BBC Time to stop the license fee - Times have drastically changed

[StrawPony]

In the past I’ve supported the BBC but that was before the availability of numerous streaming services. It just doesn’t make sense anymore, I’m coming at this as someone that is fairly centre ground and not someone that is concerned about bias.

With the cost of living, I’m looking to reduce outgoings. I’ve just told the kids that I’m going to cancel Netflix end of this month as they’ve bumped up the price to £10.99 per month without me opting into that particular plan. The kids are asking me to cancel the BBC instead (2 teens and 1 in primary), they didn’t understand that the beeb is not an opt in/out streaming service so I’ve explained that one. But it’s true, they NEVER watch any stuff on the BBC. I watch the odd thing but if I could opt out, I would and pay for Now or Netflix. AIBU, the BBC was great in its time but now it needs to become subscription only. I don’t listen to BBC radio, I watch the odd drama or major national event (like coverage of the Queens death) but nowhere near enough that I would pay if it was opt in/out.

I am happy (and obviously pretty much alone) to pay the fee.
The educational stuff on the website is a good quality (and leapt into fast action during Covid and home schooling).
Thought I miss the Big Read on their website.

The radio has excellent stuff - Women's Hour, dramas, documentaries and sports (with no adverts interrupting).

Love the coverage on TV for events like Olympics, football tournaments. Some amazing dramas and documentaries shown. The abuse on vulnerable people is something they continually dig into.

My year 11 has just revised for GCSEs without BBC bitesize, it wasn't remotely a problem. I did pay for the premium subscription to Seneca learning which was very helpful.

Ex DH took the Tv Licence with him when he moved out last year.

I thought about replacing it but I had to pay £45 a month for four months before I could then go on to a monthly DD.

Given that the kids and I don't watch anything on BBC (except youngest watched the new Dr Who but she just went to ex DH house once a week to see it) I can't see how it would ever have been worth the cost.

Absolute jokers.

The BBC is not perfect, but I think it's extremely good value. Even if you never watch a BBC programme, almost all television you do watch will be influenced by the BBC in some way. Aside from the initial training they provide to people who go on to work across the TV industry, they are often 'the first' to try lots of formats which go on to be popular elsewhere, as they don't have the same commercial pressures that other channels do so they can be a little more experimental (within reason!) There's also lots of niche programming and educational content that wouldn't get made on commerical channels because the ratings aren't high enough for advertisers, but is incredibly important to some audiences.

I comply with the TV licence rules. I don’t watch live TV so don’t pay for a licence.
I wish I could use iPlayer for Doctor Who and the Apprentice, but I don’t think either of those shows are worth the fee as they aren’t on long enough and, going by the last time I watched them (not live), they’re nowhere as good as they used to be. Plus I’ve supported Doctor Who anyway by buying DVDs of several seasons.
I don’t care about British-centric things like the Royal Family, sports events or Eastenders, so don’t want to pay for that either.
That said, I do think the BBC/government are missing out by not updating the TV licence rules to account for people like me. I use the BBC website quite a bit too, but I’m not required to pay for it so I don’t. I don’t pay for any other website though.

There will be a whole discussion around the future model of the licence fee when this charter period ends in 2027, perhaps this kind of staggered payment option could be brought in, it’s possible - it certainly needs to be debated and kept up to date.

Why should people have to subsidise what others find entertaining? If ITV's posts office drama lost money it's because not enough people wanted to watch it.

I didn't know that! They've got you all ways haven't they 😂.

You're still accessing their programmes!

I'm a BBC fan even though I'm more left and am frustrated by how right they are Fiona Bruce I'm looking at you

I listen to BBC radio all the time
I go to their website first to find out news
I love their documentaries and cultural programmes
So many programmes created by BBC that are too niche to be considered by companies who need to make a profit
BBC bitesize
Cbeebies and CBBC when my DC were smaller

Of course! You can watch BBC programmes on ITVx aswell so even if you don't watch BBC directly they would tell you that you still need a licence for streaming. It's better to just pay it rather than risk getting into trouble. BBC is just too everywhere to try getting away with it.

