Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I am a fan of the BBC....But let,s talk License Fee

115 replies

GabbyLoggon · 09/08/2010 11:16

The TV license fee is getting close to £3 a week. That is a lot of money for poor people. And rich and poor alike have to pay it; or be hauled up in court.

There must be a better, fairwer way to fund the BBC. Got any ideas?

OP posts:
Alambil · 09/08/2010 13:12

I don't find it expensive, really

I pay by dd so it's around £12 a month which is affordable - and I'm on income support, so not exactly rolling in it

Mind you, we do watch a lot of bbc stuff, so get the value out of it

edam · 09/08/2010 13:16

The BBC is not offers some of the highest quality, unbiased broadcasting in the world, it's also a major British success story. A brand with international recognition that supports our creative industries - one of the very few things we still do well in this country and export successfully.

You only need to look at Fox in the States to see what will happen if Murdoch gets his way.

tethersend · 09/08/2010 13:22

Fifteen per cent of all women in prison are there for failing to pay for a TV licence.

Opting in needs to happen.

ISNT · 09/08/2010 13:23

i have heard that before tethers, and it always shocks me.

Is there a link for it?

tethersend · 09/08/2010 13:24

Will have a look.

FunnyLittleFrog · 09/08/2010 13:32

The BBC is one of the best things about this country and I think we'd be much the poorer without it. However, I do think that there needs to be a rethink about funding as it is incredibly unfair that everyone pays the same, no matter how little / much they use the service or how well off they are.

Does anyone else find the ads for the license fee really offensive too? Very threatening and Orwellian.

PfftTheMagicDragon · 09/08/2010 13:33

If they are to continue to charge, then the fairest way would be to have the BBC as a group of payable channels, just like sky movies, or sports. This is doable I think. You should be able to receive the advertisment-full channels for free. You should not have to pay a licence fee to have a television.

Saying that, I do think that the BBC is worth the fee, and would pay it, but then I can afford to do so. It shoudl not be compulsory.

bleedingheart · 09/08/2010 13:38

I'd pay £3 a week for Woman's Hour alone. It's fantastic value. They do pay their 'top stars' way too much though and once they've got them don't really know what to do with them (i.e Graham Norton).

boiledegg1 · 09/08/2010 13:38

People should be able to opt in. The current situation will have to change as I think the BBC will find its revenues dropping year on year. We can afford the licence fee and continue to pay but the only bbc service we use regularly is their radio stations. We never watch programmes as they are broadcast any more, just the odd thing on the iPlayer or through the freeview recorder. If we were short of money I would be looking at ditching the licence.

ButterpieBride · 09/08/2010 13:39

I only ever watch/listen to the BBC. If you don't watch BBC, what on earth are you watching? Surely there can't be people on MUMSNET that only watch big brother and suchlike? :o ;)

Tbh, I don't really ever watch TV apart from cbeebies. We didn't have a tv for years.

I think it is a bit of a bargain for advert free tv. They even have adverts on the CHILDREN'S channels on commercial tv. I've seen them- why on earth would you let a child watch a commercial channel? I know Cbeebies has tie ins, but you can shop skillfully and the child doesn't need to see them.

OMG I've turned into my MIL.

tyler80 · 09/08/2010 13:41

The way I see it is the license fee is a fee for having a television which just happens to fund the bbc. Either you pay the fee for the tv or you don't.

If you genuinely can't afford it do without the tv, or move an old person into your house so you can get the license for free.

clemetteattlee · 09/08/2010 13:44

I happily pay 40p a day just for the joy DS gets from watching Mr Tumble or DD from Charlie and Lola
Add to this the Archers omnibus, the wonderful Sherlock, Mock the Week and Masterchef and I think I do very well for my £3 a week.

boiledegg1 · 09/08/2010 13:48

I would pay to continue to receive advert free content but I appreciate that not everyone wants that.

I can't speak for anyone else Butterpie but in between work, spending time with children, surfing the internet, listening to the radio, reading, working out, I just don't seem to have time to watch TV. I find myself wondering how I used to find the time to fit tv schedules into my life. The children watch DVDs and aren't bothered either. Anyone else the same or are we just a bit strange? Gin

boiledegg1 · 09/08/2010 13:50

I meant Grin not Gin Blush

Oh yes, freudian slip, that's another one, as the summer has been so good we have spent more time after work sitting in the garden with a g&t whilst the children muck around outside!

ButterpieBride · 09/08/2010 13:55

Fair enough if you don't watch tv (we don't) but some of this thread sounds like there are people out there who mainly watch...what?..sky? ITV? I don't understand. Those channels are ok as a relaxing bit of trash, but if you only watch a bit, or only listen to the odd bit of radio, you would think that would mainly be BBC.

boiledegg1 · 09/08/2010 14:05

Maybe if you have sky there are more good quality options? We don't have sky. BBC channels are the best options on freeview I agree.

edam · 09/08/2010 15:05

I don't understand all these people who object to the licence fee because they don't watch BBC TV but do enjoy BBC radio. How the hell do they think the radio is funded?

tethersend · 09/08/2010 15:15

I object not to the licence fee, but its compulsory nature- it is completely outdated in the age of satellite and cable TV. So may people are willing to pay for the BBC (myself included)- why not allow the ones who aren't to have a TV?

