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 pay £13 a month and I get Line of Duty, Call the Midwife, Have I Got News for You, Would I Lie to You, The Split, Gavin and Stacey, Last Tango in Halifax, Strictly, Killing Eve and lots more. I also watch rugby, snooker and Wimbledon. Agatha Christie adaptations too (I’m a fan). So, I’m very happy to pay and feel I get value for money. It must be galling otherwise though, so maybe subs is indeed the way to go.

BBC started as a subscription service and that's how it should be now - not a forced tax for an uncompetitive business.

The foreign output, which carries the most respect worldwide, must be state-funded.

News
Local radio
Arts
Children's programming
Educational programming
Documentaries

... are all available on other channels too. And the BBC news is pretty partisan already.

And it’s funny because the far right say the bbc is biased and the far left say the bbc is biased.
I mean what does that say

I mean what does that say

That the BBC need to stop having a political viewpoint and be genuinely independent.

Paying the listener fee so that some dreadful non talent can be paid 100’s of thousands of pounds a year is not in my mind good value for money and I will 100% welcome this to be scrapped

Netflix manage to provide far more quality content than the bbc for less per month so it can be done

This thread is so depressing. Is this the way our country is going? Let’s just only take what we want and not really care about the wider good the bbc does.

No one is going to like everything the bbc does, but it’s more of a force for good that it’s not. And that is important. In my opinion.

We are just going to turn into America soon.

That the BBC need to stop having a political viewpoint and be genuinely independent.

this ^ from BecauseReasons

Everyone should pay for the BBC for the same reasons.

Even people who don't need a TV license?

people complaining about the licence fee tend to be ones that pay hundred a month for full sky packages!

But nobody is forced to subscribe to Sky or Netflix are they .
If you want the bloody BBC just pay a higher subscription instead of expecting others to sub your personal preferences.

aroundtheworldyet

What wider good does the bbc do?

Let’s just only take what we want and not really care about the wider good the bbc does.

Such as?

I don't think BBC is biased at all. I think that is what you have been told for a number of years now as the tories have been working towards getting rid if it. Impartiality is difficult because journalists also need to challenge, and they don't always get it right but they try very hard to be impartial and I think that's so important in this world of politically driven journalism.

If some news is breaking and I am not sure if the facts I always go to the bbc first to check what is going on.

I think it would be extremely sad if Boris gets his way. The BBC sets a bar and provides do much for the license fee. I think if it becomes a subscription model we will lose a lot and then a will be a shadow of its former self.

[facepalm]
The BBC is the foundation that all other TV and radio channels have been built on.
They built the transmitters (now run by other companies), kept the archives (badly, but they did keep them), maintained cultural norms (including unpopular classical music), kept reins on overweening governments (the Today programme), gave children more than just pap TV (Horrible Histories) and are the envy of many other countries (nature programmmes, period dramas).

And Boris’n’ Co. want the UK public to stop sponsoring them. I’m not surprised....

I live in Italy and the TV Licence fee is levied on the electricity bill of your registered address. If you own a device CAPABLE of receiving a signal, connected or not, you pay the fee. Nobody complains and the Italian State TV, with adverts, is pretty bad.

I loathe the BBC. It’s about time it was scrapped.

The BBC is the foundation that all other TV and radio channels have been built on.
They built the transmitters (now run by other companies), kept the archives (badly, but they did keep them), maintained cultural norms (including unpopular classical music), kept reins on overweening governments (the Today programme), gave children more than just pap TV (Horrible Histories)

The past tense is pretty noticeable throughout that. Yes, back in the day they were pretty essential to the broadcasting infrastructure but that's not true anymore. Also, a cultural norm is the norm for a culture. If the cultural norm becomes unpopular it is no longer the cultural norm.

And as for are the envy of many other countries (nature programmmes, period dramas) the other countries can still access much of the content without having to pay for it!

Do those who say they never watch the bbc also never listen to any BBC radio stations.

I don't own a radio so I never listen to any radio stations.

We used to get the bbc news website on our computers at work, I can only imagine that was because it was so unappealing they knew it wouldn't be a distraction.

R4 comedy is pretty funny, if you are either a remainer (or a brexiteer with thick skin who can laugh at jokes about your intelligence and hatred of immigrants, which I am 99% of the time).

Genuinely do not want to turn this into anything, but genuine diversity would mean that the BBC regularly featured Brexiteer comedians who required Remainers to laugh at their own foibles too. Strangely that never seems to happen.

What good does the bbc do
As someone said upthread:
BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Singers.

World service

The BBC has two corporate charities. Children in Need is our UK-based charity which provides grants to thousands of projects which focus on children and young people who are disadvantaged throughout the UK. BBC Media Action is our international development charity. It makes TV, radio and multimedia content, and mentors journalists and broadcasters to help people in some of the poorest parts of the world.

BBC outreach

S4C - welsh language
BBC action line

I mean theoretically all of these things plus many more if I tried harder, could exist. But will they exist? And do people care if they exist?
96% of the population consume the bbc each week. In what way does it seem like it’s not working for the whole population as it is.

I don't watch it yet I have to pay unfair tax.

This thread is so depressing. Is this the way our country is going? Let’s just only take what we want and not really care about the wider good the bbc does.

No one is going to like everything the bbc does, but it’s more of a force for good that it’s not. And that is important. In my opinion.

We are just going to turn into America soon.

You do know that the US has a publicly funded news outlet, right?

I suppose you believed Corbyn's 'secret dossier'?

The BBC news is pitched to such a moronic audience that I don't know who it actually suits because the people who claim to love the BBC are also the ones sneering about how smart they are. I can't deal with Naga Munchetty and her sidekick Charlie in the morning, bringing me chunks of news that could be digested by a toddler.

I don't watch live TV on principle because I hate the licensing people and I don't want to support them financially or otherwise. They are a bunch of bullies who I'm sure have bullied lots of people into paying for a service they don't actually use.

If you watch live TV, you should pay for your licence (under the current model). If you don't (and yes, I know this also extends to iPlayer on catch up), you shouldn't have to, and you shouldn't be bullied into thinking you should. The letters they send out speculatively are disgusting, and a waste of trees.

I also don't think you should have to give your personal details to a service provider you don't actually use, just to prove you don't want to use it.

The biggest reform required is in how payment is collected. If the licensing people were held to account and made to operate like a normal business, I might take out a subscription to watch BBC programmes. Until/unless that happens, I won't support them.

That’s without adding in all the programmes they make that are not made for commercial reasons but for educational reasons. You think anyone is going to continue to make those if they have low viewing figures?

I think independent journalism is very important

I agree. But the BBC is not independent.

See I thought that when question time was moved from Southampton at the 11th hour to another location thought to be Maidstone where they put in a Tory audience for the show, I thought that was biased

During the last election, there was bias from BBC journalists and they are supposed to be neutral, both sides complained. If it’s state funded it should be neutral and it’s clearly isn’t