About the TV license potentially being extended to streaming services?

[Haruka]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/01/28/netflix-users-could-forced-pay-licence-fee/

I already pay enough for the services themselves. I don't watch live TV and especially not the BBC. I am fed up with this potentially becoming a lack of choice; it feels like extortion and yet another tax.

I know that in other countries any device capable of receiving live TV and/ or radio needs a licence (including car radios, laptops, iPads and smartphones), but in this day and age it's taking the piss potentially having to pay for a service I don't even use, just to get access to things that I do.

AIBU to take a very dim view of these proposals?

I'm surprised I haven't seen any other threads on this yet, but maybe I'm blinded by fury 😆

I love the bbc and watch pointless, house of games, strictly, traitors, not to mention the news and radio 2.

Also often watch itv, c4 and c5 live.

In the context I'm using, I mean that the individual can get it from google or facebook, or Insta or Tiktok many places. Yes it's already funded and simply often aggregated. But there's a bazillion other foreign outlets you can get news from besides BBC, ITV, C4, Sky etc.

The world would actually be better for more plurality and less hegemony regarding journalism. Tying a person to a licence means they're tied in to one perspective more. Which I guess is what it's essentially all about, or they'd just make the BBC subscription model and stop trying to prop it up.

For feelslikewinter

Nope you said you had good experiences with the arts, I never assumed you were a artist but you make lots of assumptions.

But thanks for your attitude because you don't like the language I use, because you think only people who education you seem appropriate should have an opinion.

It's weird someone who supports the arts who regularly misuse the English language should be so persnickety.

Ah yes, social media, that arbiter of independent and unbiased information.

I definitely want my news from China Daily or the Broligarchs Zuckerberg and Musk.

Infinitely preferable to a world renowned news provider with a charter to present balanced reporting.

Er…ok?

😂

I replied as your post got deleted for being disgusting.

Yeah, I know you replied. I just couldn’t understand what you meant.

Especially by, “because you think only people who education you seem appropriate should have an opinion.”

What the actual fuck.

It's bad enough having to pay the licence fee to watch ANY tv rather than just for BBC channels, but having to pay a fee for netflix is batshit insane.

It's absolutely time to scrap the licence fee and let the BBC live or die on the quality of it's offering.

I went on a short UK break late November.
Having not had a licence for several years, because we only ever stream /you tube; I was absolutely blown away by the amount of crap that was on live TV.
There was 30+ channels and in the few days I was there- not one single thing I’d want to watch.

Have you watched Netflix lately, that is pretty shit as well, their offering over Christmas was crappy Squid game.

The money goes to the 'rich kids'. It goes to Claudia Winkleman or Ian Wright or Fiona Bruce - hundreds of thousands yearly in salary - whilst your broke art student trying to make it or single mum on benefits (they are notorious for prosecuting SM's for licence fees) or exploited immigrant sharing a tiny room, is threatened and marched to court to pay hundreds out of their very meagre capital for a few hours distraction from their hard existence that they be getting from an entirely different source.

No they won't and don't. I get a threatening letter at least once a month - 'you're under investigation', etc, etc. It's been going on for decades. The trouble is, there are people who are genuinely distressed by the BBC licence threats. It's so unacceptable in this day and age, when you can watch non BBC/non live TV so bloody easily.

Disgusting and vile for not understanding what that incomprehensible sentence means? Ok.

Nope they are all comprehensible, honestly just stop you are embarrassing yourself.

I don't use any streaming services and don't watch TV so I don't pay.

I don’t think Claudia is getting council arts funding, TBF.

I see you are very angry about the way the licence fee is administered. I don’t disagree.

But I don’t equate the TV licensing department with the creative and news-gathering arms.

I’m not embarrassed, don’t worry.

Your outrage suggests you might be, so I’m very sorry for upsetting you.

I've skimmed a lot of this thread, so I don't know if anyone has mentioned ChilliJonCarne on YouTube - he is very against the TV licence and some of his content is very funny imo. He is very good at reassuring people about the whole Capita nonsense!
Also blackbeltbarrister on YT has some info about the licence.

At the next GE I will happily vote for any party that makes abolishing the TV license part of their manifesto. Enough is enough these parasites need to self fund their obscene wages.

It’s outrageous. And I pay it even though we dont have an aerial.

But I will watch iplayer at various points in the year when a good series is on.

It was in Reforms manifesto but a lot on here vote for Labour then moan afterwards about the licence

I can assure you I did not vote for the Labour cretins.

I feel so strongly about this if Reform are the only party to say this I will be voting for them next time out.

But did you vote for Reform who had it in their manifesto.