To think it's a terrible idea to scrap the BBC licence fee?

[dellacucina]

Inspired by this article: www.google.com/amp/s/www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1242927/BBC-News-Boris-Johnson-license-fee-subscription-British-Broadcasting-Corporation/amp

I'm recently naturalised and I think that the BBC is part of what makes Britain special. It makes me very sad indeed to imagine it being cut down.

Not sure what I think about the subscription model. I actually wouldn’t mind if the BBC were covered by general taxation, but only after a complete overhaul: no more obscene salaries, for a start. There are loads of talented people who could do the jobs for average wages.

I love the idea of a public broadcaster doing the stuff that commercial TV wouldn’t find profitable. As it is, I find much of their content dire (with some notable and worthy exceptions).

We gave up watching live TV half a dozen years ago, and don’t particularly miss it. The threatening letters from Capita get filed for the fun of it – we’ve got quite a collection! – but otherwise ignored. If an enforcement officer ever comes around they’ll be politely told to get lost.

I don't know the answer. I agree with state funding if a national resource like the BBC. It provides an excellent service and it's what I turn to if I need up to date news eg the storm and it's impact" or political matters like Brexit. I pay for my licence via direct debit so it already feels like a subscription. I disapprove of very elderly people on low j comes having to pay ( as will happen) just as I do for low income people ( already happens) as access to TV is important for isolated people. I pay for Netflix and NOWTV already and have amazon prime for the delivery so have prime video too. Except in times of crisis eg live news events I do t each live TV but I want to be able to and I highly value iPlayer. So I DJ t know? How much would the subscription be?

I know that 5 people were said to have been sent to prison for non payment in 2018, but I expect that they were sent to prison for other offences, and given a concurrent sentence for the TV licence fine as a device to write it off.
Magistrates are extremely unlikely to imprison a single mother for non payment of a fine for any offence, never mind an offence of no TV licence.

SkelingtonArgument, 36 years service in both the police and prison services here.

I've had to lock up women for non-payment of TV licence. Elderly women, young women, single mothers. All for just that one offence. All with absolutely no previous criminal record (although thanks to this punitive tax, they have one now).

They were devastated. The very loss of their good name was shame enough for them.

And after doing the time, they still had to pay the fine. Even though they couldn't afford the TV licence in the first place.

Why do you think I am so dead nuts against it?

These women did not deserve such a disproportionate punishment. To see the likes of the Director General of the BBC taking home more money in one month than these women do in a whole year is - in my view - frankly obscene.

And don't get me started on smug overpaid former footballers who trouser millions per year in licence fees.

YABU. For the price of Amazon Prime and Netflix together we pay less than the TV licence!

The stuff the BBC now produces is mainly unwatchable IMO. We normally only watch the News if something is happening or quickly in the morning whilst getting ready for work.

Also you HAVE to have a TV licence for the following:

• watch or record programmes as they’re being shown on TV, on any channel
• watch or stream programmes live on an online TV service (such as ITV Hub, All 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now TV, Sky Go, etc.)
• download or watch any BBC programmes on iPlayer.

I'm sorry but why should people have to pay for a TV licence for watching other channels or other streaming services??

If the Government and the BBC still want our cash then perhaps they should start handing out free tellys to each and every one of us.

At the moment it's like having the worlds worst phone contract where you have to buy the phone upfront with no sim card from the BBC but then still have to pay a monthly fee to them so you can use it even if you don't want to use the BBCs phone contract.

I don't believe any of you who say you never consume any bbc content. Honestly can any of you say you never watch BBC tv, drama, sport, Cbbc, CBeebies, weather, go online to news, recipes/food, bbc teach, bite size, radio 12345 or 6... that would be baffling if you honestly never do any of that.

Why is that so hard to believe? I very occasionally visit the BBC news website and the radio plays at work, and I watched some Doctor Who on Netflix a few years ago. None of which need a license. But it would be quite easy for someone to not do any of those things.

Yep it needs to be a subscription service.

YABU.

Also.. being in the UK doesn't mean we get to see BBC shows 1st. They sell a HUGE amount to other countries/ streaming channels.

An example was their terrible remake of War of the Worlds. New Zealand, USA and other countries saw it first because the BBC sold it to them.

We in the UK (who have no choice but to pay for the TV licence) got sloppy seconds.

YABU
and you seem too privileged to understand why this is a problem

If you want the BBC, you pay for it - but don't demand that the poorest in society subsidise your preferences

Many people can't afford 150 quid, but the licence system forces them to pay for something they don't want

• or be continually harassed and threatened with jail

Those who want the BBC should pay for it thmselves,
or let it be paid for by ads

• channels with ads are the most accessible for the whole population, rich or poor.

I don't believe any of you who say you never consume any bbc content.

You don't have to believe it.

I do watch BBC and have no issue paying for the license fee but I don't expect other people to subsidise my choices.

