Should we pay BBC licence fee

[Daygloboo]

I think we should still pay ithe BBC licence fee but I see someone else has been accused of bullying ....this time on BBC breakfast..I still think it is great value for money though. They make quality programmes and are are balanced in their reporting. I think it's unfair that they get so much stick. We need a public service broadcaster..

I disagree. The output is shit and politically biased. I don't want anything to do with it so I don't pay. In my opinion a subscription model would be a more appropriate way of funding the BBC but considering you can opt out of paying, that's the way it is going anyway.

I don't agree that they are balanced in their reporting. They have always been politically biased. But if you are using their services then you should pay. If you have an issue with the BBC and don't want to pay then you should stop using their services.

The only thing I watch is BBC Alba, I pay my licence fee to support that, otherwise I’d happily do away with my payments. Any English TV is Amazon, Netflix -even the ITV police dramas are better than anything the BBC produces.

Well David Cameron stuffed it to the gills with his mates so its had political pressure for quite some time, if not before.

The output is awful now apart from the odd event. Wimbledon tends to be excellent and Glastonbury has been (although not so much last time). However the quality drama of old they were so good at has gone. Best thing about the BBC in my view is the radio! Which is ironically free.

I very very rarely watch TV and would be happy with not having one but my father lives with us and he has dementia but still appears to understand and definitely enjoys sports so whilst he is here and watching live sport (although paid for with a Now TV Sports additional subscription) we will continue to pay, reluctantly, the licence fee.

I think that's the most galling- you have to pay for it despite actually not watching BBC. Yet, listen to BBC radio (which can be good), and you don't have to. Crazy!

I think it's really wrong not to pay for a public broadcaster. They try to be unbiased in a world full of broadcasters who tell lies and try to manipulate the audience. You can't honestly believe that some of the other networks don't tell the most appalling lies and twist opinion in favour of their billionaire backers.

Agree about not using it if you don't pay.

Glad your dad enjoys the sport. Yes they did used to do good drama

I very rarely watch anything on the BBC and it is infuriating that we have to pay a licence fee when so much of their output is low quality and repeats. If I had the option I would not pay a "subscription" to watch it.

The last good drama BBC put out was Happy Valley. Nowadays it’s all poorly through out plots with bits and pieces stolen from other works, or with massive plot holes and conflicting plot points that don’t work with one another.

And when I say stolen I don’t mean inspired, outright stolen. I was watching The Jetty and could have sworn it was a book I read. The Japanese Knotweed driving the older dad crazy subplot was almost directly stolen from a book I’d read years ago, as was the “Mum is a medium and predicted something pertinent” part of it.

it’s just piss poor writing now. I would hedge my bets that some of the scrips are ChatGPT for the most part.

No, the licence fee needs to stop in its present form. If the BBC's output was/is good enough, it should be able to survive as a subscription service and/or attract advertising.

This said, when - because I think it's inevitable - it is switched to a subscription service, they need to ensure that a considerable amount of their archive is free - most of us have already paid for this once.

Oh, and I'd remove it entirely from London. One of the main issues I have with the BBC presently is its cursory and mostly reluctant engagement with anywhere beyond London/SE.

This.

But it moved to Salford ?

I stopped paying after the Hamas kid fiasco.
I cannot support an organisation that supports terrorists.

apparantly they want it mixed in with council tax which is absurd

The BBC is increasingly being left behind as the UK audience increasingly splits into two camps. On the one hand you have those who are adverse to change (generally the elderly) and those who can’t afford change (those on low income) vs a more affluent and/or younger group who have embraced and can afford streaming. The BBC has found itself stuck catering for the first, diminishing group and unable to afford quality programmes to rival the streaming services and peak the interest of the second group. They are stuck churning out the same old tired programmes and running repeats. The majority of the good uk writing talent moves to America where the money is and where there is also willingness to take risks, which the BBC can’t afford to do. It either needs to strip back to a free purely public service like PBS in America or go to a pay as you go subscription model where you can subscribe for certain content like sporting events.

I hate the BBC too cos uncle Rupert told me to

I'll stick to unbiased GB news and fox News thank you

And nothing illustrated how out of touch the BBC is with modern Britain more than the wall to wall coverage of the Duke of Edinburgh’s and the Queens deaths. People simply don’t want or expect that any more. It was like
we were in the 1980s

I don’t watch tv so I don’t pay. I wouldn’t be happy if they added into something like council tax either.

I love the BBC. I do agree that output is dumbed down when compared to a few decades ago. When living abroad I loved the world service.

Do you watch stuff that requires a licence? Then yes, pay the licence fee. If you don't, then don't. Simple!

Two tier society and dangerous not to have something reliable we can all watch in times of trouble. We'll all come a cropper eventually because of it. Look what kids watch online these days.....and dont tell me mental health amongst the young is good
Thats what you get when viewing is splintered snd ppl don't share exposure to ideas.

Our TV terrestrial channels stopped working a while ago. So we still get Netflix and others. Realised we didn’t really need to fix the source problem (guessing the aerial has broken in the windy weather, or similar). We have the bbc licence still but I expect won’t renew it, we don’t watch iPlayer.

I pay the licence fee as much for the radio as tv.
I enjoy the music festivals on bbc as I’m never going to go to Glastonbury or wherever. I prefer their sports coverage to ITV.
In the past I’ve used BBC Bitesize to help kids revise.
I’m happy to pay as I think when it inevitably changes to subscription only then the service will be slimmed down.

I opted out a couple of years ago. I never watched live TV and have no interest in any of the BBC’s programmes. I filled in a form online and hey presto, no more fee.

The have an annual budget of £5.7 billion and 26% of their costs are spent on salaries. I just don’t believe the public should be forced to fund this. Subscription model just like everyone else.

If the BBC were a more respectable institution, I’d probably pay the fee next year. However they’re a disgrace - Huw Edwards, Phillip Schofield debacles, support for Hamas, no support for women. Etc.