The only info I can find is pretty old, but makes the case for an 'opt in' licence fee:

In March 1998 Citizens Advice published ?TV Sinners?, a report based on evidence supplied by 232 CABx all over the country. It showed:

^-each year approximately 200,000 people are prosecuted for non-payment of the TV Licence
68 percent of these prosecutions are against women (this is because when the TV Licence inspectors call during the day it's usually the woman who's at home)^
-out of the total of 200,000 prosecutions 98% result in a fine
-because TV Licence evasion is a strict liability offence these cases have to be heard in a magistrates court, and the court has no compulsion to allow fines to be paid by instalments
-there is no compulsion on Magistrates to means test people who appear in court
-if you do not pay the fine a warrant will be issued for your arrest
-over the years thousands of women have been imprisoned in the United Kingdom because they were not able to pay fines imposed upon them for not having a TV Licence. Almost all of these women were on benefits and around half of them had dependent children

Does anyone know if and how this situation has changed in the last 12 years?

montmartre · 09/08/2010 15:27

Edam- we do not watch television, and do not pay the licence fee- when I tried to pay the radio licence fee, I was told it had been dropped years ago.
Seems daft really- we love BBC radio, and are happy to pay for it.

NetworkGuy · 09/08/2010 15:30

" I'd happily pay a subscription for BBC and Channel 4 channels and drop ITV and Channel 5. Paying for what you watch seems to make sense"

I suppose it depends on whether you pay already (eg for Sky or Virgin cable). However, I find it quite difficult to accept the suggestion of dropping ITV and Five (unless you mean for you personally, on some subscription package you use).

[my interest is that some films are on ITV4, and NCIS, Law and Order, CSI, Burn Notice are on Five/FiveUSA/Fiver, and both ITV and Five have some UK-based 'fly on the wall' police shows too]

It is rather odd that the fee is mandatory for those who choose to watch any other channels, and the rumour is that they will require a licence for using iPlayer in the future - at present people only need a TV Licence if they watch live TV shows (again, is that fair if someone doesn't watch any BBC shows live?)

ISNT · 09/08/2010 15:31

It's a tax isn't it, really. A tax levied to pay for something that is a public service.

This business about loads of women ending up imprisoned beacause of not paying licence fee is appalling. Not to mention the costs associated with locking all these women up, and taking their children into care. It is ludicrously heavy handed.

thumbwitch · 09/08/2010 15:32

I miss the BBC. I really do - all the Australian channels have ads on them and I hate it (the exception is ABC2 between 9am and 6pm when they show the equivalent of CBeebies).

Even DH thinks the licence fee is a good thing as it allowed the BBC to produce some really good programmes without any commercial pressure as such - great documentaries, costume dramas etc. But yes, they do appear to be going downhill somewhat (dumbing down?) - is that to compete with the content of the commercial channels?

NetworkGuy · 09/08/2010 15:48

"Does anyone know if and how this situation has changed in the last 12 years?"

Only bit I can comment on is that the licence fee has increased over the years from 70 or 80 quid in the 90s, and gets less affordable each year. The Guardian had a piece about the prices and there was recently a BBC Have Your Say (closed for new comments) where some views were discussed (!)

How the fee gets used is shown on a BBC web page but they only split by major categories, such as TV vs Radio. I would like to see more breakdown into national, local, and regional radio stations and costs for TV (clearly politics and news are major spend for "local" TV). I'd like to know because there are some 40 radio stations in England, a couple each for Wales, Scotland and N.I., and then national stations R1 to R7, and lumping all expenditure together hides where spending goes (National stations, England, remainder ?)

I'd love to know what gets spend on Comedy, Sport, etc, split in general terms without further breakdown by TV or Radio channel.

ISNT · 09/08/2010 16:09

I would like BBC to concentrate on niche stuff - so quality local news and programs - and adventurous stuff - like new comedies - and dr who and sherlock programs that maybe don't get huge audiences but would be missed - the springwatch/nature progs/coast type stuff.

Also things like question time and working lunch etc,

I don;t think they should be doing any reality TV, talent shows, any of the cheap and easy stuff. Leave that to the commercial channels, they should use this "tax" money to produce output which will otherwise not be produced at all.

NetworkGuy · 09/08/2010 16:09

karmabeliever - "Unfortunately my DH and DC want sky sports so I'm stuck with it."

You might be able to consider a switch to BT Broadband and add Sky Sports 1 and 2 for another 14 pounds, although if you are getting Sky Broadband and use Sky Talk, you might be locked into a contract for a year or more.

The switch might work out more expensive - certainly worth looking at, since Sky pricing goes up in September !

You might have negative comments back from DH and DC about having to view via a BT Vision box, but your Sky box could be switched to use FreeSat via Sky (or if you needed to return Sky box), a FreeSat with HD could be bought (and unlike Sky, there's no monthly extra to get HD shows, but currently the choice will be lower than High Definition channels available via Sky).