Funkstain wrote:I do think left wing creep needs to be qualified and explained and defined here. It means nothing in isolation. What do you mean?
Funkstain wrote:But the scale man. The scale! Someone quickly pull us up an infographic of the output of the BBC. Dramas. Soaps. Comedy. Radio for everyone. Podcasts for everything. World service in multiple languages. Local services. Sports. News and current affairs. Arts and culture. Documentaries on everything. Music. Web content. IPlayer.
Same.nick_md wrote:I'm happy to pay my TV licence, I think it's incredible value for money and I don't even watch much BBC content.
Funkstain wrote:But isn’t the problem (or at least the argument made by license defenders) that you cant’t really justify niche services, or providing a more universal service which covers more than any one particular person may want or need - which means we all end up paying for stuff we’d never use all of, which again sounds like I dunno the NHS or roads or other things taxes pay for?
I was greatly encouraged the other day hearing about Starmer’s plans to expand the NHS to cover prevention rather than “merely” cure, I’d happily pay more for that even though I think I’d probably not need it
Is it not comparable? Is “media content” mere entertainment, hardly comparable with society saving services?
Lord_Griff wrote:
LivDiv wrote:If it needs a tax then it needs to be more transparent about what that covers.
For a start the label 'TV license' is massively outdated. It should be a 'media license' if anything.
Secondly it seems grossly unfair that if the funding covers such a broad spectrum that consumers of one particular aspect should pay for it all.
It has to move away from that model because regardless of who is in government the number of people signing up is dwindling.
I would suggest a tax on mobile and broadband contracts.
Edit: There used to be a radio license. Then a combined radio and TV license. The radio eventually just became free for all. I think basic TV should probably be the same as it becomes mainly the reserve of older people.
Just like the radio made way for the TV as the primary outlet online services are taking over TV.
poprock wrote:Raise taxes, nationalise the BBC and fund it centrally. Enshrine the necessary level of funding in law, linked to inflation. Done.
LivDiv wrote:Totally agree on Starmer's preventative approach.
monkey wrote:The quality of the writing on their prestige dramas is usually laughably shit and ludicrous. That's the bit that really stands out for me on international comparisons. The low budgets and the rest are excusable. But the writing is unforgivably bad.
Dorries wrote:We still want to produce high quality British programmes – none of us wants endless American dross on our screens.
poprock wrote:My taxes pay for plenty of things I don’t personally use. I’m okay with that.
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