TV Licence - fair or not?

[Spikey88]

Am I right in thinking that my TV licence fee all goes to the BBC?
Don't get me wrong I watch BBC but after thinking about it - I watch more ITV overall.
The BBC don't show adverts (except for their own progs...obviously ) & to be honest the ad breaks on itv come in handy for wee breaks/kettle on etc.
Do you think the licence should be dropped & the BBC should start financing through adverts?

[Dassie]

Yes, you are right and that's why they don't have adverts. ITV etc fund their service from advertising.

I like to have a broadcasting service without adverts, but for the rubbish they serve up ,the licence is not worth the money.

[Spikey88]

Thanks Dassie
I do find at times that some of the adverts are more entertaining than some of the stuff on BBC or ITV.
I think that a time has come for a shakeup.Ok - years ago the BBC did the best dramas, the best factual, the best comedy but I find that ITV have equalled those in recent years.

[Ethel]

There is a finite amount of advertising revenue to go round - and if the BBC took a share too it would be very thinly spread.

And I don't want my programme content dictated to buy advertisers and sponsors. Being licence funded means the BBC does not have to worry about offending potential sponsors and can be more unbiased.

Don't forget the political parties are all funded by multi - millionaires who have their fingers in lots of pies - and businesses that provide the advertising revenue.

We need independent channels.

[THECORBYLOON]

For 37p per day you get eight national tv channels, ten national radio stations, forty local radio stations and hundreds of websites, all for less than the price of a daily paper, I�d say that was good value.

[Louisa 69]

It can be a financial burden on lower income families and pensioners. I myself mostly watch ITV and hardly ever watch BBC. I for one would like to see it scraped.

[Spikey88]

Thanks for your comments Ethel & Corby - I can understand what you mean - being dictated to what can & can't be broadcast.
Saying that - didn't the BBC used to be dictated what they could show too? (It's something in the back of my mind from many years ago - that I saw on a documentary)

[pianoman81]

TV license ......

BBC need to take their heads out of their a$$es and actually put something worth watching on !!!

great....

eastenders (how i wish it would end),
weakest link (seriously does anybody watch that anymore?)
Dancing on lavatory seats ,
strictly b*****s etc etc etc ,

yep brilliant tv. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


i now no longer pay my tv license, the BBC can eat a d1ck.


my reason for not doing so-
almighty god speaks to me and gives me messages / orders.....
but only through the TV as he doesnt have a physical presence.

[VillageVicar]

Corby has a valid thought there. However, it's about choice and our right to exercise choice. With the license laws, we actually are compelled to participate whether we wish to engage with any part of the Beeb or not. Personally, I rather like the way the yanks operate their PBS, through sponsorships and annual member drives. However, through the few things I've seen this past year on the BBC, I've had numerous rhetorical arguments about whether the Beeb may somehow be receiving benefit in kind through 'product-placements' as is clearl exhibited in some shows... crum...they've been rather unforthcoming over several issues recently and been caught out...I wonder whether there might be more to come....

[ojread2]

Product placement in Eastenders is rife!

One of the main characters blatantly shows his cigarette packet of Malboro Lightsevery time he lights up and Dot smokes some menthol creations

Not sure Walford draught is a brand name though ;P

[tonymclark]

I think the licence fee is good value for money. And I don't like my programmes interupted by adverts.

You probably pay more per week for the advertised goods you buy than you pay for the TV licence.

[Reverandfunk]

Give me BBC anyday, its not just the TV what about radio/ All the great comedies start out on Radio 4 usually.

ITV never have any rubbish on do they?

GMTV was this morning asking whether Diana was pregnant when she died. Yawn.

X Factor is just a license for Cowell to print money

[Dassie]

The licence fee is value for money is it ? Some countries I've been too and lived in have licence fees far less than UK and show comparable programs sourced from UK and USA.
No the UK licence is expensive for the cr*p that's dished out.

[beejaybee]

Nobody HAS to have a television. The choice is yours.

[funnygirl]

The fee of �135 is not fair on students. I think there should be a discount. My son currently in uni digs is missing the tv, but on his budget he cannot afford it just yet. And when he does the licence runs for a year, he his hoping to be back home by July, so he would have paid for some months for nothing!

[Reverandfunk]

Plus we dont have a choice lol

personally I listen to the radio a lot so for me the BBC is good value but each to their own.....

[Pippa68]

I totally agree with the Rev.

I would much rather pay for the BBC (TV, radio etc) than suffer the drivel they do in the USA....adverts every 5 seconds... ;o)

It is good value for money. If you think the quality is poor now, watch it slide ever more downward if the fee was axed.

[chazza]

funnygirl, you can claim back the months not used on the TV licence, when i was at uni we were able to do this every year.

As for all the things the BBC brings us, sadly without subscribing to sky I can only receive 2 of its channels!

[Reverandfunk]

If you subscibe to satellite/cable barring a couple of channels (mainly sky 1) its a load of old tosh and repeats anyway.

Nothing like watching a film on ITV and it was continued after the news lol although they probably dont do it any more.

Would BBC every bring you anything as crass as Big Brother?

[vehelpfulguy]

>BBC need to take their heads out of their a$$es and actually put something worth watching on !!!

Yes its all rubbish isn't it.

Coast, Who do you think you are, Restoration, Anything with David Attenborough, Dr Who, the Michael Palin series, How we built Britain, drama, comedy, the list is endless.

Anyone who does not think the BBC is a bastion for quality TV, or cant find anything to watch on BBC, is a moron.

[vehelpfulguy]

We have a number of organizations in the UK that are the envy of the world (National Trust etc), and the BBC is one of them.

Look at comedy, how many good comedy shows have ITV produced ? At a push, you can count them on the fingers of one hand.

Admittedly Channel 4 have turned out quite a few in the last few years (Father Ted being a prime example).

But BBC's list of classic comedy is huge.

You have the Goons and Hancock of the 1950s, then Steptoe and son, Alf Garnett, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, Dads Army, Blackadder, Fry and Laurie, Vicar of Dibley, Absolutely Fabulous, Fast Show, Little Britain, Alan Partridge, The Office, Are you being served, Only Fools and Horses, and on and on.

The BBC are one the great British institutions.