How to stop paying for my TV licence

[caravantulips]

I like the BBC and have never really begrudged my monthly direct debit but seeing the news that the licence fee is £180 this year it’s made me question it’s value as it’s only me who watches it.

I never watch BBC live (except for the news back in Covid times) but use iPlayer a lot. Should I just cancel the direct debit and delete the iPlayer app from my TV? Is this enough?

I do have the BBC news app on my phone and it’s my sole choice for news as it’s (supposed to be!!) impartial. Do you know if I can still use this? What about the videos on the BBC news channel?

£180 a year to watch Traitors, wow.

Why can't the BBC be a subscription service like Netflix, Disney Plus or Crunchroll where you can subscribe or cancel literally at the click of a mouse? What is the justification for the ridiculous licence fee and the ludicrous rules regarding having to pay it to watch services that have nothing to do with the BBC, not to mention the "enforcement officers" knocking on peoples doors to fine them for the "crime" of not subscribing to a certain media provider? It is absolutely crazy that this is happening in this country in 2026.

I am indifferent as to whether people pay the license fee, if they aren’t using any of the services that the fee covers. Why would I be aggrieved?

From the 2014 article you posted, “He was described in court last year as a former BBC driver but the BBC has said it has no record of him having worked for the corporation”

Netflix is a world wide service making £8bn and BBC is a uk tv channel making £5bn from licence fee and other revenue - take away the licence for watching live tv shows and that £5bn will not grow to compete with Netflix but most probably tank

They have to do that though
It happens in all big corporations when somone is suspended they are on full pay whilst there is an investigation
I have no time for the BBC but I cant fault them for that.

And HE wasn’t actually charged until after he resigned.

I regularly handle cases like this and I absolutely can fault them. The cap on unfair dismissal is £115k. If they had sacked him and lost that’s the most he would have been awarded. It’s madness that they spent £300k+ on paid suspension.

Had they sacked him in July 2023, the headline would have been “BBC sacks beloved presenter Huw Edwards without internal investigation, even though police say no evidence of criminal conduct”

And in Nov 2023 “BBC sacks HE after he is arrested and released without charge, and before the internal investigation concludes”

I agree it was probably the wrong decision in November 2023, but it wasn’t a no brainer, I don’t think.

I posted about the horrendous experience my mother had with TV licencing up thread, but for the sake of balance my personal experience with them was actually quite easy.

I cancelled my license for a while about ten years ago, as I was spending most of my time at my partner's place or working away. Had a few letters, but just binned them.

A couple of months after cancelling a bloke knocked on my door. I let him in, showed him that my TV wasn't plugged into an aerial and told him I didn't watch anything live etc.

Did a declaration and was told I wouldn't hear from them for two years, which I didn't. After two years I got an email with a link to confirm I still didn't need a license.

Reading this thread tells me I got lucky!

Why did you let him in?

Why not? I had nothing to hide, he was in and out in a couple of minutes and it meant I didn't have to deal with them for two years.

If he'd have come back a month later I'd have said no.

It doesnt matter weher you have anything to hide
They have no power of entry you dont even have to open the door to them
They can come back all they want but you dont have to engage with them in anyway.

Yes, I know that. I opened the door of my own free will, just like I do when anybody knocks on it. He didn't suggest that he had 'power of entry', I invited him in.

Two minutes of my day stopped any repeat visits and years of wasteful junk mail.

It would grow if they produced content that people were prepared to pay to watch. They could become an international service with subscribers worldwide.

This is achieved, sometimes, by partnering on the production costs with other broadcasters, who then have similar rights to show it on their local networks (e.g. BBC and Disney on Doctor Who).

I'm just horrified that you think the BBC is impartial!

But if the BBC paid for itself and made the Iplayer available in all countries, it would be able to make all the money itself and be more viable. Instead of sending their bully boy enforcers round to intimate people into paying their TVL.

I disagree.

It's almost certainly a better idea for programmes that were originally made for the BBC to be sold on to existing companies like Amazon, Britbox etc than for the Beeb to try and set up a competing subscription framework.

However, the Beeb may not actually be the owners of the digital streaming rights to those programmes, so may not be the entity making money from the streaming rights.

Anyway, I think I have said all I can say on this matter, and it's the weekend!

But that would mean the license fee remaining. Why not act like a proper media content provider and allow people to subscribe? How hard can it be? Compared to the whole palaver of the TV licence and enforcing it?

The BBC - as it stands - isn't just a content platform like Netflix. It's a public service. The radio, the TV, iPlayer, the journalism, educational resources...you or I may not use much - or any - of that service, but the fact is that a lot of people - of all ages/incomes - do rely on all or part of it.

It's not just as simple as switching to a subscription model.The streaming market is already oversaturated. A bunch of them are losing money and we're already seeing consolidations and buy-outs because the market can't sustain itself with the current business model.

That's why the BBC sells a lot of its content to other platforms overseas. It can't compete with established broadcasters on their own turf.

And speaking of competing - We'd not only be asking the BBC to compete with the likes of Netflix and Amazon commercially, we'd be asking them to do so with the disadvantage of having to support all the other arms of its service.

The license fee will have to change/evolve at some point, but scrapping it and making the BBC a subscription service will be the end of the BBC, and that won't be allowed to happen.

@SheilaFentiman
https://www.yahoo.com/news/bbc-used-paedophile-drivers-30-165500105.html