TV Licence article Discussion

DavidP24

JerryW wrote: »

If you like watching BBC programmes you have a moral duty to pay for a licence. It is as simple as that.

Somebody who parasites off the bbc by watching, or pretending to watch, catch-up tv only is exercising their rights at the expense of their responsibilities and the rest of us suffer.

This is not rocket science. You will miss the BBC when it's gone!

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)


The fact is that most people who do not have a license can’t afford it, they also can’t afford the risk of the fine, so they invest in kit like a Roku box that is not even capable of live tv.



I have an old analog early LCD TV, again not capable of live tv, no freeview nothing (you can usually get one from your local rubbish tip).


It is a sacrifice that we have made, mostly for financial reasons, I used to have Sky Plus and was dumb enough to buy into their nonsense of bidding for programmes that were on C4 at the time and then paying the increased Sky subscription.


Then when my income changed I got rid of that and used Freesat, then I got rid of that and went to Roku and Plex. I am considering Netflix if they commit to their promise of one device for £3, otherwise they can stuff it.


You see my TV watching has EVOLVED, we used to all rush home to watch a programme live, then TIVO and other hard disk solutions were invented and we could watch on our own time. Now we can watch on numerous devices including in the cloud and I tend to binge watch a series like the US version of House of Cards. I do that when it suits my lifestyle.


I do not think anyone has a MORAL duty to pay the BBC jack !!!!! whether they like their programming or radio. Why, so they can waste it on excesses like spending a fortune on doing up a brand new building to “improve creativity”?


The BBC is being killed off, not by people who do not pay the TV License but by the management with their top heavy overpaid execs. They overspend on everything from IT to food and travel.


They lose money on the contract with Crapita and put people through hell and for what, to scare the likes of you into being a good little citizen and paying up their obscene fee.


I would staunchly defend the BBC from this Government, but they are making it easy for the JustCons to dump it because they enjoy wasting OPM (other people’s money) so much.



The BBC allows people all over the world to watch the BBC for free, but we have to pay, that is plain dumb and they do it because they know if they put in the requisite subscription model for them they will be expected to the same for UK viewers.


Remember a lot of BBC programme production was already outsourced many years ago (look at the end of the credits), so we have to think WHAT IS VALUABLE AND WORTH KEEPING.


I think we have to value the lack of advertising but a simple “sponsored by” is OK


I think a subscription model with various options from £1 to £10 a month is OK,



I think the news and politics is valuable and worth preserving but we do not need to send 30 reporters to cover an event when 2 will do.



I think BBC radio is valuable, both national and local, but there needs to be consolidation of things like news, do we really need so many people repeating the same thing on different BBC Local radio and do we really need to here the boring local news, well maybe if an intern does it.



Travel news needs to be dumped, people can get SatNav for free on their mobile phones.



I think BBC3 and BBC4 can be safely scrapped without too much worry.



I think foreign language programming should be added to the £10 subscription


I think that BBC News and Radio should be paid for by a levy on the advertising of other channels, so there is no end user cost specifically for this service


I think the BBC should charge Sky and other commercial operators for its content instead of giving it free



I think that BBC local radio needs to consolidate some of its local programming; they should become talk only stations to compete with Global’s LBC.


Obviously Capita should be sacked along with the license; anyone who works for Crapita should be put in stocks in their local market and pelted with rotten eggs and soggy fruit every weekend for the rest of their lives.


I think the BBC needs to get rid of these billion pound offices, it needs to embrace people working from home and using online conferencing as many private companies do. Many of the BBC staff already have “home offices” and can easily work 3 day weeks.


The BBC is a great place to start a career in TV and Radio so there should be greater use of interns both in Radio and TV.


The biggest knives should be kept for slicing and dicing the BBC management, what we want is a lean and mean management that are actually hands on rather than delegating to layers of management that are simply not required.


The BBC should be banned from employing contractors, whether it be for IT or programming or project or programme management. They cost a fortune, disappear and their knowledge goes with them.


Mostly I want to see the BBC make GREAT programmes and sell them aggressively abroad, this is really a lost opportunity, it can sell programming to the majors or create it’s own Netflix like service.



The 21st century has created a plethora of routes to market for TV programming, the BBC needs to use all of them.


If it were a private company it would have gone bust years ago, I do not want to see it privatised I want to see it compete in a commercial market without sending people to prison or taking on advertising.


