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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wish the BBC had adverts

126 replies

JazzAnnNonMouse · 17/08/2011 14:33

so that we wouldn't have to pay a TV licence?

I normally channel flick through adverts anyway and they don't bother me that much (wee break, cuppa etc). The BBC advertises its own programmes now for quite a long time in-between programmes anyway.

I just think £145.50 for the few channels that the BBC provides is an awful lot!
AIBU?

OP posts:
Ifancyashandy · 17/08/2011 17:14

if the BBC had the 'slight annoyance' of adverts, the quality of output would not be the same. Advertisers would dictate the content. Life on Mars is considered amazing drama. It probably pulled in around 4-6 million (guestimate based on knowledge of what a high rating drama pulls in). X Factor is extremely well produced but that doesn't make it 'great' telly - it is lowest common denominator / 'successful formula so don't break it' telly. It pulls in around 10million.

Advertisers only have a limited amount to spend - guess where they're going to spend their cash?! Well, it ain't gonna be the Channel with the fewer viewers! So ergo, if the Beeb has to start competing for its funding, they stop producing 'low rating' drama and start chasing the ratings. Lots of shit telly all round!

tethersend · 17/08/2011 17:16

"No government or council would get rid of libraries just because a number of voters wanted it. Even if the majority wanted to get rid of libraries, it wouldn't be the right thing to do. Some things are for the good of the nation and I think the bbc is one of them."

Library funding is being slashed across the country as we speak, with many being forced to close.

I think yellow stilettos would be good for the nation. And they are a bargain. Wink

"sky and virgin do not produce the quality of programmes"

This is a wholly subjective judgement. There are some people who judge the output of Sky and Virgin to be vastly superior to that of the BBC. Why do they have to pay? How would you feel if paying for Sky and Virgin was mandatory if you wanted to watch any TV at all?

nenevomito · 17/08/2011 17:18

When I was in my teens and 20s and going to radio 1 events, I thought that was worth the license fee alone. Scoot forward years and I think its worth every single penny to have ad-free kids TV.

RyvitaDiva · 17/08/2011 17:31

Yes to the ad-free kids tv as well! There's enough pester power in my household without it!

It is sadly true that the beeb would be a very different animal if it was funded by commercials - think it would be a case of you don't know what you've got till it's gone.

tethersend · 17/08/2011 17:36

In 1994, 57% of all women convicted of a crime were convicted of License fee evasion (as opposed to 9.9% of men).

Am trying to hunt out more recent statistics. But that in itself is pretty abhorrent.

ChunkyPickle · 17/08/2011 17:51

I've often wished I could pay the fee when living abroad in order to access iPlayer (I know that you can now in Europe on an iPad) - TV in other countries is truly diabolical.

We only see the decent US stuff - if all you have is US TV to watch it soon becomes immensely irritating. Adverts every 10 minutes, all quiz shows and appalling canned laughter sitcoms (actually, that covers the TV channels I used to have on mainland europe too)

TalkinPeace2 · 17/08/2011 18:17

YABU
watch LOCAL TV while on holiday abroad and you will start to value the BBC.
Look at the news coverage abroad.
Or lack of it.
Radio 4 is worth the licence fee alone.
ads free kids TV
Doctor Who / Pride and Prejudice / Jane Eyre / any other good drama

FakePlasticTrees · 17/08/2011 18:28

yabu - apart from anything else, they give part of the license fee to Channel 4.

I'd pay £150 a year just to have CBeebies for the 5:30 - 6:30pm slot.

LtEveDallas · 17/08/2011 18:51

Even when I lived abroad I didn't miss BBC. In Germany we had BFBS which was wall to bloody wall soaps that I don't watch. I soon bought Sky and it was worth every penny.

In Cyprus again it was BFBS but this time even worse, with the 2 hr time diff and their strange views on what was 'suitable family viewing' and the blocking of channels until 10pm (when most of us went to bed at 9). Luckily I forked out with Cytanet for MiVision - less than 30 euros a month for Sat TV, phone and wifi.

BBC should be pay per view, but then if they did that I wonder how much they would get? Not a lot I reckon.

