TV Licence article Discussion

parking_question_chap

Michael_L wrote: »

I have always been a firm supporter of the Licence Fee and the BBC. £3 per week provides the best television in the World uninterrupted by offers of 'feminine hygiene' products or toilet cleaner. Likewise there are excellent radio programmes for every taste and brilliant content on the website. When we fly anywhere I download tv shows on my iPad.
We watch commercial offerings only after they have been recorded so the adverts can be skipped over.
So we are talking about less than the cost of a pint of beer a week for all this. What I struggle to understand is why Sky customers choose to pay a subscription AND suffer advertising.

Thats great, so then to please everybody we could have a subscription for the BBC as well, so those that want to pay £147 to avoid the adverts can do so. Then those that want nothing more to do with the beeb can have their way as well. I only really watch BBC for the sport, but I would happily go without to save the fee.

If I never again had to see or hear Gary Lineker or Claire Balding it would be too soon. The only decent one was Helen Skelton, but I suppose she didnt fit the BBC agenda.

slow_saver

Well I think it's highly irresponsible for MSE having a whole section on it's site to encourage ways for folk to dodge paying the licence fee.
The government should change the rules from having a "TV" licence to having a "Screen" licence to incorporate tablets, PC's Smartphones and TV's that way it would eradicate any loopholes and then the BBC would be funded properly as their TV and Radio services are second to none!
And before anyone thinks it- I have no connection to the BBC other than I watch the TV & listen to local and national radio programmes.

cw18

This thread isn't here to help me "dodge" the fee. We in no way support watching live TV whilst not paying. It's here to make sure people understand what they can and can't do whilst being Legally Licence Free.

And there's no need to change it to a 'screen' fee, as it's illegal for us to watch on phones, tablets and computers as it is for us to watch on a TV.

IMO, the BBC used to produce brilliant shows (I own many of them on DVD) but they no longer do. I'd stopped watching any BBC channel a few years before I ditched my licence (and stopped watching all channels) which was just over 7 years ago.

Cornucopia

slow_saver wrote: »

Well I think it's highly irresponsible for MSE having a whole section on it's site to encourage ways for folk to dodge paying the licence fee.

To echo CW18's comments above, MSE does not have a section or indeed any content dedicated to encourage "dodging" of the UK TV Licence. Though I note that in using that word, you are deliberately and unhelpfully conflating legal avoidance of the Licence, and wilful evasion.

Legal avoidance of the Licence (what the community calls legally Licence-free or LLF) is perfectly legal, and whilst it remains legal, MSE and its members are right to help explain both the rules pertaining to the Licence and the processes for its enforcement. In both cases, the need for good information and support is increased by the BBC's rather poor approach to dissemination of information on the matter, which is limited and partisan, and its approach to enforcement which raises a number of important legal questions.

[Deleted User]

slow_saver wrote: »

Well I think it's highly irresponsible for MSE having a whole section on it's site to encourage ways for folk to dodge paying the licence fee.
The government should change the rules from having a "TV" licence to having a "Screen" licence to incorporate tablets, PC's Smartphones and TV's that way it would eradicate any loopholes and then the BBC would be funded properly as their TV and Radio services are second to none!
And before anyone thinks it- I have no connection to the BBC other than I watch the TV & listen to local and national radio programmes.

So as someone who does not own a TV (and has not done so since 2000) and who does not watch ANY TV are you suggesting that I hand over my hard-earned money for a licence just because I own a laptop?

Should I also buy a fishing licence even though I have never been fishing?

anotheruser

bris wrote: »

It's nothing to do with bias, the BBC should now be like the rest and live or die by it's commercial success just like every other channel.

Times have changed TV has grown way beyond the BBC and it's now no more than just a tax on what we watch.

It should be phased out...

Why should it?
Because that's your opinion?

I agree, TV is changing.
But why change into something that has an equal short life?

Soon, within 5/6 years, normal broadcast TV will simply become available "on demand". The only truly live channels that will survive as broadcast channels will be rolling news, shopping and sports. Most, if not all others will eventually move to a demand based model.
This will mean subscriptions to BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV, UKTV... the latter in this list will probably hold out for as long as possible.

pineapple

Michael_L wrote: »

£3 per week provides the best television in the World uninterrupted by offers of 'feminine hygiene' products or toilet cleaner.

I find this an interesting juxtaposition. I think a psychologist would have a field day with your selection....:rotfl:

[Deleted User]

slow_saver wrote: »

The government should change the rules from having a "TV" licence to having a "Screen" licence to incorporate tablets, PC's Smartphones and TV's that way it would eradicate any loopholes and then the BBC would be funded properly as their TV and Radio services are second to none!

So you want people to have to pay, for something they neither want nor use?

Not very MSE, is it?

[Deleted User]

Spider_In_The_Bath wrote: »

Should I also buy a fishing licence even though I have never been fishing?

Not forgetting a Driving Licence, even if you don't drive, a Pilots Licence, even if you don't fly, a gun licence, even if you don't shoot, a publicans licence, even if you don't run a pub, etc., etc.

The list is pretty much endless.

slow_saver

Yep, that's what I said.... I pay my council tax towards keeping the cost of schools open etc.... I don't have any kids but do I say I'm withholding a portion of my council tax because of that? NO..... I just pay up! I think ALL dwellings in the UK should pay for a screen licence whether the occupants watch the BBC or they don't.... You can't pick and choose what public services your taxes go to & the BBC IS a a public service.