To think the BBC will change or go under?

[Snowballs4ever]

I don't know many people who watch the BBC, most people I know don't have a license and just have netflix, Amazon, now tv etc

I know it has some popular programmes, but I can't see how it will survive longer term when netflix etc are cheaper and imo have much better programmes. Am I in a bubble or aibu to think it will have to have to have adverts/change longer term?

@KissingInTheRain What's strange is your total inability to understand the difference in the aforementioned mediums.

I have already stated that I do even those three things rarely, never mind TV! Why label them all as "moving images" - they are not the same. Get rid of your TV licence and use it for YouTube only then. They are all "moving mages" after all.

Playstation is for games, DVDs are films I want to watch, when I want to watch them. The same goes for Netflix. Having a standard TV setup provided no benefit to me when I had one as I never felt the urge to watch it ever, and I never bothered to watch it when living at home or staying with relatives. I don't have an aversion to it, I just don't have such a strong interest in watching it regularly enough to pay for a licence, and on the odd occasion I do want to use my TV it will be Playstation, Netflix or a random DVD I have. Therefore I don't.

Are you still having trouble understanding why someone might not have a TV licence but then at some point in their lives will want to watch a DVD?!

But the way it works economically means that they will start watching TV when the price of on-demand reaches a certain point. We’re in a period when people will change their habits, but then change back again.
Youtube is free. Netflix hasn't increased in the last few years from around £7 per month. How much are people willing to pay for the service they want? Lots of people have been paying £70+ per month for Sky's full package (sport fans especially). I feel you are going to be disappointed if you think the people who aren't interested in Strictly or Bake Off and get their news from other sources (we have 2 free newspapers in London) are going to revert back to BBC viewing with a licence fee. Yes, the revelations of immorally high pay to people like Chris Evans hurt the BBC, but ultimately it is facing increasing competition and a generation who are spoilt for choice.

Youtube is free. or there's ad-free YouTube premium with exclusive content and a subscription fee.

Yes I expect subscription fees will increase, or more services will include partially advertisement-funded models, but the chances of the trend turning away from live tv and to on-demand services is about as likely as everyone going back to watching black and white tv.

It's been a while since I've watched the bbc live of my own volition, but separately, would it be fair to say they cater to an older demographic? All seems to be documentaries, baking/sewing/cooking/dancing shows, broad comedy and period dramas.

The new Eastenders set is actually going to cost £86 million not £36 million as a pp said

AGHHH

If you do them rarely then I certainly see your point.

But in that case I don’t understand spending £100 p.a. on Netflix (2 screen limit). You can get hundreds of channels for £151 with no limit, drama, comedy and so on when it’s new, easy recording and catch-up etc etc. (Film4 alone is better than Netflix for movies IMO. Though most of the Freeview channels are awful - like most of what’s on Netflix.)

And you’d get up-to-date, on the spot news - full screen and everything!

Gedge77 Even more depressing

Diana

YouTube is stuffed full of ads (and strange commenters).

But what people will pay is broadly known. Murdoch has just sold Sky because he recognises that pay TV is on the ropes. Only football saved satellite in any event.

On-demand-only, like Netflix and Prime is limited. They know they can’t charge beyond a certain point. That’s why they make so little stuff of their own.

@KissingInTheRain

If you watch a lot of BBC content it might be worth the money to you, but a lot of people prefer what's on Netflix/Amazon/Now TV. People like different things.

I won't watch youtube if I can help it. They stick an advert in the middle of a video cutting off peoples sentences. At least on ITV et al the ad breaks make sense and don't just cut someone off mid sentence

I won't watch youtube if I can help it. They stick an advert in the middle of a video cutting off peoples sentences. At least on ITV et al the ad breaks make sense and don't just cut someone off mid sentence
Fair point, but the thing you have to remember is

I agree with pp that it seems like younger people are most likely to have binned terrestrial channels in favour of the likes of netflix. I'm youngish and I don't know many people who watch BBC etc but most seem to love netflix, narcos, breaking bad etc. All choosing to pay for a service with no ads but not subscribing to the BBC.

but the chances of the trend turning away from live tv and to on-demand services is about as likely as everyone going back to watching black and white tv.

I couldn’t agree more. That’s my point. On-demand, like Netflix and the like, are inevitably limited. The economics aren’t on their side.

