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.

I suspect you don't.

have you ever actually been to America? It’s a shallow place, the quality of food for the average person is frankly terrifying as is the lack of social care. It makes want to head back to Europe asap

Yes, because every single place in America is shallow and awful and every single area of Europe is fantastic, right?

I suspect you don't.

On what basis?

This should be about choice ,and if people feel the BBC meets their entertainment needs great, there is no need to look down on other people's choices just because they are not the same as yours or to be in utter disbleif that others don't watch any BBC or listen to the radio stations ,increasingly people are choosing not to watch any live TV so at some point things will.have to change .

I do grow tired of this constant rotation of ignorant anti-American claptrap

Unfortunately it's deeply fashionable on MN, Entropy, often among those whose experience is limited to two weeks spent with their plastic pals in Orlando

Such a shame ...

I think it should be subscription too. I hardly ever watch it. BUT, l would like a basic subscription to cover say drama and documentaries. Then sport could be added on top of that. I currently pay a fee for a channel that seems dominated by sports, which l have no interest in.

The last years the Beeb has definitely dumbed down. Whilst there is some good stuff on BBC 3 like Stacey Dooley, a lot of it is crap.

This licence fee is a British oddity, isn't it? I have been nowhere else where you have to pay for state tv.

I'd gladly pay for BBC Radio4,5 and 6
I would be happy to pay a sub for BBC TV - ideally excluding all sport, cooking, antiques, dancing,soaps and wildlife progs as I don't watch any of that stuff. They need to put more content on iplayer too and stopp crapping around with taking stuff off after ten minutes.

I've lived in Germany and Japan and they have TV licenses that fund the state channel (although I recall that there might have been some advertising ?)

I think they should slim the BBC down. Maybe BBC 4, Radio 4 and a rolling news service (radio/tv/online) and a consequentially much lower levy. It seems hard to justify much of the other content as it could be provided for in the commercial sector. The i-player could host the best bits of classic documentaries, drama, comedy etc as it does already now. As we've already paid for it. And selling rights for this content internationally could help generate revenue to keep things rolling.

France has a TV licence too.

This licence fee is a British oddity, isn't it? I have been nowhere else where you have to pay for state tv.

Many countries in Europe have a licence fee or broadcasting levy/tax.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia's national broadcaster, founded in 1929. It is principally funded by the direct grants from the Australian government but is expressly independent of government and partisan politics. The ABC plays a leading role in journalistic independence and is fundamental in the history of broadcasting in Australia.

I googled that but very am used to the set up like the ABC

I'm happy to subscribe to Netflix because it has lots of programs worth watching. If it goes crap I can cancel it at any time. The BBC is shite and has been for ages unfortunately I can't cancel that, not sure why.

I'm not against having a state broadcaster per say, but having to pay £154 for channels you don't watch is ridiculous. And I know a lot of people, myself included, who don't have one and just use streaming services, and I'm guessing that option is going to become more and more popular. They have to change if they want to survive.

And they definately need to get rid of the indimidation tactics towards people who don't have one. Hired thugs showing up at peoples door demanding to be let in, claiming to have detector vans which aren't real, lying about how you need a TV license if you even own a TV, threatening people with fines. It should not be allowed.

BBC Worlwide is a professional and well respected service - OP perhaps this is what your perception of the institution is based on. Similarly BBC have produced some amazing documentaries. Some of their radio stations are also good.
However, the regional TV programmes (BBC1 etc), which is what we are all mostly forced to be exposed to, are utter shite, the ‘entertainment’ side is abysmal, films, series, movies they choose to show are very hit and miss and they do promote some really annoying and/or unprofessional presenters and moderators. Some programmes are Very, very low quality, zero intellect required to follow. The news are not balanced which is absolutely insane.
And that’s fine, they can keep doing all this, but why should we be forced to pay for it when we don’t want to watch it and we don’t watch it.

We should expect the highest corporate standards because its funded via a license fee and we don't get it. How dare that BBC deliberately pay women less then men year after year, the fact that they still have a problem with racism,& that the org can never find senior people of colour to run it at senior level to reflect a diverse UK. No No No.. Go sing for its supper like other companies!

The BBC Breakfast program is really bad. Just full of self-important "sleb" presenters talking about each other. When one of them is on a reality show (come dancing etc) it's cringeworthy just how much air time they give to their own. A couple of days ago, they spent ridiculous amounts of time "interviewing" one of their presenters who was doing a charity walk across some desert - all about her. Nothing but self-aggrandising drivel. Same with their weather presenters. As for their in-house "experts" such as that Geordie woman who is supposed to be their business editor - I don't know whether what she says is dumbed down or whether she's thick - she's pathetic and inept when interviewing industry figures.

ITV's news is regional, not local.

How is reporting Scotland any more local than STV news? And in my experience, STV tends to cover more small local stories.

Complete waste of money.

I cannot wait until the licence fee is scrapped

The BBC pay scandal is salaries and produce poor tv programmes.

Their tenure of scamming the British public is over

The cost of the license seems to be broadly comparable with other state services across Europe. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licence

Like pp's I'm in two minds. I am in favour of the BBC and state provision in principle. When the BBC is attacked it's part of the attacks on the whole public sector and the principle of state provision of anything. It's part of the shift of our times towards the private sector, a sole reliance of which has demonstrated social, economic and environmental impacts in the past, of the kind we're seeing now. It annoys me as we know this, we've been here before especially in Britain of all places.

The weaknesses that have allowed the attacks to gain traction need to stop - e.g. the inherent sexism and lack of high-level (not low-level) accountability. The ultimate public sector service, government itself, needs to start standing up for the rest of it but unfortunately are hopelessly mired in with private money and therefore already corrupt themselves. We have all the work to do again.

I think it's cheeky that the BBC are putting all their old stuff of a streaming service. Why shouldn't that be covered by a TV license?

It may be special to England, but it's fraudulently extorting money from people in Scotland, Wales, and NI who like to think they are actual people with equal rights as "British" (UK) citizens.

TV licence fee is not sustainable regardless of anyone's TV licence opinions. I'm in my 20's and probably 20% of the people I know my age watch live TV and have a TV licence. Most watch netflix/similar streaming services instead.

Give it another 10 years when a fair number of the elder generation has passed away then they're completely fucked.

I agree we should have the BBC, but the TV licence is archaic. I would hazard a guess that it might turn in to a steaming service to survive or be funded by tax in future.