I haven't watched BBC for many years - for the last few years I haven't even had a TV,
but I kept being continually harassed about getting a licence and being threatened
Nasty bastards

Its perfectly easy NOT to watch anything the BBC produces direct from the BBC. We haven't watched "normal" BBC TV for years.

Loads of BBC shows on Netflix/ Amazon.

If they went subscription based I think the only package we would pay for would be the news BUT we would have to think long and hard about it as over the years I think BBC news has lost the edge of their reporting and become more compliant with Government thinking and reporting which is a ruddy shame.

I don't listen to BBC radio anymore as only listened to Radio 4 until The Archers went to the dogs years ago

Plenty of weather and News sources which are free on the internet. Hell you can even lose yourself in YouTube for hours when you go down a rabbit hole!

OP:

If you claim everyone watches the BBC - and wants to continue doing so - then you would have no problem with a subscription system,
as "everyone" would just subscribe

Seems pretty clear you don't think enough people value the BBC to actually pay for it

• so you want to force people to continue paying a licence

and no, I do NOT want to fund it via income tax either

If income tax has to increase, then it should go to the disabled and the NHS, not for bloody TV

I don't believe any of you who say you never consume any bbc content. Honestly can any of you say you never watch BBC tv, drama, sport, Cbbc, CBeebies, weather, go online to news, recipes/food, bbc teach, bite size, radio 12345 or 6... that would be baffling if you honestly never do any of that.

My kids are teens. Weather is an app on my phone. Nobody here watches sport. There are many recipe sites - AllRecipes or any supermarket. Bite Size is not the best resource out there. We listen to Spotify. There's loads of free new sites. Only BBC Drama I watched in 2019 was Killing Eve which I would pay for but not the £150 that I spent on my license fee last year!

@ivykaty44

You've misattributed a quote to me, one that I particularly disagree with.

I would not object to the bbc website being behind a paywall like many newspapers have had to resort to.

It can't be a subscription service, because the bbc doesn't just do tv.

Radio. Local news. Cookery. Kids stuff. The world service. You can't put a paywall in all that.

Even if you don't watch, you might be glad there's a service eg CBeebies without ads, local news covering relevant issues.

It's absurdly good value and we'd be stupid to trash it, but that seems to be the way the country is going.

If you are saying you no longer want a state broadcaster, that’s a bit Trumpian imho, but then we live in trumpian times. Post-Brexit, under the Cummings government, moving against the BBC is probably to be expected. But I think it’s important to ask why this particular government is so keen to harness public opinion against the bbc.

Lol. You sound like something out of an Orwell novel. Everyone must love Big Brother and if they don't it must be because that nasty orange Emmanuel Goldstein is being so horrid! Send the peasants to the gulags pronto for wrong-think!

A "subscription model" is completely incompatible with our established television infrastructure. So unless part of the goal is to force everyone to purchase new equipment, and create an absolute mountain of e-waste from the old hardware that's rendered useless, it's a non starter.

This is a completely transparent attempt to kill off the BBC because the government of today doesn't like it, and to use public dislike of the current license fee towards that aim.

I say fund the Beeb from general taxation.

Today 17:59 @EntropyRising I do apologise

My "consumption " of BBC output has considerably decreased over the last 18 months.
I now avoid the news and political programmes due to the raging bias and look elsewhere to find out what's happening.

I stopped listening to Radio 2 when Chris Evans and Simon Mayo left .

I used to enjoy Holby and Doctor Who but the writing has seriously gone down hill so I have given them both up after several years.

I am absolutely fed up of having them inject copious political correctness into every programme. I want the drama to be authentic not falsely "representative" every time. The constant preaching just makes me turn it off.

Literally the only thing I now watch is "Call the Midwife".

I also seriously object to paying a compulsory fee to make programmes which other people all over the world watch for free.

safari why is a subscription model incompatible with current equipment please?

There’s another option, cut the BBC right down and they fund themselves from overseas sales etc.

But how is absurdly you good value if you don't ever watch it corduroyal?My son never liked CBeebies he always found it a,bit dull.tbh he preferred Nick Jr, Nickolodean, The Disney channel etc ,if I wanted local news I would read my local paper website .

Do we even need a state broadcaster these days?

Everybody needs access to some sort of news but it doesn't matter if it's another Freeview channel like ITV, Channel 4 or Channel 5 imo. The Bbc should be allowed to carry adverts and should be competing against the other channels.
The BBC is not neutral and is always accused by both sides of the political spectrum of being biased. The only way that it can be neutral is to not broadcast anything remotely political like the news of Question Time which are pretty popular.

If the BBC does not become a premium channel like Sky then making it a Freeview channel with advertising makes sense.

I had my child overseas and I bought BBC kids programmes on DVD or they watches the stuff that was imported from the BBC.

I think that even people who watched popular content like Eastenders for many years would rather an ad break than pay the license fee.

The most popular shows end up on other platforms. Eg Call the Midwife and Bodyguard are on Netflix. I think that many would rather pay Netflix which costs less than the license fee