Cbeebies alone is worth the license fee while dc are small. We haven't graduated to cbbc yet so I can't comment on that!

Netflix is great to sit down and watch something. What if you've just got a spare 20 minutes? That's when I watch live TV.

KissingInTheRain

I messed up my post. I see the current trend continuing. People will continue to watch on demand more and live tv less. On demand services will likely change their subscription prices and may introduce ads.

As I said previously, I haven't watched live tv in years (save for when visiting older relatives) and known many people in my age group that are the same.

Live services will always exist for things like sport and the news, but I can't imagine going back to watching dramas, comedies or whatever on a schedule. Old-fashioned and inconvenient. I'd happily pay considerably more than I already do for Netflix.

The trend isn't going to change. Live tv will become increasingly marginal, as it already is for a generation:

Netflix is great to sit down and watch something. What if you've just got a spare 20 minutes? That's when I watch live TV.
That's when I watch YouTube.

Depends on your social circle. I don’t have a tv license and so don’t watch the iplayer. I don’t have a TV aeriel in this house. The previous owners didn’t and we didn’t change that. We watch all streaming anyway. So I’m in your demographic of having Netflix, amazon prime and now TV movies. I won’t pay £150 just to watch strictly come dancing and whatever is on bbc. Netflix is much better value. Amazon prime we already got. And I quite like movies so we got now tv. More things to watch then I have time.

SegmentationFault

Yes, of course. But what you get on TV - for which you need a licence - is on the whole much better and more varied than what you get on Netflix. If someone doesn’t like the BBC itself that’s another argument. Personally I think its TV, radio and web content is way better than anyone-else’s, taken in the round.

There are things like US drama that Netflix is better for. But I prefer US movies to US TV dramas and Netflix is rubbish for those.

How do people do without TV news?

I don’t watch the news on tv. Who does? It’s all online surely?

I read the news and sometimes watch clips on YouTube.

I did watch CNN live during the last US election but they did a free live stream for that.

Can't find UK stats instantly but more than 60% of households in the US now subscribe to streaming services and 15% of households use only streaming services and no live tv. It'll continue to grow.

Separately, almost all of my favourite shows from the past few years are Netflix originals.

This thread has made me realise just how little live terrestial TV we actually watch. Really struggling to think of anything on BBC or live that we've watched this weekend. I'll have to have a proper think about whether we could do without BBC/live and stop paying for the licence.

A lot of the shows on Netflix were made by the BBC?

"But what you get on TV - for which you need a licence - is on the whole much better and more varied than what you get on Netflix."

That's completely subjective. Like I said I, and many other people, prefer the content on other services. And it's not just US dramas. In fact there are some old BBC shows on Netflix that AFAIK you can't get on iPlayer. Are there many films being shown on TV these days outside of Sky Movies?

As for news: the internet, radio, newspapers, podcasts. Do you really think people can't stay informed without watching BBC news?

We’re both trying to guess the future so I accept that anticipating the next 10 or 20 years will be largely opinion.

But would you pay £15, or £25 or £40 every month for a limited on-demand library service? No live coverage of events, no live news, relatively little that hasn’t been seen somewhere else first?

I genuinely don’t see on-demand being any more than supplemental.

I still watch live TV but a heck of a lot less than I used to.
I love BBC4. But tbh I think the quality of programmes from the BBC has declined massively in the past 10 yrs. Things like the One Show, for example, are utter crap. I would pay not to watch it.

My interaction with the BBC is minimal. The last thing I watched on the BBC was Mrs Wilson, and that was on iplayer. I don't like their radio or much of their programming tbh. I get my news from Sky.

We have Sky TV but thinking about going to Now TV cos it's a lot cheaper, and I resent paying for all the hundreds of channels of cack we don't ever watch.

We gave Amazon Prime for Outlander, Mrs Maisel and Preacher, and Netflix for the bulk of our telly watching. When on nights, I download stuff to watch at work.

I think streaming is the way TV is going. It's on demand, it's portable and there are no ads on BBC, Netflix and Amazon. I don't think the BBC will ever go under, but I do hope the licence fee will change to a subscription, so that viewers can choose if they want it or not. I also think that for what you get, the licence fee is not good value, and needs to be reduced to compete with other companies.