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AIBU?

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Original poster

To turn the BBC into a subscription service would be unfair...

90 replies

greencrosscode · 20/04/2021 18:43

As has been proposed as it would give the BBC an unfair advantage over Netflix or similar companies..

As the BBC was designed to fit 20th century technology...

OP posts:
MiddleParking · 20/04/2021 18:57

Do you mean a disadvantage? If not I don’t follow your reasoning.

stackemhigh · 20/04/2021 19:02

This doesn’t make any sense.

BBC is already effectively a subscription service (license fee).

RancidOldHag · 20/04/2021 19:07

So it would mean the licence fee was no longer enforceable by law on all those who own a television?

People would pay the same, but only if they actually want to watch the Beeb?

username12345T · 20/04/2021 19:08

It already is a subscription service OP or at least it is for me as I pay £13 a month for it.

Zancah · 20/04/2021 19:16

If love it if it was a subscription service! That way I could say no and save myself £160. Win win.

PegPeople · 20/04/2021 19:18

I'm so confused. Confused Literally the only reason they refuse to make it a subscription service is because they know they cannot compete with other providers.

The minute they make it a subscription service like Netflix that people can opt out of they will lose so much of their revenue.

Sometimes123 · 20/04/2021 19:39

I hate paying the license fee. It's like being a shareholder and getting nothing in return. However, they can use my money to make profits and sell their products worldwide, which pays the wages of the 'talent' but I get nothing in return...other than talent shows. Thankfully the youth of the country are getting older and as they approach voting age they will use their loud, collective voice to say "no more" and finally something will change....that is my hope anyway. And in the meantime all the people who can barely afford to put food on their table, are forced to pay the big, corporate BBC.

SchrodingersImmigrant · 20/04/2021 19:43

Tbf to bbc they do make some great hits.

If they went subscription path without tv licence, I assume they would start churning our crapload of low quality stuff like Netflix started to do.
I wish netflix took some of the money from upping the fees and use them on proper dubbing🙄

Namechange1067949 · 20/04/2021 19:50

@PegPeople

I'm so confused. Confused Literally the only reason they refuse to make it a subscription service is because they know they cannot compete with other providers.

The minute they make it a subscription service like Netflix that people can opt out of they will lose so much of their revenue.

Well no. They would then be able to include advertisers. So they would make their money back and probably more. They would lose a bunch of restrictions they have by being ‘public service’ and it would all be easier

But a bunch of people would lose their jobs, everything would need restructuring, they’d be at a disadvantage for a while because they aren’t designed and set up as other companies because that wasn’t their remit.

Additionally we would all be left with only shows that create a revenue stream - typically this is done by sensationalised, topical programming that is sure to get a big audience share
And we lose all the useful free resources like bite size or documentaries on niche but interesting things

Crimeismymiddlename · 20/04/2021 20:04

It is a subscription service, for live television broadcast. It is perfectly legal to watch catch up tv-apart from the Iplayer. Even then they seem to sell a lot of the output on to the streamers after a while.

Warrickdaviesasplates · 20/04/2021 20:26

I would absolutely love to be able to opt out of paying the license fee. Not one single person in my household uses any bbc services and while we are not that hard up now there was a time only a few years ago where we were struggling to put food on the table and still having to pay for a service we never used or wanted to use.

I'm sure we can't have been the only people in the country in that situation.

phlebasconsidered · 20/04/2021 20:33

Just don't pay it. I don't use live terrestrial tv. My kids outgrew cbbc and we all just watch netflix, prime or other on demand stuff. I get my news from other sources anyway and have subscribed to several newspapers. If the licence people ever bother to visit (and they have'nt in the past 4 years since I stopped paying) then I will just show them my lack of aeriel and on demand subscriptions.

