Should the BBC licence fee be replaced with a compulsory utility bill charge?

[FunStork]

The BBC has acknowledged that the licence fee is no longer fit for purpose, and the chair of the BBC says she wants the money to be a tax that's paid out of utility bills, ensuring everyone pays it.

Do you think this is a good idea or not?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20yjjm7n87o

I don't have a telly. I don't really get why I have to pay this man's wages but so is the lot of the taxpayer.

I used to like telly but the BBC turned itself into this sneery pompous horrible bore telling me off all the time about nonsense so I stopped watching. But years ago this was. Don't know what it's like now. I know right wing people hate it and are always trying to take it down, which makes me think maybe it's worth keeping. But I don't watch it myself. It's not for me or people like me.

Fuck that.

He said that because it had previously been ruled out, that bringing this in would be a 'challenge' but it's clear that this is what he supports and what the BBC supports.

The key is if Andy Burnham and Lisa Nandy support this as well.

What do you think?

No why should I have to pay a man’s wage when I don’t watch tv?

no

I almost never watch the BBC as well now.

Doesn't mean I hate it but it has so little influence on my life - I have no idea what's on BBC TV ever for example.

The main problem I have with the BBC is that the content they produce is just not very good.

I don’t watch live tv and haven’t had a tv licence for ages. I would be most pissed off to have to fund the vile, corrupt BBC and the paedophiles and idiots it employs. If it can’t survive with the licence fee in its current state then perhaps it deserves to go under.

absolutely agree, at the moment we can be LLF, so i am quite happy with the present arrangement

No they need to realise this grift is over and just scrap all licence type fees and put on ads. Like they do for the rest of the world. So they already have the architecture in place.

Another approach might be to create content that people actually want to consume. I can't recall the last time I watched anything BBC. Probably Top Gear before Clarkson screwed himself.

I did respond to their consultation not long ago and was annoyed that the options didn’t include “scrap the licence fee completely and rely on ads”. They wanted to bring in a subscription or ads on top of a licence fee! Clearly they don’t believe in their product if they don’t think advertising revenue will fund it. I’m also pissed off that I pay my licence but work abroad and can’t read BBC news at all as they demand a paid subscription and I can’t input my licence number to access what I’ve paid for!

The obvious solution is to make it a subscription like Netflix etc.
Those who want to engage with it, pay for it.

The reason they don't do that is because they are tying themselves in knots to justify why almost everyone needs a licence. They now claim that if you only stream on some apps, you still need a licence. If you listen to the BBC radio, you need a licence etc. Viewing any form of Live TV - need a licence.
It's a racket.

If they would just simplify things and produce good TV shows, people will pay for the subscription. Some folk will sign up to watch The Other Bennett Sister (or some such show) and forget to ever cancel it - they'll still make their money but people won't feel ripped off.

No if they can’t entice with decent content then don’t force a fee on everyone

No it should be a subscription based model.

Perhaps they could package it up so you could have:

radio channels only.

A radio channels and BBC 1, 2 and BBC news.

A BBC 1, bbc2, BBC news and BBC children (cbeebies and CBBC).

Children's BBC only.

All BBC channels and BBC radio.

This way people could choose what parts of the BBC they wish to access. I know people who only pay the TV licence for the news/ children's content. Similarly I know people who only use the BBC radio content.

No. We don't have a tv and haven't done for over 30 years and, from all I hear about the BBC, it's not fit for purpose and churns out absolute drivel. I'm not paying for that.

A government budget line item would be even more efficient because there would be absolutely no cost of collection. I imagine they don’t want to go this route because it would subject to annual debate.

A utility add on is cheaper than a license fee so an improvement. The current system wastes massive amounts of money on bureaucracy.

That’s outrageous, people shouldn’t have to pay for it if they don’t watch it. Just as people shouldn’t have to pay for Netflix if they don’t watch it. I know people will say it’s the national broadcaster or whatever and needs to be protected but who cares, it rubbish anyway.

The only person that was going to get rid of it was Farage, Nandy and any other Labour politician will keep it

Same /don’t have a TV /not interested on the BBC -just a grift for Oxbridge English grads who would be unemployable in the real world.
As it us, I resent the effort it takes for me to put their threatening letters in the recycling.

Its generally left wing people that want to keep it as it’s the state broadcaster

The BBC want to make the TV licence payable if you watch YouTube (and that means ANY YouTube content because in theory you MAY stumble across a BBC program/news!) Of course that would be a way to bring in a lot more revenue.

The govt is bringing in laws to make it a legal requirement that YouTube pushes BBC, ITV and Channel 4 content on their platform ahead of any other news creators. The algorithm would be dominated by mainstream media, in other words, so-called 'trustworthy media'. YouTube themselves have issued a plea to creators to get this overturned.

A lot of content creators have made videos about this recently, a good one to watch is that of Black Belt Barrister:

Absolutely not. Its an outdated model and people should have the choice not to pay for the left wing biased drivel that the once highly respected broadcaster now pumps out. Not to mention the paedoes they were protecting.
Make it a subscription service and see how many people want to pay for it. I certainly dont!!

Exactly.
and just like any other service the consumer can pay for ad free if they wish to.

I think it should be split up into news, general TV, and radio and put on subscription-time to get in the market place and compete.

Pay for what you want.

I would pay for the radio, I might pay for the general TV and I would no more pay for the news than I would buy a copy of The Guardian every day.