Probably a non-issue but I keep getting pestered by the TV license people. I haven’t paid because I don’t use it at all. My TV isn’t hooked up to the network, but it is digital and isn’t tuned so I guess I need a license because I could potentially use it? another than that it’s just internet all the way but only Netflix, never iPlayer.

Unless it changes iPlayer is fine unless you watch live telly. But realistically it's civil not criminal so the question becomes do they have a contract with you??

It is also still a criminal offence to not have a license. (If using TV/iPlayer obviously)
Ridiculous but there it is.

I don't mind paying the license fee, the way I see it I enjoy watching the news every morning, football focus on Saturday, motd when it's on, and stuff like Alan partridge and inside number 9, Frankie Boyle, QT etc. If no one paid it, what then?

I'm fine to have a conversation about how much it should be, but imo there's a lot of good content there and someone has to pay for it.

I pay mine monthly, so it feels the same as my Netflix subscription. Between TV shows and podcasts I think my pence-per-minute ratio is pretty good.

Yeah same, I have the news on each morning whilst I wake up and watch enough stuff per month, like snooker, darts, QT, football, comedy, that I see it as good value. You lot should pm me your thanks tbh (except Rumple, he's sound and pays his way).

Also the Tories want rid of the BBC so that alone means we must keep it.

Isn’t the BBC on the whole a good thing though?  I’ve never got the hatred towards paying it?  I wanna drive on the roads then I pay road tax.  I wanna watch tv? Then I pay the tv tax.  This countries media output would be a million times worse than it is right now without it.

Yeah, fair enough I can see that POV.  I’m coming at it from the BBC is good side so I’m perhaps a little blind to that.

yourfavouriteuncle wrote:

Yeah, fair enough I can see that POV.  I’m coming at it from the BBC is good side so I’m perhaps a little blind to that.

Diluted Dante wrote:

It pays for more than TV though. Really, TV License is a misleading name.

Yeah, this is why I think it needs to evolve with the times in some ways likewise with the fact it pays for so much more than just the TV.

I just dont know what the answer is. It isnt really fit for the modern age as it stands, but what is the alternative? (Rhetorical but open to concepts)

More than happy to pay the licence. Radio content is great and they have an excellent web site. No adverts too. Just wish they hadnt dumbed down as much.

Stop using the money to pay for things which are well or better served by private competitors. Or at least limit it. It used to be that the BBC was one of the only organisations able to fund quality dramas, alternative comedies and so on. Today, you can’t move for high quality adaptations of obscure texts, original dramas and so on - so what responsibility to public broadcasting is there to copy that?

Don’t pay presenters huge amounts of money. I don’t pay my license fee for the privilege of watching Gary and Alan talk shite. There must be a ton of young talented interesting enthusiastic presenters who’d do a great job at a fraction of the price.

Do continue to fund the services and content which are underserved by the market. This seems the most obvious but whenever there’s a cut, it’s the world service, it’s local radio, it’s BBC6 music, quality news production; ie precisely the things the BBC should be championing. We never hear of cuts to eastenders, when there’s such esteemed competition for it.

The problem is who runs it. They all want a legacy. The people who fund the next pride and prejudice. They’re too old, which means they relentlessly pursue “youth” (the future payers of the license fee after all) without understanding them or doing anything remotely relevant for them (the idea that people watch tv by actually switching linear broadcast channels, rather than opening an app... the iPlayer is split by channel I mean wtf is that about), whilst alienating anyone over the age of 35 (the Victoria Derbyshire show is great why cancel that because it’s not “youth-orientated” enough?!).

I’m a huge defender of the BBC and a big supporter of public funded media, but the BBC needs to shape up and rediscover its mission and quickly, lest the tories persuade everyone that a tv tax backed by criminal code is immoral.

One defense with the dramas is that they have potential to pay for themselves and some by selling them to other regions and services.
It is a gamble of course.

They need to advertise Eastenders to the shoppers of Milton Keynes. How else would anyone know Eastenders is on?