Is the licence fee worth it? Poll discussion

guppy

I'm quite surprised by the result too, seems the average Moneysaver hates paying the licence fee. I wonder if this would be different if the BBC became more efficient and the Government slashed the licence fee.

I agree with everything said above about the quality of the programmes. I think the BBC adds a great deal to the culture and education of the country. It also performs a useful function in calling the government and companies to account in a way which commercial stations are unable to do.

That said, I hate the BBC's self-promotion, waste, high salaries etc. It definitely seems a bit of a gravy train. I think they need to be careful not to lose the goodwill they still have.

I'm very interested as to whether the anti-licence fee people hate the BBC because of the compulsory licence fee, or hate paying the fee because they simply prefer commercial tv to the BBC programmes. Unfortunately no one seems willing to answer this.

I don't consider myself elitist but to me 90% of everything on ITV is uninteresting, low brow pap. With the exception of the Columbo repeats. I can't afford Sky but it doesn't look much better.

I'm also very interested in how many people watch the BBC. I'm sorry, but I just don't believe the 1in5 figure quoted earlier. If so few people watched it, there would have been riots against the licence fee years ago.

Bojangles_3

I'd be a rich if I had a £ for everytime I've said 'Thank God for the BBC' over the past few years. TV with no interruptions...aaaah!
I get up and do something when the ads are on - much to the annoyance of everyone else - I can't stand most of them, though!

I loved ER. I can't watch it anymore. You get the hook opening scene then 7 mins of ads! Sod it. Lost interest. It's put me off ER.

Examples of fab BBC stuff recently: Drop dead gorgeous, True dare kiss, Jekyll, match of the day, newsnight, planet earth - or anything on wonders of the world on a Sunday night. Hate to admit it, but it's good to catch the pips on radio 4 - reassures me all's well in a beautifully understated way! Sunday AM.

ITV is soooo dumbed down. Channel 4's ace - but has bloody ads!

:T

LyndsayJ

Couldn't agree more with three above entries (edpgc, Guppy and Bojangles at the time of writing!), such a relief to find like minds after the pages of abusive ranting I waded through to get to this point!

BBC= reliable quality in many forums and no ads. I watch it, my children love it, I listen to it (radio is on as I type) and the news page is my home page (sorry Martin - know it should be MSE site!). My quality of life would be adversely affected without it, although of course others feel differently.

cepheus

If the licence fee were revoked and the BBC had to acquire revenue primarily through advertising like the other channels I wonder how much this would be a false economy? I am not just talking about quality here, you don't get something for nowt.

Think about the 'free' advertising channels do you really get this for free? Of course not. The revenue acquired through this system is paid by the companies whose products are being advertised, and this cost is loaded onto the product price which is paid by the consumer, the same people as pay the licence fee. Wouldn't the creation of any new advertising 'space' place pressure on cooperations to advertise more and increase the price of consumer products accordingly?

I suppose one could claim the right to buy non branded products, rather than being forced to pay a licence fee, but most products are advertised directly or indirectly.

Dan29

guppy wrote: »

I'm also very interested in how many people watch the BBC. I'm sorry, but I just don't believe the 1in5 figure quoted earlier. If so few people watched it, there would have been riots against the licence fee years ago.

92.5% of the UK population tune in to BBC television or radio in an average week.

84.4% watch BBC television in an average week, with 78.4% watching BBC One.

For BBC radio the figures are 66.4% for all stations, 19.9% for local radio, 18.7% for Radio 4, 26.5% for Radio 2 and 21.4% for Radio 1.

impy78

newcook wrote: »

I take it you flap your arms really hard to get to work/shop/go out etc?? oh, you use the roads - that will be the road tax then.

the people who got flooded a few weeks back were helped out by the army as well as police, firebrigade etc. they also stop our country from being invaded.
I have no idea what quangos are (and cant be bothered to google it!)
you would think that with the olympics being shown on BBC that they would pay for this...
Craft, design technology lessons in schools - lets just do away with all the lessons, it wont be long before we are all born knowing how to draw anything in a design format (including angles etc)...
academy schools - I take it you are on about the majority of which are privately paid and a small minority of pupils who are exceptional get to audition and if they are good enough will be given a grant?

hospital admin idiots and crazy millennium dome type projects I agree with

Lol, I was being facetious.