LolaRennt · 17/08/2011 18:54

you just wait you'll eat your words..... My god I have just moved back home (USA) and we seem to have gone from every 15 min ad breaks to every god damned 30 second ad breaks. Makes me want to smash the telly

Original poster
JazzAnnNonMouse · 17/08/2011 19:18

I appreciate that TV abroad is shit - I know this.
I'm not suggesting we switch to that... Nor have I ever.

Advert breaks in American TV are horendous - you can see where they put breaks in when they convert it to British television. I'm again not suggesting that we follow them.

If you own a laptop/computer and have access to the internet you still need a TV licence, regardless of whether or not you watch TV on it.
www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/

I appreciate now that advertising can change what is broadcast, perhaps instead BBC should be pay per view? Then we all get what we want because although I watch the BBC I know I don't only watch the BBC.

OP posts:
Original poster
JazzAnnNonMouse · 17/08/2011 19:18

www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/

OP posts:
pointydog · 17/08/2011 19:21

I find it hard to believe that there are that many people who have a tv and computer who never watch any bbc channel or ever look up iplayer or education resources or anything at all.

I accept I could be completely wrong about that though.

SlackSally · 17/08/2011 19:32

Agree pointydog.

I would also question the common sense/taste of anyone who genuinely thinks that Sky broadcasts better quality programming than the BBC...

tethersend · 17/08/2011 19:35

But taste is subjective.

Plenty of people would think you insane for preferring BBC to Sky- yet you are not compelled to pay for Sky TV.

I would question the common sense/taste of anyone who didn't like yellow stilettos; should purchasing them therefore be mandatory?

tethersend · 17/08/2011 19:37

pointydog, if what you are saying is true, then what would be wrong with a pay-per-view system?

alphabettyspagghetti · 17/08/2011 19:38

YANBU

I'm sick of paying it, espcially seeing as I can not get a decent reception from them anymore.

If it wasnt for IPlayer and that there are some good programs when I can watch them without recpetion blocking or cutting out I would bin the TV.

SlackSally · 17/08/2011 19:45

Taste is subjective to a certain extent, i.e. in terms of what one likes, but is there not also some cultural capital in maintaining a certain quality?

e.g. Plenty of people prefer JLS to Mozart, but is Mozart not, objectively, the more talented? The better quality?

alphabettyspagghetti · 17/08/2011 19:46

*reception

midnightexpress · 17/08/2011 19:49

YABU, I'd pay the licence fee twice over if it means keeping children's programmes ad-free.

And I use the BBC radio and BBC website every single day as well as the tv channels - in fact I probably watch the TV less than I use the other media these days. All of which the licence fee goes towards. Love the BBC. Hate ads.

tethersend · 17/08/2011 19:50

SlackSally, even you would agree that forcing people to pay to listen to Mozart if they wanted to listen to any other music would be A Very Bad Idea...?

RyvitaDiva · 17/08/2011 20:06

Mmmm, I'm not sure the bbc is actually comparable to Sky. The BBC is a public service broadcasting corp - and Sky is a purely commercial operation. The BBC does a lot more than just provide programmes, and gives a lot of money to C4 and the digital revolution too.

If the bbc went commercial (god forbid!) the first thing that would happen is that quality of programming and innovation would plummet - market forces of commercial tv requires it. Despite what people may think - the bbc has a lot of very original ideas, which are often copied by other commercial channels. (And thinking about that, if commercial tv apes a lot of what the beeb does, then the quality of that would probably take a dive too!)

The BBC is actually admired and revered the world over - and I for one am saddened to see it's more 'niche' ventures, like radio 6, BBC4 etc threatened by the constant calls for it to be 'commercially viable'.

The stilettoes thing is silly, but go on then, I'll take a yellow pair too! ;)

tethersend · 17/08/2011 20:15

But this isn't a thread about whether the BBC is any good- it's about whether people should be forced to pay for it in order to watch any other TV channel Confused

Glad to hear you're on board with the stilettos, though Wink

pointydog · 17/08/2011 20:32

I do see it like libraries. It is such a great thing that everyone should pay towards it for the greater good, even if some of those people never use it.

pointydog · 17/08/2011 20:32

And if it was a really well made, well designed pair of yellow stilettos, I wouldn't say no Wink

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