Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think the TV License should be scrapped

109 replies

Hedgehogbrown · 18/10/2025 19:09

Hear me out. I love the BBC, grew up on it, and want it preserved forever. The Television License is such an outdated and inefficient way to pay for the BBC though. Most young people don't have a TV, they have computers and they don't see why they should get a TV License, regardless of the law. They don't have a TV License. Most Millennials I know don't pay their TV License. When you are poor it is another stressful expense.

How much does it cost them to try to enforce? It seems so old fashioned and wasteful. In Australia they have a state run channel but it is paid for through general taxation. If the government grew some balls and taxed all the Tech Bros who are trying to destroy the world, they can ring fence some of that taxation for the BBC. The BBC is actually good at making money, it exports it's stuff around the world. Their profits can go to the Treasury. No more paying for people to go round in vans trying to catch people out for not having a license like it's the 1970s.

I think it would be such a vote winner for people to not have to pay this.

OP posts:
CalzoneOnLegs · 19/10/2025 10:38

Mealy82 · 18/10/2025 22:33

When was that?

It's been well known for a couple of decades that they're just for show now, and maybe always were. In the digital age, what possible technology could detect if you're watching live TV / the iPlayer from a van outside your home? And why would anyone need a van to find out the names of people living at a certain address?

Exactly

Whammyyammy · 19/10/2025 10:38

DoAWheelie · 18/10/2025 19:22

I'd rather it got lumped into council tax or something. Since every household would be paying rather than just some, the price per house could drop quite a bit without changing funds available to the BBC.

Can sky, disney+, Netflix, Prime, Paramount etc also be included in with council tax? If you're going to force people to pay for a tv service, then include them all.
And no, I have not paid the bbc licence fee in years as don't watch that rubbish service.

SharonEllis · 19/10/2025 10:38

Simonjt · 19/10/2025 10:34

It is criminalising people who don’t watch BBC, your analogy is the same as banning bus travel unless you also have a train season ticket.

Ok fair point, but I find people that say the 'never watch the bbc' do actually, it turns out, do.

Simonjt · 19/10/2025 10:34

SharonEllis · 19/10/2025 10:16

Its not criminalising people for watching tv, its criminalising people for not paying for a service that they use. You can't ride on a train for free.

It is criminalising people who don’t watch BBC, your analogy is the same as banning bus travel unless you also have a train season ticket.

BlooomUnleashed · 19/10/2025 10:26

I absolutely want the Italian TV license scrapped. It’s whacked onto my electricity bill and is seemingly impossible to opt out of.

Rai doesn’t even have The Glory Days that the BBC had.

We couldn’t even watch it if we wanted to. The app is so shite it crashes if you so much as breathe hard around it. The old antenna is defunct. The new “plug into your TV” boxes don’t appear to work when you live in the middle of nowhere.

I get pissed off every time the electricity bill lands and I see the extra TV licence charge.

SharonEllis · 19/10/2025 10:16

Greenwitchart · 19/10/2025 10:14

I cancelled mine years ago.

I don't watch any live TV and I think the BBC lost its independence and impartiality years ago.

I refuse to contribute to the salaries of people like Laura Kuenssberg for example who is so biased it is embarrassing to the BBC that she is still employed by them.

The idea of criminalising people for watching TV is just outdated and bizarre.

Its not criminalising people for watching tv, its criminalising people for not paying for a service that they use. You can't ride on a train for free.

Greenwitchart · 19/10/2025 10:14

I cancelled mine years ago.

I don't watch any live TV and I think the BBC lost its independence and impartiality years ago.

I refuse to contribute to the salaries of people like Laura Kuenssberg for example who is so biased it is embarrassing to the BBC that she is still employed by them.

The idea of criminalising people for watching TV is just outdated and bizarre.

cramptramp · 19/10/2025 10:09

I happily pay the license for bbc sounds, iPlayer, radio and the rest. If it became a subscription service I think it would cost more annually than the current license. I could afford this, but lots of people couldn’t.

Onlyonmumsne · 19/10/2025 10:03

It should be a monthly opt in and pay for subscription like all the others. How it is operating is absolutely archaic and they need to move with the times. If that doesn’t produce enough revenue for them then clearly they aren’t for for purpose. Threatening and giving criminal records to those vulnerable and naive enough to talk to them is utterly disgusting.

x2boys · 19/10/2025 10:00

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 18/10/2025 20:04

They do detect. They detected us as students not having one. Knew our names and everything.

