MSE News: BBC trials new way to pay for a TV licence

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  • Space_Cadet_Smith
    Space_Cadet_Smith Posts: 15 Forumite
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    I would like to pay for only the things I watch, which given the dismal state of BBC programming (even after the new charter), which see!s to consist entirely of cheap to make cooking shows, z list reality TV output and other crap, it should only cost me a tenner a year
  • worried_jim
    worried_jim Posts: 11,631 Forumite
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    House_Martin wrote: »
    I should have a bet. I m usually not bad in picking the ones with half a chance at taming the greens..The way a former winner Jordan Spieth has started he might well run away with it.
    What about Top Gear then ? surely you re a Jeremy Clarkson fan who was the man behind BBC 2 s best world viewing figures of 350 million.
    Current Top Gear is watchable but Extra Gear later on last week was brill especially Chris Harris tearing around the Dunsford track in a high powered 250 cc Go kart.
    It was so fast even the experienced Chris Harris was shaking at the end of it.

    Very true- this series of Top Gear has been the best of the recent incarnation. If the BBC were scrambled and went subscription only like Sky (and it should) I wouldn't subscribe. I pay for Prime and it offers a much better (complete) service and the Grand Tour! Sadly the BBC haven't moved with the times which will be their downfall.
  • wymondham
    wymondham Posts: 6,354 Forumite
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    They are just tinkering round the edges....

    BBC/Govt don't seem to have the will to do whats really needed and make the fee reflect the service. If you don't pay you don't watch. Scramble it and make it pay per view and see what the income is... if they truly feel they make the best programs in the world then they should be confident people will pay.

    Pay per view is also helpful as it allows the production companies to see what people actually watch.

    The main premise for keeping the licence is so the BBC can produce minority programs that an independent wouldn't produce.... this was very true in the past when you just had three channels, but anyone can watch anything they like these days catering for the tiniest minority taste and there is a good chance the content isn't from the BBC
  • MS1950
    MS1950 Posts: 325 Forumite
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    Surely this is much different from the various payment options available now (to everybody - not just those 'in need')?:

    https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/pay-for-your-tv-licence/ways-to-pay
  • Cornucopia
    Cornucopia Posts: 16,156 Forumite
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    edited 6 April 2018 at 11:12AM
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    MS1950 wrote: »
    Surely this is [not] much different from the various payment options available now (to everybody - not just those 'in need')?:

    https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/pay-for-your-tv-licence/ways-to-pay

    No it's not - however there has been criticism of the existing Monthly and Fortnightly plans in that they require double payments for the first 6 months (and people find them very confusing generally).

    Hopefully, they will find that the new much simpler offering works well, and they will roll it out to everyone.
  • House_Martin
    House_Martin Posts: 1,462 Forumite
    edited 7 April 2018 at 11:16AM
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    Space_Cadet_Smith wrote: »
    I would like to pay for only the things I watch, which given the dismal state of BBC programming (even after the new charter), which see!s to consist entirely of cheap to make cooking shows, z list reality TV output and other crap, it should only cost me a tenner a year
    Sad that so many forum members have`nt discovered BBC4 !
    This is where some of the best tv programs are aired but I don`t think many forum members would appreciate BBC4
    Maybe its best for these people to stick to Amazon Prime and Netflix Americana for their "entertainment "because that is all they need.. to be "entertained "
    Although the TV ratings charts are not working at the moment , usually the top ten in the UK are all BBC programs. More people watch BBC programs, by a country mile, than any other broadcaster. If they go to a subscription only it will succeed.
    The UK population in the main love the BBC. OK they are hated by the people who object to paying a TV licence but the viewing figures say it all.
    Your awful Netflix/Amazon viewers ratings in the UK is miniscule
  • jenniewb
    jenniewb Posts: 12,836 Forumite
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    If they just created a pay-per-view option. I sometimes see the odd documentary or get a week or so homebound and would love to be able to get a TV and watch a few things, but paying nearly £15 a month when most of the times I have had a TV in the past or visited friends or family and...there's nothing to watch! Either that or it's all adverts of programme recommendations if on the BBC.

    I'd pay up for the odd show here and there, but not if the only option is £150 a year or a criminal record. I listen to radio (both BBC and commercial) since losing my TV about 5 years ago and feel I've gained more knowledge and awareness than 20 years of owning a TV ever did for me.

    The BBC are losing a trick here- they don't have to turn it all into a subscription service, they just need to offer more payment options for the different types of people who may want to watch. Those that travel around the world a lot, those that can't afford to watch every week, those that don't want to watch what's available every month, those that are massive fans and have the TV on non-stop 20 our of 24 hours a day...yet the only option is £150 a year (for the wealthy or now additionally also for super poor) or more for those "in the middle" financially. It just seems more backwards than the sheep-bleating noise on Prime Ministers Question Time.

    I still have no TV, mostly due to finances (been able to keep myself out of the debt advisors help so this suggestion is not an option for me). But even if I did have the money, I don't know if I would pay for a TV because I can't justify paying that much for what are essentially mostly adverts and repeats.
  • fatbelly
    fatbelly Posts: 20,494 Forumite
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    donnac2558 wrote: »
    You missed out quartly payment plan which I have used for years.
    Cornucopia wrote: »
    Nope, it has its very own section of the guide called "Don't pay by quarterly direct debit".

    It's not a very MSE way to pay for your Licence, because of the £5 fee.

    The article above is about a brand new initiative from BBC TV Licensing, which addresses 2 main disadvantages of the existing Monthly and Fortnightly plans: the requirement to pay double for the first 6 months, and the requirement to make up missed payments immediately.

    For those who don't have access to the new scheme the quarterly plan has the big advantage of NOT requiring 6 months payment up front. Yes you pay an extra £5 per year but the existing weekly/fortnightly/monthly plans end up with the BBC holding on to £75 of your cash after 6 months.
  • worried_jim
    worried_jim Posts: 11,631 Forumite
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    Best things on tv at the moment-

    Counterpart.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4643084/

    What might be different if a person could co-exist in an alternate world? Howard Silk, a low-level agent whose career is winding down at a Berlin-based United Nations spy agency, unwittingly learns the answer. Upon discovering his organization is harboring a secret, that of a gateway to a parallel dimension, Howard becomes immersed in a mysterious world of espionage, intrigue, and government conspiracies. There, the only man Howard can trust is Prime, his almost identical counterpart from a divergent reality.

    The Looming Tower:

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6474236/

    Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 is a 2006 non-fiction book by Lawrence Wright. It is a historical look at the way in which the militant organization Al-Qaeda came into being, the background for various terrorist attacks and how they were investigated, and the events that led to the September 11 attacks. In 2007, Wright was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for the work. A 10-episode television miniseries will air in 2018 on Hulu.

    Seven Seconds-

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6297682/?ref_=nv_sr_1

    Tensions run high between African American citizens and Caucasian cops in Jersey City when a teenage African American boy is critically injured by a cop.

    The Terror-

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2708480/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

    The crew of a Royal Naval expedition searching for the Arctic's treacherous Northwest Passage discovers instead a monstrous predator.

    Just imagine how great the Beeb could be if it swapped merde like bargain hunt for just one of these amazing shows, some even now have Oscar winners in them the caliber is that high- sadly its £150 a year for the One Show instead. Sad times.
  • adonis
    adonis Posts: 1,072 Forumite
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    Oh thanks Jim, I now am going to have to watch those when I have loads of jobs to do around the house.;)
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