Page 1 of tv liscence..why should we pay?

hi ive ben thinking really long and hard about this as to why were the only country in the world were every house has to pay for a tv channel which so very few of us actually use or given the choice wouldnt pay for..i myself dont watch very much tv i prefer to watch dvds or play video games or watch sky but its not fair that in this day and age that we the british citizens have to pay for crappy bbc 1 and bbc 2 ive just gpot my tv liscence threw the post and shocked to see i have to pay over £100 for a thing i rarelly watch ..im sure now as weve joined the european union im sure they cant make us pay to a channel which isnt state run anymore ..does anyone know the legal side of were we stand on this now and id also like to know if theres any gropus or organizations i can contact to express how badly im againsty this..
who else here agrees with me that nows the time for everyone to stand up for our rights and say no more to paying to a company which we should have the choice to pat too or not..i guess theyll come back with a arghuement that the bbc creates clas shows like dr who or eastenfders ..fair enough buit is it also right for us to pay them our liscence fee then if we want to watch them again on dvd weve got to fork out another £20 for a ferw episodes on a dvd which in fact weve already paid the company to create so therefore we shouldnt actually be expected to pay for it in the first place..the itv /c4/c5 have advertisinbg and they still show excellent shows also does sky the have advertising and they show top shows too ..bbc should now either show adverts like every channel in the world or change to a pay for view site..peope should be given a choice ..hope someone can help me..

Ah this old chestnut, expect to feel the wrath of BBC supporters with this one :D

But I do agree, the tv licence is old and unpopular... time to stop bottle feeding the BBC!

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About now im having amnesia and deja vu. I think Ive forgotten this before :D

http://www.tvlicensing.biz/

Badboybez

In Madness You Dwell

The TV licence (or more accurately the wireless licence as it originally was) was designed to create a broadcasting company that was neither a puppet of the government nor a crass commercial organisation. Because the BBC gets its money from licence fees, it isn`t at the mercy of government purse tightening nor does it have to appease advertisers and make `safe` programmes.

That are least is the theory, and it`s a praiseworthy one. But of course in reality the government does try to interfere, and the BBC is very much aware that it has to maintain a particular market share of the audience. Hence the dross that infests the screen for most of any evening - cookery porn, gardening porn, home makeover porn, and third-rate `gritty` dramas.

Should we continue to pay for the Beeb? Well if we didn`t pay the licence fee then the chances are that the last vestiges of anything approaching intelligent programming would disappear. So in the spaces between the various pathetic cookery and gardening programmes there would be just more of the same, and no more costume dramas, documentaries, concerts, arthouse films, etc. Of course to some guys on this forum that probably sounds like a great idea - load of elitist toss, why not get rid of it, etc. On the other hand, not all of us have the intellectual sensibilities of a retarded whelk. And of course you could kiss goodbye to any more comedy series like Little Britain, Monty Python, Not the Nine O`Clock News, The Fast Show, etc - far too risky for a commercial channel. Indeed, when was the last time you saw a good comedy on ITV? Indeed, can anyone name a comedy that was on ITV from more than a decade ago that you would still watch? On the Buses, perhaps? Or what about Love Thy Neighbour, or Please Sir?

When we go all-digital then I think at that point we ought to make the BBC something that you can subscribe to in the same way that you can e.g. select whether or not you want the movies or sports packages on Sky. But until then I think it`s something we can just put up with.

One simple argument out of many.

The Beeb is funded by the license payers and not by large businesses who fund other channels with advertising revenue. Thereby creating an independant channel as opposed to channels who are scared to show something in case it`s `pot s***ters` don`t like it. Try asking Murdoch for a reduction in your Sky payments cos you don`t watch it on a Wednesday! Try getting a refund for your driving license cos your not driving a car at the moment!

Try using a decent argument instead of bloody whingeing about "I don`t watch BBC anymore". If you don`t watch the BBC channels any more you`re either lying or you have awful bloody taste! Football on the Beeb......suits me sir!! ;)

This item was edited on Sunday, 30th January 2005, 19:28

The whole point is choice!.
If i want the service i will pay for it, if not you have the option to spend your cash elsewhere.
At the present their is no choice.Personally i like the BBC`s output but resent the fact that you must pay for it no matter what, other than the fact you own a TV.
Maybee it should be renamed TV TAX as in effect this is what it is, or else as suggested scrambled and pay per view.
As for football can`t abide it.