So if they were capable of detecting, why do they send letters to unlicensed house holds asking whether you are watching TV and reminding you it's illegal to watch it without a licence ,surely they could just detect whether you were of not.?
I remember them coming to student halls back in the 90,s ( long before I was aware of my rights) and we had a heads up from security so we all hid our TV,s they couldn't detect a damn thing!

EasternStandard · 19/10/2025 09:57

AgnesMcDoo · 19/10/2025 09:50

I used to support the license fee but now I agree with you.

it’s time has passed

The op would like to make payment for the BBC compulsory instead.

It should go the other way, more choice.

RedRiverShore5 · 19/10/2025 09:54

They do rather belong in an age where we had just the telly to watch with aerial stuck in the back, the licence started to become obsolete when we could use the telly to watch videos in the 80s, the licence was really for the 60s and 70s.

Hedgehogbrown · 19/10/2025 09:51

HardworkSendHelp · 18/10/2025 22:37

i honestly don’t mind paying the licence fee. Local radio is funded by it, local news. BBC Bitesize is also amazing for kids. I would have to pay a tutor for that and I get it free through the licence fee.

I am suggesting you would still pay, just through general taxation.

OP posts:
AgnesMcDoo · 19/10/2025 09:50

I used to support the license fee but now I agree with you.

it’s time has passed

Hedgehogbrown · 19/10/2025 09:49

Well I suppose that's answered my question. If any politician tries to scrap it and pay for it through general taxation, a loads of BBC haters like you lot will be all 'make it a subscription' blah blah. There are lots of things you get taxed for but don't use. How often do you use an ambulance or fire brigade? Australia and Canada have state channels that are paid for through taxation. They aren't saying ' of Maureen from Mumsnet thinks it's all shite, she shouldn't have to pay.

Lots of people enjoy and need the BBC. Also, you do need a license for BBC iPlayer by the way, those of you who think you don't need one. How many of you spend hours scrolling through Facebook. They pay fuck all tax. That's where I was suggesting the money comes from.

Didn't want this to become a BBC bashing thread.

OP posts:
RedRiverShore5 · 19/10/2025 09:49

We have one of these threads regularly but nothing can change until end of 2027

Hedgehogbrown · 19/10/2025 09:41

HermioneWeasley · 18/10/2025 19:12

It should be a subscription service

No it shouldn't.

OP posts:
SharonEllis · 18/10/2025 23:20

tipsyraven · 18/10/2025 23:15

I realise that but if the funding shrinks for the BBC they will make cuts to their radio programmes for sure.

Exactly. Somebody has to pay!

tipsyraven · 18/10/2025 23:15

StrokeCity · 18/10/2025 23:05

Radio isn't included in the TV Licence, you can listen without one

I realise that but if the funding shrinks for the BBC they will make cuts to their radio programmes for sure.

AgentPidge · 18/10/2025 23:14

yellowspanner · 18/10/2025 20:07

I have no television and don't watch any TV programmes at all ever. I haven't for about 20 years. There is nothing worth watching on the BBC. It's either reality rubbish or imported American rubbish. I have no subscriptions for television either. I enjoy reading and listening to music on the radio.
I would object strongly if I was made to pay for a service which I consider to be suboptimal and which I never use .

If you don't watch it, how do you know there's nothing worth watching? The nature programmes are amazing ( eg. Hamza's Wild Isles). There was a wonderful one on recently about nature in a French village throughout the seasons. Also University Challenge and Have I Got News For You. Just some examples.

SharonEllis · 18/10/2025 23:08

Lonelycrab · 18/10/2025 22:54

You don’t need a tv licence to listen to the radio

I know. But bbc radio has no ads. The money has to come from somewhere and Im happy to pay the BBC.

StrokeCity · 18/10/2025 23:05

tipsyraven · 18/10/2025 19:26

I’m happy to pay for it for radio alone.

Radio isn't included in the TV Licence, you can listen without one

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 18/10/2025 23:00

I’d rather pay for BBC than Netflix.

All they seem to carry are crime/mystery/murder or sci fi. I can’t ever find much worth watching.

Prime ir Disney+ are better.

Lonelycrab · 18/10/2025 22:54

SharonEllis · 18/10/2025 22:36

Me too. Its a bargain.

You don’t need a tv licence to listen to the radio

Notmyreality · 18/10/2025 22:41

Ooo an original thread idea for once!
oh wait…

Swipe left for the next trending thread