BBC Licence fee to be abolished in 2027

[knark]

Fucking Tories. Why do people vote for them? Why isn't there a viable opposition?

I would protest against this decision, but, oh, they've abolished that too.

@onlychildhamster

DH and i have just bought a TV license in protest of the government's defunding of the BBC/axing the license fee. We don't own a tv and have never watched any BBC shows in our lives. But we feel that what the government is doing is unreasonable and we really cannot afford to lose the state broadcaster just because its favourable politically for the tories!

Yes, Jackanory used to be an excellent children's programme.

I can never quite understand that breed of Tory that looks misty eyed at the past and constantly wants to revisit this country’s past glories, and yet ask them to properly invest in infrastructure and those things that the country can truly be proud of on a long term basis and the money isn’t there.

Look at those wonderful Georgian and Victorian houses, built to last they were, beautifully designed, high ceilings, light, … now fuck off and live in shitty little overpriced boxes you peasants.

NHS… universal healthcare as a basic human right. Fuck it, doesn’t make money, let the plebs pay for their drugs.

BBC…a public broadcaster that is genuinely considered world class in spite of having to operate on a tiny fraction of the budgets available to the giant US broadcasters. Fuck em.

What exactly are they proud of? What do they want to retain? They just seem to want to fuck it all over and leave us with…what exactly? We seem so small and pathetic now. They don’t dream of anything truly inspirational, they just seem to criticise and dismantle those things we’ve worked hard to build, to leave us with nothing to take pride in.

It’s such a negative ethos.

The BBC is hugely admired abroad, and a great source of British influence and “soft power”. Some of the content is top class, other content is awful, although for me there is enough to justify the license fee (as in, I would continue to pay it).

However, I agree that the license fee model is outdated, not least because it politicises everything the BBC does.

The announcement today is of course massively political too. Any serious culture minister, who cared about British content producers and the creative arts sector in this country, would propose a new funding model first, before threatening to abolish the old one.

Your last paragraph, @Nesbo could be beautifully applied to the BBC itself.

I don't understand why the BBC don't offer subscription services for overseas. We've lived in a few places round the world and I would have paid the license fee to access R4. I think until you've been consistently subject to other news services you don't realise what an incredible service the BBC offer. At least they make an effort re bias (I know people disagree, but the fact that they get complaints from both sides of the political spectrum suggests they're doing something right).

If we don't have the BBC, we'll end up with the likes of Fox - companies with an agenda writ large.

Definitely a case of not knowing what we've got 'til it's gone.

@TameDucksAtChatsworth - I’m not sure what you mean? Tonight I watched Green Planet - stunning, world beating content. Our tiny island produces natural history content that no other country can match. They are absolutely inspirational. And yet we just shrug like it doesn’t even matter.

We currently have a voice that is heard around the world, but we’re going to lose it.

Instead of speaking to the world we’ll have to watch Netflix to see what the US can tell us instead.

Which will be great for the UK of course. We can be sure that Netflix give a shit about the Uk, supporting our production companies and our talent. We definitely won’t just get a diet of US produced shows, filmed in a US style with US talent. Maybe the odd token UK production for “local flavour”

Exactly this. Those complaining that e.g. Radio 4 is too London/Southeast-centric will love it when all the media they consume is made by and entirely focused on U.S. interests. It’s part of the reason I can’t warm to Netflix - nothing wrong with some of the American programming per se, but at the end of the day I’m not American and would rather watch stuff that reflects life in the U.K.

And so far no one has attempted to answer any of the questions I posted upthread: If I were, say, a 12 year old girl, or a teacher wanting to show a significant historic or sporting moment to my class, where do I go to access King William’s coronation, or a Brit winning the Olympic men’s 100m final, or the first female astronaut to walk on the Moon, in a post-licence fee world?

The BBC is hardly there for the public.

It has mostly dutifully parroted the government, rather than common sense and science, narrative during this pandemic.

Where's the challenge to the plan to go against science, medical experts, the WHO, and much of the rest of the world? The government doesn't want simple and easy mitigations that help keep the economy running but also allow us to genuinely 'live with' a disease that kills and disables many. Masks, vaccine passes, good ventilation including HEPA filters.

The BBC has obediently reported 100s of people being killed a week by Covid as the government described stable 'low'. And the 'falling' case numbers (neglecting to add that people have been unable to get hold of tests...).

As for the Long Covid disabilities. Largely radio silence.

[quote willstarttomorrow]@20x2boys but if you are watching zero tv/ cannot watch bbc/use iplayer then you do not have to pay so not really an issue is it.[/quote]
Individually no. But as time goes on the number of households with TV licences is reducing. So the BBC has to reform its funding model if it wishes to survive, otherwise it will wither and die.

So far from it being the end of civilisation as we know it, Nadine Dorries is actually doing the BBC a favour by pushing for a new way of funding it.

Tealightssand do you ever listen to R4? There has been plenty of content about all those things on science, health, politics, statistics programmes since March 2020.

Well I won’t be paying g for it the few programs I do like Dr Who Call The Midwife and Nature stuff I can buy or see elsewhere.

Separately from the pandemic, I don't consider racism to be for the public good. I have Jewish friends. The recent anti semitic reporting from the BBC (on an antisemitic incident) was appalling.

I do concede that there are some good parts of the BBC. Should people have to pay a licence or would a subscription service be best? I don't know. If they do get to keep the licence, they need to make some serious changes. Perhaps, if they put the work in, it can be turned around? We can always hope.

