The BBC

[cunning fergus]

Agree. And public service objectively reported news is an essential service.

A news service should not be an essential organ of the state in a liberal democracy, that's why we have a free press.

The UK Taxpayer essentially funds the world service through direct taxation, (via the Foreign Office) I dont see how that is an essential service for UK Taxpayers, however if there is a justifiable requirement for a similar home service, then fine take it from direct taxation for the Home Office.

There is manifestly masses of activity undertaken by the BBC that cannot be considered essetial (much of which generates a significant commercial income). In today's modern multi media world, they can stand on the own, if people want to pay a subscription fine..........it should not be compulsory.

As for objectivity, we have recently had the Director General confirm that the BBC has not been objective in areas like immigration and Europe, so that's from the horses mouth.

 

[cunning fergus]

1: You have a democratic choice as to whether or not you buy a television, so no one forces you to buy a TV licence.

2: You are free to vote for a party who had in their manifesto a commitment to abolish the licence fee.

1) In the 50's I could agree with you, but in today's world it is archaic.............why should I pay a TV licence if I just want to stream off the internet or solely subscribe to SKY.

2) Absolutely true, I accept that.....................the reality is of course that political parties can exercise influence over the BBC..................recent history in particular indicates that they are not to be trusted to act in the best intests of the electorate.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

have to say the BBC is excelling itself tonight. There's multiple Wimbledon programmes so you get to see it all, the final episode of How The Brits Rocked America: Go West on BBC4 was superb viewing, and there's a Christopher Eccleston three-parter starting at 9 on BBC1 . It clashes with a 90 minute BBC2 documentary 7/7: One Day In London that looks very much like required viewing, and thanks to the wonders of the iPlayer, its easy to not miss a thing. What a fantastic service!

 

[Norman Potting]

That is an excellent idea in theory. Would be great to watch old episodes of Game On whenever I fancied

Now there was a series. Samantha Janus mmmmmmmmmmmmm nice!

 

[Marxo]

The BBC is still a great institution but it's under a great deal of pressure from all sides, accusations of bias are always being put forward and so the D.G. is always trying to please on too many fronts. There are constant threats of cuts and so forth so our great "Auntie" is being hamstrung, especially by politicians. Some cuts are so short-sighted it's laughable. Our country isn't very popular around the world for various reasons, one positive outlet is/was the BBC World Service, many places around the world rely/relied on that service for unbiased news. This is/was positive thing for "our" tainted image but a large proportion of the foreign language broadcasts have been axed, I'm sure the cost was far less than the benefit to our image. BTW living abroad (we have BBC here) I obviously don't pay a license fee but we pay what they call "Authors Rights" on top of the cable fee for the BBC, which goes to the BBC.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

have to say the BBC is excelling itself tonight. There's multiple Wimbledon programmes so you get to see it all, the final episode of How The Brits Rocked America: Go West on BBC4 was superb viewing, and there's a Christopher Eccleston three-parter starting at 9 on BBC1 . It clashes with a 90 minute BBC2 documentary 7/7: One Day In London that looks very much like required viewing, and thanks to the wonders of the iPlayer, its easy to not miss a thing. What a fantastic service!

One Day in London is ESSENTIAL viewing.

The chap who lead his late daughter to the bus that got blown up... Relatives talking frankly aboutn their lost loved ones.

If you are in London, I implore one and all to got to the Museum of London in Barbican. They have eulogies for all the funerals of the 56 killed.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

The best for economic news and views must be 'Geoff Randall Live' on Sky. If you want hand-wringing left-wing shit then watch Channel 4 News. If you want anti-British, anti-American, anti-Israeli myopia then watch the beeb (their idea of balance is to attack everything in the world that works and to promote chaos, anarchy and hatred; because it is different and suits the drug-bedraggled minds of the trendy 60's creeps that now run it).

That's a nice well-balanced view, then.

I am just finishing an absolutely superb documentary on BBC2 about the events of 7/7/2005 - the victims and stories of tube trains and buses being blown up.. I don't think any other television company could have done it and done it so well.

Personally I am happy to pay the licence fee and value all the things on the BBC that everyone else has listed. We have Sky and pay ridiculous amounts of money for it (which might change soon if we can just pull our fingers out and do something about it. Most television we watch is on one of the BBC channels, and listen usually to the BBC radio channels.

They do get some things wrong sometimes, but the lack of adverts and the fact that they do most things better than anyone else wins it for me.

Try watching French or Spanish or German or Italian TV and see what you think.

 

[Storer 68]

I have no problem paying tax, this isnt what this thread is about.

The law currently forces UK residents to pay 175 pa. as a consequence of owning a TV. There is nothing democratic about that.

Taxes pay for essential services and we can vote for political parties subject to their views on how that money will be spent.

Licence fee payers have to buy a licence every year and have no ability to influence how their money is spent.

To be honest though I dont want influence, I want out.

it just allows you to legally own television recieving equipment. That allows you to legally watch all the services being provided by all the broadcasters, including Sky and the BBC, and ITV and Virgin Medi and everything elese.......

 

[Storer 68]

The best for economic news and views must be 'Geoff Randall Live' on Sky. If you want hand-wringing left-wing shit then watch Channel 4 News. If you want anti-British, anti-American, anti-Israeli myopia then watch the beeb (their idea of balance is to attack everything in the world that works and to promote chaos, anarchy and hatred; because it is different and suits the drug-bedraggled minds of the trendy 60's creeps that now run it).

At least spell his name correctly its JEFF randall.

And he's been quite happy to work for most news orgainsations including the BBC

Randall moved to the BBC in 2001 as the corporation's first business editor. He appeared regularly on the BBC News at Ten, the Today programme and BBC News 24. In addition, he presented Weekend Business, a radio show for 5 Live. He resigned as BBC business editor in late 2005 to join the Daily Telegraph as 'editor-at-large'.[2]

He was replaced as BBC business editor by Robert Peston, formerly associate editor at the Telegraph. Randall has continued to work on BBC projects, including a documentary series on the City and financial turmoil for Radio Four. In addition, he has made television documentaries for ITV, and is the presenter of Jeff Randall Live on Sky News

 

[kevo]

The Punk Britannia series was great too.

Certainly was - as was 'The Secret History of Our Streets', anyone else watch that? Still on iPlayer, I think. Sort of thing the BBC does really well.

 

[Pevenseagull]

'Line Of Duty' is a bit over the top

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Now that they are making dr who again its value for money. It is a bit annoying that EVERYTHING in their archive that EVERYONE has paid for is not available online. I would gladly pay a few more quid to have access to the archive to cover the cost of restoration/upload. Some of the best comedy has been from the beeb.

NB the beeb were incredibly short sighted in junking tv episodes in the 60s/70s wasnt just Dr Who but Steptoe and Dads Army and others

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

But there are far too many gays at the BBC

 

[Common as Mook]

Just started watching The Thick of It. Brilliant stuff.