What do you think they are going to do to you ?

Congratulations to you for a great post because this very well made point might be the ONLY argument that could get someone like me to actually restart paying the licence fee again in the future. You have made me re-evaluate things from a wider - cultural protectionist - point of view.

The god awful blight that is Bridgerton, with it's all so Americanesque style language complete disregard for actual 17th century English cultural mores is a shining example (and yes I know it's not meant to be true to facts but it nonetheless taken as such in the internetverse - shudder) of why British made TV shows should be protected particularly as it pertains to historical dramas.

That said, Americans overall win in the serial dramas, and that's mostly because they are on the whole, excellent and the production quality is very high. ER, Law & Order, House, Grey's Anatomy, The Good Wife/Fight, Yellowstone, NCIS, Chicago Fire were/are all excellent. The thing with American dramas is, if it doesn't work, it gets dropped very quickly and the like of Game of Thrones which was wildly successful, despite having many British actors, would never have been produced by the BBC as they simply would never be so risky and the grim low production value Eastenders is nowhere near a rival to these.

The thing is the BBC has to try to be all things to everyone and I'm not sure that can always work. The things that tend to do well commercially are ironically the things that are considered quintessentially culturally 'English' Pride & Prejudice which is ages old now did extremely well commercially. Controversially, for those of the Farage supporting class (those crying cultural marxism), the BBC rejected 'All creatures Great and Small' and ITV? 5? took it, but I read American Christians ironically love it.

You can and will be prosecuted.

BBC programmes on ITVx aswell so even if you don't watch BBC directly they would tell you that you still need a licence for streaming
you don’t need it for streaming, you need it for watching (or recording) live tv and watching iplayer, watching bbc made shows on Netflix or itv or whatever streaming hub doesn’t require it.

Only if you are stupid enough to engage with them and admit you have been watching rv without a licence
They don't have any special powers of detection unless you still beleive in their fairy tails about " Detector vans" .

I think it's interesting that those who are left wing (like me) think there's a huge right wing bias at the BBC. Those who are right wing (like you) think there's a huge left wing bias.

So the BBC have probably got it right and are actually quite neutral.

I watch a lot of BBC and listen to Radio 4 daily (my username gives that away!). For me, it's absolutely value for money. For my adult children it has no relevance. I'm not sure it should be subscription - the quality of what they produce would drop radically - but I do think it needs to look at how it's funded.

I would pay a subscription but I can’t because I no longer live in the UK. I mostly listen to BBC radio and that’s worth the license fee on its own.

No one in our house does any of these things, it's entirely possible to get by without ever utilising any of BBCs outputs. We prefer to use other streaming services, I can't recall a time in the past 5 years where anyone in our home has had call to watch or listen to anything BBC has done

Who pays for this "funding" in your model?

No, that’s not the case at all. With the increased cost of living, making programmes has become more expensive. Advertising spend is down and we don’t want American style pay to access and watch adverts channels, nor will we accept 6 ad breaks per hour.

So to cover costs, shows are sold on to the international market. To appeal to Americans, the content needs to be US-skewed. To appeal to the Middle Eastern market, it needs to be aligned with more moderate tastes.

And you might be fine with reducing our cultural offering to celebrity hagiography or anodyne drama that doesn’t tell British stories or god awful reality nonsense that appeals to the lowest common denominator and feeds a society obsessed with style over substance, but I’m not.

And what happens when you age and don’t want Love Island and Gladiators? Tough. Read a book. Because once the BBC and all our other terrestrial channels have to pay their way like the commercial ones, there will be nothing left for anyone with non-mainstream tastes.

The same funders who fund all the other big free to use cultural institutions... combination of government, arts council, heritage and other large funding bodies

And who funds them - who fund the government, the arts council etc...? Come on, we're nearly there...

I think this should definitely be looked into, if people abroad were interested in subscribing to BBC channels that could be a revenue stream.

I think Netflix and Amazon prime are shite. I can never find anything to watch.

I can dip in and out of the BBC. And l like the music programmes in BBC4.