to wonder what would happen if EVERYONE stopped paying for their TV licence?

[shirleyhyypia]

Surely you cant put all of the UK in prison?
How does it even work, how do they decide who is responsible in a household with more than one adult?

[SeaShellsDreamingOfSummer]

I happily pay my license fee for David Attenborough and for introducing Colin Firth as Darcy all those years ago, alone :) The bbc is held up around the world as a gold standard in broadcasting, and I'm proud to pay for it - radio 2/4, online news, iPlayer and cbeebies alone make it worthwhile for me.

[itmustbewineoclock]

I'd love the opportunity to pay a license fee and be able to watch the BBC. Sadly I'm stuck with the total drivel on offer here in Oz. We do have the ABC - the Oz equivalent - as someone mentioned they are funded via the tax system - but it's not a patch on the BBC - and they import lots of BBC programmes anyway. Very few documentaries are produced here. I MISS the BBC

[UnquietDad]

I agree an 'a la carte' approach for satellite TV would be best for the customer. Pick just the channels you want. Everyone seems to want this and yet nobody would do it.

I still wouldn't scrap the licence fee though.

How do they legislate for people simply watching everything through tvcatchup.com or the various "Players"?

I mean, in the "old days" they could visit and it was pretty easy to spot the TV in the corner of the room. Less easy to get you to show which websites you visit on the computer. And on a decent screen I imagine the picture is almost indistinguishable from a TV.

[Leilandri]

I agree with blondieno1, in this day and age where there are pay-per-view channels for pro-wrestling etc, why not make the BBC, and it's subsiduaries, pay-per-view?
Therefore the people who are happy to pay (I'm not as we don't watch any BBC programming AT ALL) could spend their money, and are still contributing to what they call "quality programming", and those that find it all a bunch of crap, can save considerable pounds.
As as for the BBC being advert free, that is bull, they do have advert breaks just for more of their own, inane programmes.

[ChaoticAngelofAnarchy]

I've just been thinking about my Virgin package and have realised that the channels I usually don't watch tend to be the ones that show old BBC programmes {hmm]

I still think that people should be able to opt out of paying the licence fee.

[ChaoticAngelofAnarchy]

TheBeast I didn't say they were all channels I wanted just that if I didn't pay for a channel (or rather the package that included that channel) then I didn't get it. At the time of posting I was thinking more of Sky sports/movies, where I don't pay for them so don't receive them.

In the case of the BBC it would be possible for Virgin/Sky/Freeview or whomever to still include BBC as part of a package but exclude it for those who don't want to pay the licence. It might just be a solution that could keep everybody, or nearly everybody, happy.

My ideal package would be where you'd pay £x a month for y channels, then get to pick which channels those were. The more you pay the more channels you get to choose

[UnquietDad]

Absolutely - even if you only watch one BBC programme a week, that works out about £2.70 a show. Often less than the price of a pint, these days. And most of us will watch an awful lot more than that.

I had a look at the Sky listings and decided there were only three programmes I'd ever want to watch - The 4400, Galactica and Lost. I could buy the box sets for less than a Sky sub would cost me.

[DiscoDaisy]

I will gladly keep paying the tv license if it means no bloody adverts. If we watch Star Trek on BBC it is a 45 min programme if we watch it on Sky (which we pay for as well) then it becomes a 60 min programme.

[LadyOfTheManor]

I pay £19 a month for 3,4,5 etc and then urm...I get the "Lifestyle" channels and "Knowledge" (cooking, DIY and History/Geog etc)as well as the freeview ones like E4..I'm not too sure what is included in those... and my broadband is included.

I'd be happy to scrap the BBC and keep what I have and be £120 (or whatever it is) a year richer.

[LadyOfTheManor]

I meant NOT normally the BBC sorry. Typo.

[TheBeast]

LadyOfTheManor - You normally watch the BBC but you are happy to pay for other channels but not the BBC?

What other channels do you pay for and how much, relative to the licence fee?

Do you also want adverts on BBC radio?

[MurkyTurkey]

The BBC rocks, compared to how much Sky costs.

Watch BBC4, smazing.

[LadyOfTheManor]

I don't really watch much TV, and when I do it's normally the BBC. I wish they'd just throw some adverts in so I can watch all the other channels that I pay for without topping it up with the licence fee.

OR they should allow people to OPT out of subscribing to the BBC and get on with the other channels.