For a start, there's no need to pay the likes of Gary Linekar around a million pounds a year. Football fans want to see the match footage and highlights and enjoy a bit of analysis from an expert. There are plenty of other ex professional footballers who could do a better job for less money.

And who can we rely on to do stuff like this - no money in it, after all: twitter.com/greg_jenner/status/1482802546125193220?s=21

@Crowdfundingforcake

Tealightssand do you ever listen to R4? There has been plenty of content about all those things on science, health, politics, statistics programmes since March 2020.

Actually fair point. I agree they've been relatively good at times.

There's no excuse for the racism however. That is something they need to sort out.

@TempsPerdu

Where are these ‘woke agendas for preschoolers’, *@Snugglepumpkin*? Can you give some specific examples? I’ve watched a fair bit of CBeebies with DD4 and have so far only come across harmlessly diverse, inclusive content, often with an educational slant.

Oops got the childrens BBC channel wrong sorry, it's the one aimed at 6 year olds & up CBBC? They all blend into one for me.

Programs such as

Just a girl.
First Day.

@TempsPerdu

Well, yes. Why should the masses pay for things they never use / don't want / aren't appealed by because a small minority keep telling us it's culturally valuable?

But then, according to your argument here, nobody ever views or listens to any content that they don’t already know they like. How do people get to access unfamiliar art or culture or sport if it’s never just there in front of them, but behind a paywall to a subscription service? How do people get to randomly stumble across something that piques their interest, whatever that might be, if they’re just paying to view stuff they like already?

I don’t know how anyone can really know what appeals to them unless they get to experience it first. How do you know if you love Bach/Bowie/ballet if you’ve never been exposed to it?

I was first exposed to classical music when watching Tom and Jerry cartoons on Boomerang (US-based, commercial channel) when I was a kid. One thing leads to another and I have become a big fan of the opera.

@TempsPerdue.

Can I suggest First Day in which a 12 year old transgender girl (a boy) starts high school.

Woke, wrong shite.

[quote TempsPerdu]And who can we rely on to do stuff like this - no money in it, after all: twitter.com/greg_jenner/status/1482802546125193220?s=21[/quote]
But why must everyone pay for that?

Anyway, few people are suggesting the BBC be abolished. Rather that it stops being an offence, punishable by gaol, to not have a TV licence.

Let them earn their own money. Let them sink or let them swim.

I don't have a TV licence because I only ever watched the BBC regularly for maybe a couple of programmes (Stictly, Call the Midwife, Six Nations games) a year and it wasn't worth it especially as I work shifts so rarely watched anything else on live TV anyway. Now I just use a chrome cast to stream Netflix, Disney+, ITV, C4 and YouTube content directly to my TV ... if I want to watch BBC stuff I either wait until the dramas show up on some other platform (which most do eventually) or watch the programme when I'm babysitting for friends/family or when I'm at my parents house.

The fact that I have to pay the BBC licence fee if I want to watch any live TV is what makes me so unhappy about it - its one thing to have to pay a BBC licence fee to watch the BBC but I also have to pay it if I want to watch any other channel in "real time" ... why?

If I don't pay for Netflix, it doesn't prohibit me from watching ITV; if I don't pay for Disney+, it doesn't stop me from watching Youtube; if I don't pay for Amazon Prime it doesn't stop me from watching Sky Sports; so why does not paying for the BBC prohibit me from watching any live TV at all?

I am not against paying for content that I use but I resent paying a fixed fee to the BBC in order to access other channels regardless of whether I consume BBC content. If the BBC was a subscription service like Netflix/Disney+; had an option to pay to watch specific shows like on Amazon Prime or even just had options to build a smaller BBC package for reduced cost (eg I literally only watch BBC 1 and 2 and occasionally Radio 1, I don't use any of the other BBC services) then I would be more than happy to pay for what I use, provided that I could access other live non-BBC content without having to pay them for the privilege.

@eldora Umm…well maybe because making efforts to ensure our kids receive a decent education, even during a pandemic, ultimately works to benefit the whole of society? Or do you not believe in the concept of ‘society’?

[quote TempsPerdu]@eldora Umm…well maybe because making efforts to ensure our kids receive a decent education, even during a pandemic, ultimately works to benefit the whole of society? Or do you not believe in the concept of ‘society’?[/quote]
I already pay for society via taxes.

I don’t want to pay for BBC services I don’t use,

@Snugglepumpkin Fair enough; DD is too young for most of CBBC’s offerings as yet and I’m not familiar with the programmes you mention. I’m gender critical myself and not at all on board with that particular agenda, but equally I don’t think throwing the baby out with the bath water, on the basis of few programmes you disagree with, is a wise move.

@eldora Fine; if you genuinely believe you’ve ‘done your bit’ and that there’s no wider societal benefit to the BBC, as a public service broadcaster, providing a public service during a national emergency, then I really can’t argue with you.

@Andante57 we are the first in our family to get the license. I am from overseas and DH's family never had a tv, his mum used to get regular visits from tv licensing people, she had to take them on a tour of her house to see that there were no TV! They are welcome to take a tour of our flat! We have a projector, but no telly.

Watching a documentary on Gaddafi on BBC iplayer now...

DH's youngest sister is incensed we got the BBC cos she thinks they are a disgusting transphobic organization and we can get news for free... she linked this article to me: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-57853385

DH says that this just proves its a good decision!