on there Pilgrim. That licence fee I would happily pay for the 6am 1pm and the snappily titled PM radio 4 output. It supports one of the largest websites out there. It is yet again under government attack, for what?. Its independence.

You know Saline Canine, even when we disagree you talk sense and reason, and I like that. Not enough folk like thee around.

I have to say though, you may well like it, and all power to you. But ive gone right off it, and plenty of others don't like it, and theres a growing resentment at being made to pay for a non-essential service we dont like or use. There are all sorts of other reasons too but they go off into the realms of the political so won't go there.

If you want to pay for it then all power to your wallet. However, i don't and no not intend to continue doing so.

Sadly for the corporation, there are many like me and licence sales continue to fall. How, long can they survive with decreasing income? How long before Capita are instructed to get really nasty about it?

 

[captain nemo1701]

I'd rather pay a licence fee than boost the profits of Murdoch and his ilk.

 

[Badger_Boom]

It sometimes feels like the BBC are the corporate equivalent of Brussels sprouts; people don’t like it because they’re constantly told that they don’t like it.

Maybe I’m uncritical but I watch television over several platforms but don’t feel a need to make a fuss about the stuff I’m not interested in. I treat the licence fee a like any other tax - a necessary evil, and there’s enough output I do like to make it worthwhile.

 

[PeteXXX]

Without reading through the previous pages, has the fact that to watch ITV, which survives on its advertising income, I have to pay the BBC?
It's a throwback to a previous era when the world was in black & white and the Beeb was the only broadcaster.
The world has moved on.

 

[matticus]

...

It's a throwback to a previous era when the world was in black & white and the Beeb was the only broadcaster.
The world has moved on.

Whenever I see this phrase wielded in an attempt to persuade people, I think of the vehicles on our roads. Very very many of them still look a lot like this:

p.s. why do I have to pay tax to fund the NHS, yet 99% of my medical care is at physios I have to pay for myself? Hmmm? Answer me that!