[Ohforfoxsake]

I'd gladly pay double, three times even, if it meant I could get rid is Sky, which we only have for the Sport channels (which we only get as part of a package costing £50). More often than not we can't watch our footy teams on terrestrial or Sky, I refuse to get ESPN too.
I'm fed up of hearing the BBC getting slagged off. It all stems from Murdoch's media anyway, who have increased their subs massively over the last few years, and for what? Repeats of old BBC comedies.
I think the Beeb offers SO much, and if it were gone we'd miss it.

[LadyOfTheManor]

So to listen to the radio is free of charge and funded by mugs people who pay for a licence?

[TheBeast]

LadyOfTheManor - You don't need a TV licence to listen to the radio but BBC radio is funded by TV licence fee money.

[LadyOfTheManor]

I wasn't aware you needed a TV licence to pay for the radio? How does that work? What about a car radio...or Ipod/Pad/Phone adaptation for radio? How does that work?

Surely in that case, if what some posters say is true, and you do indeed need one for the radio then it should be called a media licence....?

[TheBeast]

hazchem - I actually like the fact that television has its own "tax".

Wouldn't it be nice if all "services" had individual "taxes" applied, like television, water etc?

That way, like the Channel Islands, I could opt out of paying for, for example, the wars in Afghanistan, Trident etc by not having them used in my name .

[TheBeast]

FabbyChic "I dont watch anything on BBC ... all the programmes I watch are on freeview channels or via an iPlayer service after they have been aired"

So you like BBC programmes sufficiently to watch them on iPlayer (IMO sufficient reason to pay the licence fee) BUT somehow you restrain yourself from watching those same programmes live on Freeview?

[HaveAHappyNewJung]

Oh and I totally agree about people who happily pay masses for sky et al and then whinge about the licence fee, that is bizarre. My friend had that exact rant to me the other week We had virgin media for a couple of years but when we moved to a non-cabled area we realised how much happier we were without all the channels and choice and adverts.

My DSCs keep asking us why we won't get sky ("but it's only £50 a month dad...") - errrrm because we don't watch enough telly to make it worthwhile! They always look at us like this

[LornMowa]

Big BBC supporter here. Worth it just for Radio 4.

I often think Virgin Media are missing a trick, there are plenty of channels I would pay extra NOT to receive - would put an end to arguing with the kids.

[HaveAHappyNewJung]

Yes, I know the tv I do watch is made with licence payer money

And no I don't listen to BBC radio. Do use the website but would quite happily substitute for others.

I do understand why it's worth paying - but they are explicitly happy for people not to pay IF they aren't watching live telly - why shouldn't I take that opportunity for a year? I'm not doing anything illegal. The licence fee is a massive amount of money to my family so we are trying it just this year.

FWIW I have heard they are thinking of introducing a mini licence specifically for those who only use iplayer et al and that's great, I'd happily pay that if it existed, because it'd be a legal requirement.

[AliceWorld]

The BBC is great. I would happily pay double the license fee to have independent non commercial broadcasting.

In terms of what would happen if everyone refused, well what happens when people all go on strike or all refuse to pay poll tax or various other examples of collective action across history. So there would be a political reaction. I would imagine at the moment we would then get privatised, commercial TV a go go with the BBC sold off the highest bidding Tory croney. Not something I would relish.

[somanymiles]

Apart from the occasional dreadful program which I think is their way of trying to be "hip" - the BBC is great and the license fee worth every penny. N American tv, is rubbish. 100 channels of free rubbish. There are very occasional good series like The Wire, but frankly these are few and far between. The children's programs, like Horrible Histories and the Sarah Jane Adventures are also excellent. In N America much of the children's programming is Hannah Montana style - lots of pre teens in short skirts and full make up being rude to adults. Also you cannot imagine how annoying the adverts are - at least twice as frequent as on British tv. I'm sure it's because they have to compete with an ad free channel.Having said that, we live abroad right now and watch the BBC via I Player so we don't pay the license fee! But now I feel quite guilty about it... perhaps I should send them an anonymous "donation".

[bibbitybobbityhat]

I'd happily pay double the tv licence if I could have double the amount of advert-free television.

The commercial channels are becoming more and more like the US with longer and more frequent ad. breaks. It is not uncommon to have the first ad break less than 10 minutes in to an hour long programme.