AIBU cancelling my TV Licence direct debit?

[Heliosdeep]

In the wake of the Gary Lineker saga and the weakness of the BBC I cancelled my direct debit. Currently at £159 for a yearly licence I thought this was a waste of money. The only thing I would have missed would gave been the Great British Bake Off but now that Alison Hammond is fronting it I would have struggled to get past her incredibly irritating voice.

I've not watched it once since cancelling and haven't missed it. Has anyone else done the same and AIBU cancelling?

Radio isn't covered by the TV licence.

Why can't it just be made subscription through iPlayer then people like me that watch it can just pay and people like my DS who doesn't watch it can just choose not to pay without having to fill in some form to say they don't want it or get threatening letters if they don't fill in the form like my DF did. Some fill in the form and still get threatening letters. You don't get all this bother with the likes of Netflix and apple TV, you either subscribe or not.

My parents are in their 70s and mostly watch the BBC, live TV etc. My brother and I are in our 40s and mostly watch streaming platforms. Neither of us have a TV license. I don't watch the BBC, nor use it's website, nor listen to its radio, because I don't like their style. I signed out of iPlayer and cancelled my license in September.

I agree with others, it should be a subscription service. If I don't want to watch, it should be made unavailable to me. The license is a tax.

We mostly watch Disney and Netflix, and also ITVx and All 4. We use their apps or download from Sky.

I remember, before Netflix, my dad buying a new telly and being told he had to prove he had a license before he could take it home!

I remember, before Netflix, my dad buying a new telly and being told he had to prove he had a license before he could take it home!

Yes, this! even though before the streamers appeared you could still have a TV and not watch live TV as people had video and DVD players since the late 70s/early 80s.

It's the Labour Party that want to keep the TV licence so if you don't want it don't vote for them, the Tories are much more likely to get rid of it.

Could the TV licence be replaced by funding the BBC by general taxation?

Then it could remain as it is as a national resource without the need for households to pay directly. It would also be more progressive as the cost to low income households would be lower.

Also the cost of enforcement and administration of free TV licences for older people would be saved.

For those eople who don't value the benefit of the BBC to society, its probably a case of not appreciating it until its gone, then you'll miss it.

Yeah and the BBC sells it in they don't let other platforms use th for stuff for free 🙄

How can you miss something you never watch?

No.I won't ,you might I however won't .

Urgh MrCadburysParrot attitude on this thread makes me less likely to ever want to watch or listen BBC ever again. Fully institutionalised and cannot understand other people's point of view. Aggressive and pretentious to posters who don't hold the BBC on the pedestal.

God you are so arrogant believing your view is right and anyone who disagrees is wrong ,I get it you think.the BBC is marvellous ,I however don't ,we don't have to.agree but that didn't make my view less worthy than yours ,people like what they like .

Can you imagine getting SO worked up over someone not wanting a TV license? Bonkers

I hadn't watched any live TV for a couple of years before I cancelled it . I was already paying for Netflix, prime and Disney + so the TV licence was a waste of money

Don't listen to the radio either as I have amazon music .

No way would I miss any of it if it disappeared tomorrow

I still pay it. The BBC have made a lot of mistakes but I can't help feeling that the Tories have done a number on them over this Gary Lineker business plus I watch iPlayer so I'll carry on paying until the end.

You are ridiculous, I haven't needed the police of fire brigade in years but I may need to in the future . I'm not going to need the BBC therefore don't pay for it

Also emergency services benefit society , the bloody BBC don't

I suppose if the BBC were to be made into a subscription service probably at least half of the people who currently hold a licence wouldn't bother subscribing, slashing the BBC's income. They would need to charge their subscribers a lot to cover their current spending. But at £13.25 a month the licence already looks expensive compared to most streaming services, like the basic Netflix package or Disney+ (£7.99 a month). Of course the BBC covers a lot more, like all the regional programming, news, radio and current events which streaming services don't offer, but most people won't see that and will just want to cut their monthly outgoings. With the cost of living crisis they may have little choice anyway.

So the BBC will resist the subscription model all they can. They can't just keep pretending it's the last century though, and of COURSE you watch TV and need a licence by default. There are so many young people now who only stream stuff, like my DD and her partner. Conventional tv watching is dying out.

I would like to keep the BBC though, as it is broadly a good thing. If it was to be funded from general taxation how would the BBC be kept independent from the government of the day?, that's a real issue.

The BBC tries to do too much, they should slowly scale down their activities and the licence fee should be frozen at least. It's unsustainable. Perhaps there could be subscription for some of their output, with news etc free, and this enshrined in law somehow. Perhaps they could take limited advertising, don't know, or this might be problematic.

Thing is the bbc appeal to a certain demographic. I can’t think of anybody but my mother and her mother who still watch stuff like eastenders, or even not bbc but live children in need, big brother,
im a celeb etc. Even my dhs parents who are older don’t. The only thing my in-laws watch live is sports, Rugby and football.

Personally I’ve been watching quite a bit it national geographic but that’s not bbc either it’s on Disney but that’s not owned by bbc either.

I don’t listen to the radio at all I ask
alexa to play recommended for me.

Some of these bbc lovers seem completely bonkers like paid up members tbh. If you love it so much and think it’s so great and that everyone loves it. It would have no problem being subscription would it?

Considering a bbc alert won’t override my
fire stick but the government can alert my phone of a major incident it’s not needed as an emergency broadcaster.

You have sky?

If you have watched even a second of any channel on it you have broken the law

I would get rid of it if you want to cover your arse.

I don't know why the BBC make so much crap like Homes under the Hammer etc. They'd be better of concentrating on quality, not quantity and making "big" shows that capture the imagination of the entire world. Like Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, the Last of Us etc. Make the Iplayer a subscription service available all over the world.

*You have sky?

If you have watched even a second of any channel on it you have broken the law*

What a load of old twaddle, you can watch catch up and box sets on Sky without needing a licence

They have to fill the airwaves 24/7. Plenty of shite on Sky which is on there for that reason.

They really don't, we live in a non-linear TV world. They could produce a few high quality TV shows a year instead of wasting money on tat.

I carry on paying because I watch a lot of live sport, but anyone who never watches live terrestrial TV or uses iPlayer is NBU to cancel their licence.

Apart from a tiny, donation funded PBS America has no public broadcaster and they make quality TV certainly not “friends on repeat”.