As for the Programming, I really do not miss it, I sometimes see a few programmes at friend’s houses, The last BBC programming I watched was some period drama about magicians at my sister’s house when my mother was ill. I think I saw 3 episodes and thought “really, is this the best you can do”? I never finished it and would like a refund of the time wasted watching it.


I never watched kwap like Eastenders , Casualty, Holby, antiques roadshow, Bargain hunt or those awful dancing programmes nor the talent voice kwap, as I said my watching has evolved and will continue to do so with or without the BBC. I only watch premium programming these days, as such I enjoy it more as you might a visit to the cinema.


Actually there ARE a few programmes I missed, Masterchef before they dumped Michel Roux Jr, Formula one before they ruined it by half selling it to Sky so BBC viewers got highlights only.



Oh and perhaps “This Week”, but the best of that can often be found on YouTube if it is interesting and to be honest I stopped looking for it on YT when the AWFUL Diane Abbot became a regular. That woman has no respect for herself (brownnose incident in commons) and she never lets people speak. People watch this week for the intelligent input from guests not to hear her interrupt them to the point where they lose the will to live and give up trying to make their point! I think she is Shadow Secretary of State for International Development., what a bloody joke; she seems as capable as a used teabag or maybe gasbag. I have lost count of the number of times she has shown herself up, from the twitter race apology, sleeping with Corbyn, getting sacked by Milliband and the way she conducts herself in debates. No respect because no self respect.


Anyway, I digress. so finally, if the BBC wants to win it needs to put its own house in order and make the changes outlined above by itself before Osborne et al does it in a far more brutal way.

rigsbyx

I'm sorry to split hairs but a line has to be drawn here:

What constitutes live TV?
If you watch the same program on computer, tablet or mobile phone there's a 1 minute delay. It may not be classed as Catch-Up but it's certainly not live. No license required?

I'm sorry to split hairs but a line has to be drawn here.

[Deleted User]

I believe a live broadcast is one, where the general public are viewing the same programme, on ordinary TVs.

Cornucopia

TVL say 2 hours from the original broadcast for "non-live". There's no legislation behind that number, but that's what they say, and where they draw the line.

Certainly, the marginal network delays on various transmission methods do not count.

Personally, I have used the "Start from Beginning" feature on iPlayer once or twice when it was convenient, but I don't make a habit of it. (In fact, I normally have the URL for live iPlayer (which also handles "Start from Beginning") on my banned list on my Router).

ghou_lfinger

The thing I don't understand is why does the fee cover all live TV. How much money does ITV, channel 4, 5 actually get.

Does Watching Dave count? It's all repeats so it's not new live content; it's basically iplayer on TV?

cw18

ghou_lfinger wrote: »

Does Watching Dave count? It's all repeats so it's not new live content; it's basically iplayer on TV?

Lots of channels are (mostly) repeats, and they all counts as Live TV which means they require a licence.

System

ghou_lfinger wrote: »

The thing I don't understand is why does the fee cover all live TV. How much money does ITV, channel 4, 5 actually get.

None they raise all their money through commercial channels

ghou_lfinger wrote: »

Does Watching Dave count? It's all repeats so it's not new live content; it's basically iplayer on TV?

Yes it does count live means 'as it is being transmitted' Nothing to do with whether it's a repeat or date of production

Cornucopia

ghou_lfinger wrote: »

The thing I don't understand is why does the fee cover all live TV. How much money does ITV, channel 4, 5 actually get.

The Licence is a licence to be able to watch/record TV. That is old school TV as it was up to the introduction of catch-up via the internet. The legislation created in 2004 specifically formalised the difference between TV broadcasts (misleadingly called "live TV" by some people) and other video services like on-demand, catch-up, etc.

If/when the legislation changes to include catch-up from PSB channels, it'll be an interesting challenge for the legal wordsmiths to come up with a suitable form of words to cover the concept and successfully legislate for it.

Like many taxes, what the Licence regulates and what the money is used for are two very different things. In this case, and historically, 99.9% of Licence Fee money has gone to the BBC.

[Deleted User]

Cornucopia wrote: »

Like many taxes, what the Licence regulates and what the money is used for are two very different things.

Much like, so called, "Road Tax".

zaax

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Much like, so called, "Road Tax".

But a person does not come around banging on your door for money if you don't use the road