Defund The Bbc Campaign

[fender62]

if you have pension credit you get a free tv license, do you think the bbc should be defunded subscription service etc, as for the below website, not sure how much leverage it will have.
https://www.defundbbc.uk/

[dannyk13]

Doubt that it will have any effect.Age concern are running a campaign to have pensioners e-mail the government with their concerns.Have already sent mine.Having said that, I don't think that this will have any effect either.Age concern sent in a petition with 63,000 signatures which was ignored.

[ToraToraTora]

No, as much as the ABBC annoy me I am still a fan of the institution.

[youngmafbog]

Should be subscription. Why should I be forced to pay them to receive commercial tv. It is archaic and wrong.

[fender62]

why doesnt the government listen, why wont they shut it down, or make it a subscription service like payg..

[dannyk13]

I don't understand why they can't gain revenue from advertising.

[dannyk13]

Fender //why doesnt the government listen,//
The BBC are not beholden to the government, Boris has already stated that he does not think that it is right, but what can he really do about it ?

[Old_Geezer]

No. It should be funded by general taxation like many public benefits are.

[dannyk13]

OG, why should it be funded by the public, it is not a public company and, incidentally, it is already raking in a profit of £5 billion a year.

[youngmafbog]

No, I dont think taxes should be used. It is no longer the impartial reliable service it once was so it should stand on its own two feet. In addition it pays some far too much especially considering it is the public purse effectively funding it. We will have enough taxes to pay to recover from this ridiculous Covid nonsense and spending.

Advertising or subscription so those that want it pay.

It has a charter until 2027. I doubt anything will be done until then unless sufficient numbers stop paying the licence fee, which is possible given the live programs are generally dire.

[jno]

he could offer to make up the shortfall, dannyk? The government paid for the free licences up to about 10 years ago, as I recall, then handed over the responsibility to the BBC. Why not take it back again?

[dannyk13]

ymb,// especially considering it is the public purse effectively funding it.//
Not the public purse, it is the revenue from TV licences which provides the funding, which is why the BBC will not give way on free licences.

[fender62]

so the government cannot shut them down, i thought it was public broadcaster, and not a private enterprise, im not savvy on how it all works, but id be interested to know.

[dannyk13]

jno.// Why not take it back again?//
I am not sure they could but they are taking notice of the public:-
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12082657/bbcs-funding-threatened-tv-licences/

[Old_Geezer]

For exactly the same reason any other publicly funded thing is publicly funded. That which is of benefit to the nation is funded by the nation's coffers from all in society.

[dannyk13]

OG, see post at 13.36

[fender62]

Old_Geezer, if that's true they are beholden to the public will then.
or are they a law unto themselves.

[dannyk13]

Fender, the BBC is not publicly funded.

[dannyk13]

Fender:-
https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/governance/licencefee

[Gromit]

Brief History.
1997: Labour's General Election manifesto promised free TV licenseS for the over 75s. Labour won the election.
1999: Labour fulfilled their pledge and the free Licence was introduced.
1999-2016: The Government funded the scheme from its Welfare budget.
2016: Theresa May ends the Government funding and places the burden on the BBC to fund it.
2019: BBC announces free licences will end.

It was an election bribe, Theresa May stopped Government funding for it. And the BBC get the backlash for ending it.
The BBC should not be spending the licence fee on handing out social benefits, it should be used for creating broadcast content.

The Broadcasting environment has significantly changed since the onset of the digit age. The Licence Fee model of financing is not really fit for purpose in the new streaming era.
Unfortunately the Government needs the BBC to distribute its propaganda to us and the rest of the world, so the Government will never end the licence fee (and end its meddling in the state broadcaster).

Which is a pity for the BBC which could be a world beater without the shackles of politicians holding it back.

[vulcan42]

The problem is the revenue from the TV licences only goes to the BBC.
I don't accept the BBC is a benefit to the nation, it doesn't need all the TV channels and radio station it has, it should cut down on quantity and improve the quality. I no longer watch any BBC programmes or listen to their radio, they have become puerile in the extreme.