Tv licence has gone up!

CliveOfIndia

IvanOpinion said:

Haven't paid for a TV licence in over 30 years. I totally refuse to fund that organization.

There's always going to be arguments over this.  Personally I think the BBC do make a lot of good programmes, and as another poster pointed out, I do listen to BBC radio a lot (yes, I know there's no longer a separate radio licence required), and the BBC website is my first port of call for news.  In terms of programmes, why don't ITV make nature documentaries similar to all the David Attenborough ones?  Because they are horrendously expensive to make, and quiz shows cost peanuts by comparison.

But in terms of funding the BBC, you do at least have a choice.  Putting aside the various discussions about whether you are allowed to watch catch-up or whatever, in the simplest terms if you never watch TV then you don't fund the BBC.

But you still fund ITV, indirectly.  ITV is paid for by adverts.  Every time you buy a can of baked beans, a small proportion of what you pay goes to fund the manufacturer's advertising costs, and some (probably quite a lot?) of their advertising budget goes on TV adverts.  So ultimately you can choose whether or not to fund the BBC, but you have no choice about whether to fund ITV.