But I don't agree with CDT being compulsory in schools, and I was talking to the badly planned and terribly executed academy in the town I was living in before, which basically marginalised all but the richest and smartest kids. So if you don't go to the academy or the private school your education is going to be underfunded, poor and have a stinking reputation. I have no objection to helping exceptional pupils, but not to the detriment of others.

But yes largely I was being silly in that post because I was trying to prove a point. There are lots of unfair and unjust things in life, but you just have to accept them and make the best of it.

I do admire those who refuse to pay because at least they are doing something about it.

I pay the fee and I am happy with it. I do think the BBC need to spend it more wisely, and they probably could reduce the fee without affecting their output. And I think given the last few disasterous weeks, they should force the execs and producers to take a pay cut or at least a pay freeze, because even as someone who loves the BBC a great deal, I have been disgusted at their conduct and at the ridiculous pay hikes they have been taking, whilst threatening to deliver pay cuts to other staff.

Come on Auntie - pull your finger out and start respecting your audience!

newcook

impy78 wrote: »

I do admire those who refuse to pay because at least they are doing something about it.

I Don’t! Defiant - while I agree with most of the things you have said on this debate I don’t think its big or clever to not pay the licence. Its because of people like you who don’t pay the licence that it keeps going up in price because people like me and some others on here who although don’t agree with the BBC charging a ridiculous fee we would rather pay it while going about the appropriate channels to either start a petition or get rid of our sets once the licence has run out or download programmes etc.

impy78 wrote: »

I pay the fee and I am happy with it. I do think the BBC need to spend it more wisely, and they probably could reduce the fee without affecting their output. And I think given the last few disasterous weeks, they should force the execs and producers to take a pay cut or at least a pay freeze, because even as someone who loves the BBC a great deal, I have been disgusted at their conduct and at the ridiculous pay hikes they have been taking, whilst threatening to deliver pay cuts to other staff. quote]

I pay the fee but I am not happy with it. I have also bought freeveiw from sky as the reception where I live is absolutely appaling and when I bought it freeveiw wasn’t available in the area. I would have had to have got something like that soon anyway due to analogue switching to digital in the not too distant future.

The main question I would like to know the answer to is when the country does switch to digital and everyone has had to go and buy a new telly/subscribe/bought freeview box, will the BBC still charge the ridiculous price despite everyone who watches telly having to spend extra money to upgrade??

newcook

also, sorry to be off topic and it may just be a co-incedent but there is lots of newbies on this thread...

andyinyorkshire

I only watch television for two reasons Football and Adverts, as the adverts are not on the BBC I am only paying £135 to watch live football highlights (with a few hours delay) without showing the division that my team are in.

The reason I like adverts is because for me they are far more interesting that the current programme content now!!

It is more ideal for me to not pay the fee and to rent/buy dvd's such as 24/Lost/Heroes... which then makes me think I'd be able to watch most of those anyway on the other channels for free if not for that annoying f££.

Ollieda

Personally I don't actually pay my license fee, I'm at uni and having read through the legislation regarding this (ok, I'm studying law....I’m a geeky law student) I have worked out a way that I can piggy back off my parents license (Thanks mum and dad!).

But in all honesty, if I had to pay it then I would. There's no point arguing to get rid of it, if it was taken away then you can bet that the next the some sort of TV tax would be implemented! I for one would rather pay a "license" fee rather than another tax.....even if they are just two names for the exact same thing!

Not only does the BBC provide us with good quality television and radio, its ad free people!!!! Now that worth something, what would you rather do? Scrap BBC and go with someone like Sky....their most basic and cheapest package is £15 a month...(£180 a year as opposed to £135.50 for the license).

BBC's ways have also gained them masses of reputation over seas. When I was on a charity project recently we came across a small town in Africa where the BBC had been many years before and many of the children could only say one word in English "BBC" (although technically not a word....I wasn't going to stamp on their parade!) and these were kids who were born after the BBC had been there. When we spoke to them, they would tell us things like how the BBC shows them that there is a better life out there and one day they could have a better life like that...........I would pay £135.50 a year just for that!

And before anyone says it.....I'm not a super pro-government BBC hacker spy sent on a mission to spread BBC propaganda in forums across the web. Just because I support the BBC doesn't mean I work for them!