Bbc license fee

qwert_yuiop

Cornucopia wrote: »

How would you know what they want to listen to?

I don't know what they want. I do know what they get.

Since the stations are commercial, they maintain an audience for advertisements paid for by business interests or they close.

Perhaps the intelligentsia are all avid BBC world service listeners on Short Wave. However, enough people listen to what's on local radio to at least keep the stations open.

So there we are - I do know what they want -Nashville favourites. Sorry - favorites.

Cornucopia

Why would you assume that the "intelligentsia" would not listen to Country & Western music? I wouldn't want to make that assumption about any culture I didn't understand.

qwert_yuiop

Cornucopia wrote: »

Why would you assume that the "intelligentsia" would not listen to Country & Western music? I wouldn't want to make that assumption about any culture I didn't understand.

Good heavens

Sorry - I thought that was was what you were alluding to. I'm highly intelligent and I enjoy a bit of three chord honkytonk hillbilly pickin' and grinnin' as much as the next man. That is, if the next man lives in a trailer park.

Here in Northern Ireland, we've been listening to Americans producing snap ill-informed judgements and assumptions about us for decades, usually after a flying visit at the most. But you're right - who am I to question the values of a nation that incarcerates more people than Stalin, believes electrocuting innocent halfwits deters crime and drops bombs on wedding parties to win hearts and minds?

Cornucopia

Okay - just wanted to be sure it was cultural bias.

steveymp

jeffer wrote: »

I think you'll find that it's quite a bit more than that.

£2.80 then to be exact, the price of 1 grandee choca mocca latte with cream or what ever people buy in Starcarps

Still well worth it IMHO

LittleMissAspie

Lots of people say the licence fee is more than worth it, so I think it should be a subscription service. Then if you don't think it's worth it you don't have to pay it.

My moral objection to the TV licence is that you have to pay it to watch non-BBC channels. Why should I have to pay the BBC to watch Channel 4?

My solution is to not have a TV. Haven't had one for over ten years and I don't miss it in the slightest. I would encourage everyone else who disagrees with the licence to do the same!

Cornucopia

The problem with the "I would gladly sell my house..." view, is that it is partly based on a false premise.

And that is that anything paid for by 20+ million households is able to be cheap. But many of those households are paying reluctantly, and because the most expensive parts of the BBC are mere entertainment, this presents a contradiction.

Nicholas-bloody-Parsons

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

Lots of people say the licence fee is more than worth it, so I think it should be a subscription service.

Too expensive to run

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

My moral objection to the TV licence is that you have to pay it to watch non-BBC channels. Why should I have to pay the BBC to watch Channel 4?

It worse than that. We are paying a tax to watch football highlights or films which, if the BBC did not exist, would be shown for free on ITV or C4!

If the BBC did not exist; half of its content, like sport and "talent" would simply migrate to other terrestrial channels...... I doubt most people would notice or wonder what all the fuss was about.

There may be a case for the BBC to run a basic service. 2 TV channels with no adverts would be quite adequate. We managed ok with 2 Channels in the 1970s. It has 7 national TV channels and at least 9 national radio stations, plus loads of local ones. This is far too much.

A cut down BBC would probably only cost £60 a year per person to run.

qwert_yuiop

Cornucopia wrote: »

Okay - just wanted to be sure it was cultural bias.

Not really. Just an observation. I do like John Prine though.

duggan1

Nicholas-bloody-Parsons wrote: »

It worse than that. We are paying a tax to watch football highlights or films which, if the BBC did not exist, would be shown for free on ITV or C4!

Surely only 'free' if your time is worthless...

These same arguments could be made about the NHS...