DdraigGoch · 20/04/2021 20:54

@Zancah

If love it if it was a subscription service! That way I could say no and save myself £160. Win win.
I do say "no". I do save £160. Occasionally get threatening letters but that's about all. Yes, I know that it applies to ITV/C4 etc. too but I can just watch anything I actually want to watch On Demand perfectly legally rather than trying to fit the TV schedules around my shift pattern.
x2boys · 20/04/2021 21:02

@RancidOldHag

So it would mean the licence fee was no longer enforceable by law on all those who own a television?

People would pay the same, but only if they actually want to watch the Beeb?

You can own acTV and not pay the licence fee ,your just not supposed to watch live TV ,but even that's unenforceable,as nobody has a right to enter your home to check.
x2boys · 20/04/2021 21:05

@phlebasconsidered

Just don't pay it. I don't use live terrestrial tv. My kids outgrew cbbc and we all just watch netflix, prime or other on demand stuff. I get my news from other sources anyway and have subscribed to several newspapers. If the licence people ever bother to visit (and they have'nt in the past 4 years since I stopped paying) then I will just show them my lack of aeriel and on demand subscriptions.
Or you could just say no thanks and close the door,they have no rights to check .
Original poster
greencrosscode · 20/04/2021 21:13

I imagine the cost of BBC4 and Radio 4 would be less than a £5 a year. It could just go out of our taxes.

OP posts:
1Morewineplease · 20/04/2021 21:29

I think the license fee ought to go.
For example, not that long ago , BBC Breakfast was a rolling news programme that repeated the news regularly in order that folk could catch the news before they went to work.
It is now a ghastly magazine programme like Lorraine Kelly's and there's barely any news .

TrickorTreacle · 20/04/2021 21:31

I would pay my monthly BBC subs if they brought back TOTP!

totally misses point of thread

lljkk · 20/04/2021 21:45

I imagine the cost of BBC4 and Radio 4 would be less than a £5 a year.

£5 per person paying?
Um, no.

osbertthesyrianhamster · 20/04/2021 21:50

The fee needs to go!

DynamoKev · 20/04/2021 21:52

As a PP observed the BBC is opposed to subscription as they would lose a lot of income.
Bizarrely another poster then claimed they would make it with adverts - but the subscription stuff I watch (Netflix and NOWTV) doesn’t have adverts. In fact it is less polluted with adverts for irrelevant shite than the BBC which constantly trolls me with adverts for its content and services, 99% off which I have zero interest in. If I never hear another advert for fucking Peter Crouch and his wanky twatcast it will be too soon.

bookworm1632 · 20/04/2021 21:57

@greencrosscode

As has been proposed as it would give the BBC an unfair advantage over Netflix or similar companies..

As the BBC was designed to fit 20th century technology...

Strange argument lol

The license fee is a bit daft tbh - expensive to administer and leads constantly to people comparing it to a subscription service. It would make far more sense for the national broadcaster to be funded directly from the treasury like any other national service.

It would be a shame to lose the BBC - the fact that it isn't controlled by an individual like Rupert Murdoch's Sky, or paid for by big business through adverts makes it pretty special, largely because all the other UK competitors have to do their best to emulate it. Contrast UK TV with US TV, where as soon as a show's opening credits have concluded, there's an advert break, and it's sometimes impossible to tell where a program ended and an advert started because there's no separation like in the UK.

SunIsComing · 20/04/2021 21:59

Get rid of the licence.

ClarkeGriffin · 20/04/2021 22:01

@PegPeople

I'm so confused. Confused Literally the only reason they refuse to make it a subscription service is because they know they cannot compete with other providers.

The minute they make it a subscription service like Netflix that people can opt out of they will lose so much of their revenue.

They already are as you don't have to pay for it, as long as you don't watch any live TV on any channel, amazon included, or watch Iplayer. Anything else streaming wise is on demand and isn't live is fine.

It is funny though how BBC claim they want you paying for this to avoid adverts, yet they still do have adverts if only for their own programmes. But it's still adverts and they now seem longer, or did the last time I watched it. Maybe just so used to no break at all now.

Pyewackect · 20/04/2021 22:08

The BBC has its challenges and they annoy me intensely on occasions but I still feel the licence fee is the best way to fund it.