To say if you care about the future of the BBC, then please complete the public consultation survey by midnight tonight!

[CuttingNails]

I personally believe that the BBC is an incredible asset and should be protected at all costs.
I watch, listen and read a huge amount of content across TV, radio, and online services. Content that is often not available anywhere else. I am more than happy to pay my license fee.

If you have a spare 30 mins and want to have a say about the BBCs future, then the public consultation survey closes at midnight tonight (10 Mar).

dcms.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9EOcvcDvkNu8c9E

I remember when the BBC created all that wonderful, educational BBC bitesize content for our children over the covid lockdowns. It really helped us through it all. We certainly didn't see Netflix or Disney+ doing anything like that. That is what sets the BBC apart - we all pay for it and so it is a truly public service.

in this day and age what is the true purpose of the bbc ?

And the problem is that everyone is comparing the BBC to a streaming service like Netflix!

Netflix does a tiny percentage of what the BBC achieves. But people don't realise all the things the BBC does for them, it's far far more than TV shows.

It is a public service that feeds into many areas of public life.

I agree that the license fee for watching live TV is outdated. I almost think it should be a means tested tax that everyone has to pay, with those most able to pay more and the poorest to pay less. It's a public service and should be funded as such.

The BBC now shows a ridiculous number of adverts between programmes. Even if most of them are for its other programmes or content, they're still adverts.

To be fair, we signed up to Channel 4 Plus (or whatever it's called), with the promise of no adverts, but they too show adverts (for their own programmes) regardless, even if you pay, so we're probably going to stop subscribing... BUT we have a choice to pay or not to pay if we do/don't think the service is worth it to us.

Surely you don't really believe that the BBC is free of bias or agenda; or that everything that it tells you is the 100% categorical truth?

Nobody can really say apart from we will all apparently miss it when its gone thats a collective " we " from the fans.

That is why they have the "other" option which gives a free speech box to elaborate other ideas...

People dont know whats good for them?
Well thats an extremely patronising view ,and please tell me what exactly the BBC does for us that we should all have to pay?

In the face of AI slop, BBC is hugely important.

Surely you don't really believe that the BBC is free of bias or agenda; or that everything that it tells you is the 100% categorical truth?

No - read the first sentence of the post you quoted.

Can someone confirm that this is all legit - it seems a weird web address. Why is it .eu?

Yes I’m aware, no need for those ellipses...

A questionnaire shouldn’t be that loaded. It shows what outcome the BBC and gov want already.

yet how was the bbc important before ai ?

I agree.
I don't consume any BBC products. I don't watch any TV and despise the BBC prosecuting citizens.
People on here on threads about the fee they threaten people into paying (I refuse to call it a 'licence') act shocked and reel off a load of BBC stuff they refuse to believe many people don't consume 😄

Investigative journalism for one. For example who blew up the four apartments in Russia weeks before Putin was elected.

I’m happy to pay because I watch Strictly, Call the Midwife, the odd drama series, rugby and tennis and I occasionally watch Jason Mohammad’s football programme on a Saturday.

But they need to stop the threatening letters to people who choose not to watch. It is not compulsory and no other service sends you letters out of the blue asking for money. They’re overstepping.

The BBC can only survive because UK households are compelled (under fear of fines) to pay for it. No thanks!

I switched to on demand TV only, a couple of years ago and cancelled my licence. Happy to keep it that way. If others want to ‘protect it at all costs’, they can pay for it themselves.

I think, OP, your arguments about the BBC are similar in principle to those of the die-hard royal family supporters. Because they are ardent (no Edward-based pun intended) supporters, they just can't fathom that others don't feel the same and it leads to a kind of national Stockholm syndrome whereby any change to how it's been for their whole lives is terrifying to even countenance.

This might sound a weird analogy, but it also reminds me of the anachronistic practice of tipping in restaurants (in the UK; I can't speak for other countries and cultures), whereby people are conditioned to call anybody who wants an all-in clearly agreed price for their meal a tightwad and, if they're honest, the simple reason that they are so firmly in favour of doing it without any question, and berating anybody who questions it, is because they've always done it without questioning it.

Done it, but I couldn't find the box to ask why they will allow someone to claim it's night-time at midday (for their BBC all-sides take) even when they can see the sun out of the window.

Done, thanks for the reminder.

YABVVU. BBC reporting is dire, completely biased and the majority of their output is recycled or just rubbish, in my opinion. They should go the way of the Dodo...and don't get me started on the way they ruthlessly pursue and try to enforce the licence on vulnerable people. Absolutely disgusting and immoral.

I haven't had a licence in years (I don't watch any BBC output as a matter or principle) and think they should go subscription-only. Surely those that want to watch the BBC should put their money where their mouths are and pay more for it, not expect others who don't watch the BBC to subsidise them?

Apologies, I was focusing on your closing statement about other broadcasters and content providers - "Nothing you can be sure is even fact" - but I realise that you did make some Schrödinger-style statements in the same post! Either you think the BBC is perfect or you don't; but it can't be both.

And you may well disagree with me, but I don't accept the idea that all of their failures are down to genuine mistakes or accidents and are not frequently baked in to their very being and agenda.

Thanks OP. Happy to tell them that I will never pay a licence fee ever again after experiencing how they treat people who haven't bought a licence fee, with no evidence they're watching anything they'd need a licence for.

No other business on this earth starts from a position of presuming you're stealing their product and then tries to send threatening letters, showing up at your day, bullying vulnerable people, to try squeeze money out of them.

One of the questions in the survey is about moving away from the license fee for watching live TV. One idea is to make you login to iplayer with your TV licence details, which seems perfectly reasonable. Would be the sane for BBC Sounds I imagine.

What I like about the BBC in its current form is that all these posters who are saying "I never consume anything from the BBC", still are able to access most of the BBC like radio, sounds, iplayer, website for free - any they may suddenly find something amazing that they really enjoy and that changes their mind.
If the BBC moved to some kind of subscription then there would be no more happy accidents of people just happening to come across great content organically.
It happens to me constantly every time I listen to Radio 4. I can't believe the breadth and depth of programmes on there - there is always something interesting to listen to, and you find all sorts of hidden jems when you are not trying to.

I don't think the BBC is perfect, I simply think it tries harder to be perfect than anyone else. Yes it fails often, but that is better than not trying at all.

Thanks very much for the link, OP. I've filled it in.

Apart from anything else, we should value the BBC because it does have this requirement to seek public input conscientiously and effectively.

I'm often angered by the BBC, but I keep a strong sense of its potential value, if adequate funding and independence can be maintained. We need a bastion against algorithms, tech billionaires, commercial pressures and low-quality slop from AI and influencers.

Many many posters are taking about "harrasing and bullying vulnerable people into paying the licence fee".

The fact is that it is the law that those who watch live TV must pay, and currently the BBC stats say that 90% of people are accessing BBC services, but only 80% are paying. That's not fair is it? And it shows that the "I never use the BBC" posters are in a minority of 10%.