This item was edited on Sunday, 30th January 2005, 19:46

..and apart from the football argument, what other broadcasting channel would sponsor something like the Proms? (admittedly, this is seen as `elitist`, but then again...so`s the sodding FA Cup and 6 Nations..things wouldn`t be any good if they weren`t `elitist`..that`s the whole point!). Also, there`s the issue of a limited advertising pool. If companies thought they also had to pay for ads on the Beeb as well, then everyone would be too stretched. The `commercial` channels would find it hard to get people to spend money on them AND the BBC. Any decent programming left would have to be got rid of as it wouldn`t be seen as financially viable. This country will become a cultural desert....or perhaps dessert, depending on your point of view..or indeed spelling.

My collection

The commercial channels are already feeling the pinch of reduced revenue from advertisers as what audience hasn`t given up on tv altogether has to be shared with more and more penny-ante Sky underwritten outfits. To survive, ITV companies have had to merge into one super-franchise and even so they can`t afford the financial risk of making "proper" season runs of tv shows any more. The maximum run of a non-soap is now 13 weeks which is half a proper season. Most popular shows are down to four or six week runs pretending to be tv movies.

British television is in crisis, and the reason is a combination of stupid decisions on the part of the programme providers and a seriously diluted market thanks to the proliferation of channels and platforms. All of the smaller cable, satellite or freeview channels survive by operating a low-cost schedule based on syndicated material.

The BBC isn`t perfect, but at least theoretically it`s free of market influences (or it should be). Successive DGs/ Chairpersons of the BBC since the late 1980s have obsessed about audience share and pandered to the whims of tv critics rather than concentrating on the BBC mission statement - To Entertain And Inform. That`s why both C4 and Five are making better science-based programming than the BBC, and why the schedules are clogged up with semi-reality programming.

However, the BBC remains the UK`s only Public Service Broadcaster, and in spite of what jealous Fleet Street Editors and Control-Freak Politicians might think, it still has the potential to keep us, the great unwashed public, informed. The groups with their own agendas who want to kill off the BBC would only be too happy to get rid of the tv licence, and there are enough folks out there who only ever want a free meal who`ll support them. But with the BBC gone, who blows the whistle next time somebody sexes up a report or tries to cover something up?

If the BBC lost its funding and went fully subscription, it wouldn`t last more than six months before (surprise surprise) Rupert Murdoch would step in with a "rescue deal" and the great traditions of British Public Service Broadcasting would be finished. Can you really trust commercial interests to tell you the truth?

J Mark Oates

---

Then Tigger looked up at the ceiling, and closed his eyes,
and his tongue went round and round his chops, in case he had left any outside,
and a peaceful smile came over his face as he said, "So that`s what Tiggers like!"
Which explains why he always lived at Kanga`s house afterwards,
and had Extract of Malt for breakfast, dinner and tea.

ITV free?

No the advertisers pay for it. Then they put the cost on the price of their products so the consumer pays in the end.

C4 is (partly?)state owned.

Who pays for the transmitters.

I had Sky and dropped it. Found I could by the DVDs for less than the subsriptions re the films and programmes that I actually did watch.

BBC Comedy - `Allo `Allo, It Ain`t Half Hot Mum, Dear John, Thin Blue Line, Monty Python, My Family, Brittas Empire, Red Dwarf, Yes Minister the list goes on.. PLUS Radio - Sorry I Haven`t a Clue, News Quiz, The Goons..
ITV Comedy - Um.. Mr. Bean? Err.. Beadle`s About (Not strictly comedy, but I remember LMFAO at it)

BBC Current Affairs - News24, Panorama, Newsnight, Question Time
ITV Current Affairs - Tonight with Trevor MacDonald

BBC Nature - The Living Planet, Blue Planet, Walking With Dinosaurs, Life on Earth
ITV Nature - The World`s Wackiest Pets. Does that count? Hang on that`s bought in

Am I making my point yet?

Channel 4 have made great strides with excellent stuff like Teachers and Green Wing, but if can look beyond reality TV spin-offs and EastEnders, nothing beats the Beeb for quality programming.

This item was edited on Monday, 31st January 2005, 13:09