What are your thoughts on tv licencing ?

Question

I think its an outdated idea i think if the bbc introduced advertising as their form of revenue theyd dissapear up their own backsides within a couple of years. Bottom line the bbc is not the only broadcaster so surely they should be made to share the money from licences. Or how about the goverment wakes up and real no sod watches the bbc and it violates human rights being made to pay buy somthing you dont want.

Answer 1

Nobody should pay their TV licence and the BBC would be forced to advertise like all the other channels. Hopefully, their programming would improve at the same time.

Answer 2

The BBC are the unofficial mouthpiece of New Labour and as such have enjoyed huge increases in licence fee whilst quality of service has diminished.

Having said this,quality of service should not be an issue of the argument.The argument should be whether or not it is fair to be forced by the threat of criminality to finance the BBC for no particular reason.If we dont watch it then why should we pay for it.Furthermore,doesn't the BBC then have an unfair advantage over commercial stations?

Worse still,the fee paying public have no control over how our money is spent.The former Director General of the BBC spent £1 million landscaping the view from his office.





Like me,you should withhold your licence fee.





edit@barry m

I agree that the constant advetisements can be annoying.

However,the keyword here is "choice".

We have a choice whether or not to subscribe to other channels or to endure the commercial breaks.

Personally I switch channels for a few minutes.

As no doubt someone will point out that we are paying for the "reciever" licence rather than the station.Technically this is true,but this act was introduced when BBC was the only channel anyway.

It means nothing anymore.

We are simply funding an unsavoury symbiotic relationship between the BBC and the Labour government.

Answer 3

So you can all honestly say you NEVER watch a single minute or listen to a single minute of BBC radio channels



Also your were saying the BBC should advertise, but your happy to pay for Sky when apart from films and sport, there is adverts every 9 minutes (worked out by Oxford Uni)



Also with the commercial channels dont you lot realise you are paying for them as-well when you go to Tesco's to buy your PG Tips



Who watches the BBC - 48% of all the available viewing public (thats 52% shared between ALL other channels) regularly watch Eastenders

Answer 4

I don't think any other country STILL has TV licensing, I agree it is a very outdated idea. My husband and i were in disbelief when we moved to UK in 2006 and had to pay that!!! In Australia the governmnet funds the Aussie equivilent of BBC called (surprisingly enough) ABC, it works out to be about 9 cents a day from every tax payer in the country and that's enough to run an whole TV station and radio, it think you Brits would be better with that system! I'd appreciate if you would adopt it!

Answer 5

I am in Canada and would love a British style broadcasting system, and would gladly pay a TV license for that privilege.



As it stands, I pay quote a lot for my satellite TV bill (better than$60 CDN/Month), there is few channels available free (on satellite or aerial), and the Canadian channels not the CBC aren't doing their part enough to make good Canadian programming.



I'd gladly pay the equivalent of ₤139.50 a year for 48ish channels of otherwise free broadcast TV, and some free HD and other stuff from satellite, as well as 4 channels of commercial free public TV and radio.

Not to mention, of I choose to subscribe to satellite, it will not cost as much.

Answer 6

I do watch the BBC a lot; sure, there's a lot of rubbish, but its good stuff is usually much better than the others.



On the licence bit, I do agree that we should only pay for what we watch. If they could put in a pay-box wich would charge you automatically, that could sort it. At 8 hrs viewing every day, in a year, if they charged 10p/ hour they would be getting twice what they are now, so could really produce some good stuff.

Answer 7

I don't think it is right, I pay for sky as well, not a necessity I agree but why should I have to pay both? And like you, I NEVER watch BBC either.

Answer 8

I watch sky tv all the time and feel that as i pay for it then i should not have to pay the BBC for a Chanel that i don't want. They are just greedy and the government lets them away with it. I think they are in cahoots with each other and share our money between them.

Answer 9

i hardly ever watch the bbc or its channels

i dont agree with tv licencing i have sky so i pay for that and the tv licence seems unfair really

Answer 10

I agree, completely out dated concept.

With all the channels available these days, who needs the BBC?

Answer 11

I don't believe that you never watch or listen to any BBC TV or radio stations.



You have to accept that a TV is still a luxury item and when buying one you automatically agree to the terms of use. You wouldn't buy a CD player and then complain about having to buy CD's would you?

Answer 12

I don't like paying for TV especially when it is crap and I hardly ever watch it. I pay to have the privilege of watching it when I want. If I could afford sky I would but even that is crap most of the time.

Answer 13

I never watch the BBC its utter sh*t. I've got sky and pay for that monthly. As much as I hate adverts I would rather keep the - is it 11 quid? - a month I pay & watch adverts all day long.



http://www.tvlicensing.biz/



ohh apparently you can petition against it!

Answer 14

I agree with you. I begrudge paying mine.