Is the TV licence worth £145.50 a year?

[Goldstone1976]

Seems to have gone up a lot since I left, I remember only paying around 30 quid.

You must have left Blighty in 1979 then. Most things have gone up quite a bit in the intervening 36 years.

on topic: yes.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Enough that the BBC allow them to include it in their basic package.Why should anybody that owns a television have to buy a TV licence to cover the costs of the BBC.Why dosent the BBC just become a subscription service like other channels do so if you want to watch it you pay for it.
I can tell you why because people wont subscribe.

Because the BBC is not just about watching, it's about listening. I listen to Chris Evans, Simon Mayo, Bob Harris, Johnny Walker, Paul Jones, Brian Matthew on Radio 2, plus Sport on 5 Live and Albion commentaries on match days away from home. I listened to the wonderful Cabin Pressure and I am going to see Count Arthur Strong at the Theatre Royal on Sunday who came to a wider audience on BBC radio before I found him on TV. I won'listen to radio with adverts. Too little content and life's too short. So yes, I am comfortable with a little over a tenner a month although their DD process is rubbish - pay 18m in a year, then pay monthly is just a rip off and I won't play that game.

 

[jackanada]

1. Yes.
2. There is no upper limit on the value of news broadcasters outside the influence of Murdoch.
3. Rather than feck about with all the revenue enforcement I would rather roll the cost of the BBC into general taxation.

 

[Justice]

Just another tax.

 

[El Presidente]

You might want to take that one up with that scum bag Rupert Murdoch.

Remember Murdoch's performance when he was being quizzed by parliament over the hacking scandal?

He has total contempt for the institutions and people of this country.

His papers are full of stories slagging off the BBC over issues such as the salaries they pay, but when it comes to his own, the rules are different. Rebekah Wade was given a payoff of £11 million.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Absolutely worth paying.

I was just sat here ( to use a Woganisum ) thinking how my day / week unintentionally revolves around the BBC.

So I get up and whack on Radio 2 for a bit of Chris Evans. Then I listen further on the way to work. Once at work I get a cup of tea and breakfast and spend a short while reading the news off the BBC News site. During the day I'll dip in and out of the news website. During my lunch break I'll read the sports pages on the BBC. Off home and I'll listen to Simon Mayo. During the evening I use iPlayer to catchup with TV - Masterchef, Bluestone 42, Question Time etc. I then often watch the 10 o'clock news before going to bed ( on the BBC of course - the news not the bed ! ).

Ah, it's the weekend. If I need to pop out and do the shopping etc then on goes Graham Norton. Lunch closely followed by Tony Blackburn before switching to Radio Sussex for the most important radio show of the week. Sunday morning lie in ? Nah, a quiet couple of hours before the terrors arise during which I read all the football reports - naturally from the BBC sports site - and maybe dip in and out of Match of the Day and the Football League Show.

All this for less than £3 a week - absolutely !

 

[Chicken Run]

Superb value.

For me personally - watch BBC productions far more than the drivel on ITV, Ch4, ch5, etc. Love Radio 2 & Radio 6. Use the BBC website daily. Think the likes of "Planet Earth" is amongst the greatest television production ever made.

Think the BBC is great for the country and our international relations (even if our country does use it for propaganda, it's often positive propaganda in countries who don't otherwise have access to Western news). Additionally it sets a very high standard for British broadcasting.

The British public would be devastated if it ever became privatised - even if they don't think they would right now. £150 is a small price to pay, I wouldn't mind contributing more.

Good boy, send them £200 pa then, you can obviously afford it…

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Not if you don't use their services in which i don't but hey ho i still pay. Lawls the lawl.

You've never listened to an Albion commentary?

 

[KZNSeagull]

All I can say is that it is still obvious, when watching from abroad, which programmes are BBC made and which are not. The quality from the BBC, in general, is FAR higher.

 

[Justice]

And when you don't pay for whatever reason they send some bullied at school idiot around pretending he has a tv detector in the back of his van.

 

[Notters]

Just another tax.

taxes are good.

 

[vegster]

Not without Top Gear, Clarkson, Hammond and May it isn't....

It might be a blessing in disguise.

 

[Boroseagull]

The BBC do advertise on their main stream tv & radio channels. May only be for their own product but none the less it's still advertising, and it's approximately 5 mins ever hour.

 

[OzMike]

You must have left Blighty in 1979 then. Most things have gone up quite a bit in the intervening 36 years.

on topic: yes.

I left in '05, didn't take much notice I suppose.
Wifey used to buy it, so it could have been anything, she used to help herself to whatever it was and go get it.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

you're confused, your £84 p/m is for Sky, not for BBC. though this does sort of show the heart of the matter, one you can chose the other you cant. i think its "worth it" but im not sure id pay if i didnt have to. i also wonder how much the bits i use would cost on their own.

i think its time the issue was addressed by revolutionanising what the licence fee goes towards and how BBC is funded. i dont see why BBC shouldnt have some advertising, say between programmes, with a reduced licence fee going to the fringe channels (TV and radio) or fringe TV programmes. ITV, C4 even Sky(?!) could also dip into this money for similar non-commercially viable programming. then the fairness of a TV licence funding BBC sort of resolves itself. they'll have to do something because in a generation so many people will be using iplayer as a free alternative that the current arrangment wont work anymore.

Bring in a communications license like here, you pay if you have tv, radio or internet.

Yes, the Bbc Is worth it and I support the concept of public service broadcasting.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Bring in a communications license like here, you pay if you have tv, radio or internet.

Yes, the Bbc Is worth it and I support the concept of public service broadcasting.

There are discussions going on that when the BBCs charter is next renewed that the licence will cover services such as iPlayer - i.e. if you want to watch iPlayer legitimately you will need a TV licence.

 

[Nibble]

As posted on the 27 other threads discussing exactly the same thing. Yes.

Though when one considers we've basically been paying the way for paedophiles to rape children. No.

 

[c0lz]

No and should be abolished a long time ago .
Times have changed and there is so much choice out there now.

 

[Superphil]

You get BBC telly, radio and online content with no adverts, but is it worth the money?

No Adverts? You're joking aren't you? They never have a segue on their TV channels without at least one advert. The news channel and Breakfast show on BBC1 is littered with adverts for their other shows, events, channels and stations. The radio stations constantly bang on about TV shows, other radio shows, iPlayer, their website etc. ok, they're not commercial ads in the way ITV/Sky etc do them, but they are adverts nonetheless.

 

[drew]

Of course it is value for money, only a fool would deny it. However, where people have a problem is not the cost but the fact they are forced to pay and they begrudge that. If there were no licence and it was just funded out of general taxation they probably wouldn't have so many problems with it. Afterall, there are lots of things paid out of taxation that you may never use through choice.

As for standards, I genuinely believe that if other channels weren't judged against the BBC then quality in this country would quickly deteriorate. The beeb don't always get it right but they generally set quite a high benchmark which the other channels try (and quite often do) match or exceed.