Cant pay.. OR Wont Pay!!

saintjanet

I think the licence should be scrapped.The BBC Should show adverts like the commercial channels do,there are enough adverts to go round,have you noticed there seem to be more than ever now and why does the volume always seem to go up when they come on!!

Its no wonder there are so many episodes of corry now they are only about 20 mins.long per show lol!!the rest of the time is adverts.Also the programmes are sponsored ,the BBC could do this too.Just a thought.

Turning_into_scrooge

Unfortunately your TV license is a priority debt and has to be paid before your children's bus fares. I understand your rant totally on benefits but thats just the way it is.

pboae

I don't think it should be means tested, but I don't agree with the licence itself, and I absolutely disagree with the powers the licensing authority have.

It is a ridiculous situation when non-payment of TV licence fines are the single biggest cause of women being sent to jail. That situation benefits no-one (including the tax payers who foot the bill of the court costs, prison, etc). It should be treated like any other debt.

clairec79

My resentment of the TV licence is all these freeview channels which are covered by my licence fee and I CAN'T get (freeview does not cover my house, cable doesn't come this far up, and there are (protected) trees on the moutain behind which cut off the sky signal (when we moved we could get sky, but we moved in in Winter, in Spring the leaves stopped the signal and by the next winter the tree were that bit taller that the branches interfer)

Scarlett1

Turning_into_scrooge wrote:

Unfortunately your TV license is a priority debt and has to be paid before your children's bus fares. I understand your rant totally on benefits but thats just the way it is.

I would like to think that mandi's children getting to school safely and on time is more important than any debt, whether it was 60p or 6000 pounds

mclaren_2

Scarlett1 wrote:

I would like to think that mandi's children getting to school safely and on time is more important than any debt, whether it was 60p or 6000 pounds

exactly - children come first, not some stupid rule that says we have to pay a "licence" to watch what we pay over the odds for with sky or that anyway.... and tv licence is theoretcally for BBC channels as the goverment own those.....

Would you buy a loaf of bread or pay tv licence if you had no food..... for me, its a no brainer

Scarlett1

I would gladly give up watching BBC to save myself the license fee, I dont watch BBC2 anyways and all I watch on BBC1 is eastenders and neighbour, oh and doctors

would I be stuffed though if I wanted to watch freeview

Diane17884

I think the tv licence is a joke, I would gladly have a few adverts between eastenders than pay a tv licence. The only thing i watch on bbc is dragons den and eastenders. I think its wrong that people who subscribe to cable and sky still have to pay a tv licence as the bbc comes as part of the package which you are paying for! Why do the bbc have to be different, why not just do what every other channel does and have adverts?

Astaroth

mclaren wrote:

Would you buy a loaf of bread or pay tv licence if you had no food..... for me, its a no brainer

Surely the correct answer would then be to sell your TV so you dont have to pay the TV licence and can afford to get something to go with your loaf of bread.

margaretclare

Unfortunately in 4 years' time when one of us reaches 75 we are likely to have a free TV licence forced on us. I can't understand why! I actually prefer the BBC channels because the ad breaks absolutely bore me and irritate me, when you're in the middle of a good drama like last night's 'The Bill', it's just an irritation. Although some of the ads are well-done and imaginative, like the man with the woodpecker (Capital One) and the little lad playing Saxon warriors (Ariel washing tablets).

I watched a drama earlier this week - think it was made for BBC - 'Regeneration' based on Pat Barker's novel. Very moving. And I watched 'Jane Eyre'. But the assumption about the free TV licence for over-75s is (a) we're all poor and (b) we all rely on watching a lot of TV. Neither is true!

I was visiting my DH in hospital yesterday and they have new technology with a monitor beside each bed. The guy in the next bed had a crowd of visitors, 2 women conversing across him lying flat, his grandad and 2 young guys all munching on crisps, and there was a 'classic film' showing, 'The Big Sleep'. And no one at all was watching it - they were all busy chatting, and the point is, TV is provided in hospital but you have to pay for it. This is the thing about TV - in many homes it's on all the time and no one actually watches it, so I guess it is seen as just a 'normal expense'.

I don't watch any of the soaps, got bored with the long-drawn out and contrived storylines. I used to watch them only for the acting. I don't like the way every wedding and funeral is just turned into a circus, the vicar is usually left standing there looking a complete fool.

DH has not paid for any TV that's available at his bedside. He watches TV even less than I do - he likes CSI Miami and some of the detective and spy dramas and basically that's it. Although I do think there are occasionally things on which you couldn't see anywhere else - some of the wildlife films, for example.

I do completely agree that children's needs come first.

Margaret