BBC “what has the BBC done for me”

The fee is so frustrating when you have so little input into the programs being made or how the money is spent.

Interesting, thank you!

Have no issues with the Beeb. I don't love (or even like) every programme - would be weird if I did! But they do broadcast some good stuff. TV and radio, as well as online.

I wish they still had the funds to produce the big historical dramas they used to be so good at (although the other Bennet Sister was very good). I still rewatch THAT Pride and Prejudice series on a semi regular basis as well as other older stuff on Channel 4. While the nature programs can still be very good, I am bored rigid by losing half the show to "how we made it" - seems to be a cheap filler.

Their Woke attitude for a few years was unhelpful - it certainly seemed to kill Dr Who which, while not everyones cup of tea, was a fun show very different to anything else But it seems to be calming down a bit - I hope!

Long live the Beeb!

I don’t think it needs to be a package, people like choice. I do agree money could be made globally from subscription.

I don’t see that you have to love the BBC or its Russian gulag for you, in your other post, sounds a bit North Korea. I think we’re in a time of streaming and choice and people are happier to do that if they want.

It's on as an ad on YouTube, which I was using to watch Ukrainian rock bands. The actual ad in entirely content I don't view.

The biggest problem with it is that it isn't going to convert a single person from their current opinion.

Big fans of the Beeb? Don't need it.
Grudging licence payers who use it a moderate amount? Don't need it.
Entrenched opposition? Won't have their minds changed.

The agenda is very off putting, like NHS ads celebrating themselves whilst you've been sat in a waiting room for four hours trying to get a referral for tumors that should have been done months ago (ask me how I know!).

To be honest, I think the BBC needs to rein itself in a bit. We don't need forty fucking thousand radio channels and another eleventy billion children's programs. We don't need LIVE REPORTING about things like Prince Harry visiting Australia. We don't need magazine-style articles about niche social problems in far flung parts of the world, we need accurate local reporting.

Example - I live in Birmingham. In the 2011 riots, violence very quickly spread to Birmingham. But the BBC barely reported the levels of disruption we were experiencing, and only really picked up on things in Manchester on their other doorstep - we had to rely on local social media to understand what was happening and where, when getting home meant dodging armed kids, and being woken by police helicopters through the night. It was so poorly reported what was happening in my city centre that people who lived in the suburbs didn't know what was happening, including my boss, who wouldn't let me go home early for safety.

They do many things very well, but they're trying to do too many things. They need to focus on getting some core services right, not trying to provide another billion things that nobody needs.

I don’t watch the bbc or any live tv at home. I don’t have a TV licence
I have seen it watching the world cup in the pub and at parents 🤷‍♀️

They are actually paid money to self promote.

I have to pay money for something that I don't want, some of which is used to make adverts to help promote their efforts to continue to force me to pay money I don't want to.

It's a complete joke.

I think the point about the World Service is moot. It’s blocked in oppressive regimes anyway.

I would like the BBC to shape up or find their money from people who want what they are selling. The licence has been a rip off since colour TV came in. You can’t get black and white sets that receive digital afaik so the far cheaper option has disappeared. And obviously when that was the only option it sustainably funded the BBC so they’ve clearly had major budget creep since the 60s/70s when most people had B&W licences. A B&W licence was still only around £35 in the 2010s. People would pay that sort of money if there was a modern pared down option but the BBC is too greedy to think up a tiered pricing for different service levels. So they should do subscription or ads and pay their own way if this isn’t working for them. As an aside the Irish TV licence is worse, anyone owning a TV needs one AND it part-funds the BBC!

I want more like Amandaland or Ludwig. And can we talk about the fact that they do sometimes make some really good shows like this, but a season is only 6 episodes. So the good stuff is short and far between. Most TV channels and streaming services do 10-25 episodes per season.

I don’t mind that ad compared to what you get on ITV! I have to record anything on there to ffw the ads

Yes, I actually agree with you. I’d be happy to pay but we need providers to consolidate. A model where the BBC works with others would suit us best. I don’t want to subscribe to all separately. It’s clear that the licence fee needs to change.

But the BBC is constrained by its own charter. Did you know that it was visionaries at the BBC who came up with the concept of streaming? Back in 2007 I first heard about them developing the iPlayer and it was years in the making before then. Ceefax was a precursor to social media. The BBC has always been early with innovation, BUT they are not able to commercially exploit it due to the charter. They should have been in Netflix shoes.

Their brand is so strong that they now need the freedom to become the global dominant media company that they have the potential to become. This could benefit the whole world. I just hope that the new leadership understands the strength of the brand and the trust it garners - which is their greatest strength.

We pay the TV licence so Romesh and all the other slebs in the advert can get paid stupid money. No wonder they are smiling.

I’m not sure that is true of the wider population though. You are only hearing from people who are motivated to respond including lots of foreign bots and trolls on here who are trying to undermine the fundamentals of our democracy for their own nefarious agenda.

If you attack the BBC you are unwittingly supporting Russia in undermining our democracy and helping our enemies win.

Can you imagine living in a country without a free press? The US is heading that way with the recent developments in Trump news monopolising information for the financial markets. Russia is already there.

Be careful what you wish for. You don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone.

BTW the eastenders set cost 89.million.

You are obliged to pay for it if you watch live broadcast TV on any other subscription service.

So if I never watch the BBC but want to watch Sky News I am still forced to pay the licence fee.

I don’t much like the ad.

But I do think it’s worth a try to get the BBC on a sustainable footing. Otherwise I think the licence fee will keep getting reduced, the decent programmes will continue to be over-relied on, there’ll be a lack of new and innovative writing and there’ll just be a cycle of things getting more shit. Which will end up with the BBC having to have commercial advertising on all stations and at which point everyone might finally realise what we’ve lost.

It’s good if you love it, if many do it could go to a subscription model.

I watch the BBC a lot, mostly on iPlayer. I don’t understand the posters complaining that it’s full of stuff they don’t watch. I have a Netflix subscription and would say that I am interested in about 5-10% of the content. But I love the stuff I do watch, hence the subscription. You are not obliged to pay for a TV licence, just as I am not obliged to pay for Netflix.

I love it!

Brings a tear to my eye!

Vive Le BBC!!

BBC fee is made up of broadcasting infrastructure fee + BBC programming fee.

This used to be true,I think, but it isn't any more. Each user of the broadcasting infrastructure pays for their share of its upkeep.

It makes it a very unfair tax on people who never watch BBC output.

No.

I am forced to pay for it because I want to watch live broadcast TV that has nothing to do with the BBC.

I want to use Sky completely, but don't have that option and have to pay the licence fee.

Not that one. What is "woke" about things like the Sunday Service, Mastermind, the Great British Sewing Bee, the Proms, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, The Archers, Gardeners' World, Escape to the Country, all of Attenborough's programmes, Countryfile, the Antiques Roadshow etc etc? Or are you simply objecting because occasionally they dare to feature gay people?

Ludicrous over-reaction, OP. Do you get this worked up about the stupid adverts on other channels?

Not at my house. I prefer Roy Keene! Although I admit that Rooney and that goalkeeper's hair was fascinating. Not worth a licence fee though.