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.

My elderly dad had no TV, internet or phone and got loads of those 'you must be watching it' letters

I think a subscription service is the way to go. I won’t deny that it’s been a great resource over the years, esp when DC were young & I do enjoy some programming, but the license fee is outdated and there’s some incredibly biased reporting going on.

It's like the royalists who splutter about how awful it would be to have President Boris Johnson, Piers Morgan or whoever the worst person they can think of is. They never seem to suggest anybody like Malala Yousafzai, Martin Lewis or any of the countless other much-loved and respected public figures.

But aside from the fact that, if they were elected in, it would mean that the majority had actively chosen them (so that would be real democracy), they always skate over the fact that they could easily be voted out and binned again after four or five years.

Whereas with monarchy, nobody ever gets to vote in the king or queen, and even if somebody took the only (very drastic and absolutely not condoned) way of getting rid of them and assassinated them, we'd still end up with their son or daughter to replace them!

So did my DGM, even though her mental health had deteriorated to a point where the TV and radio frightened her (she believed they were talking directly to her) and she asked us to get rid of them for her.

She was one of the cohort of people over 75 who had previously had free TV licences, but were now being made to pay - and suddenly receiving nasty, threatening letters ordering them to do so or risk prosecution. I never saw any letters gently explaining the change and the new requirements, so this probably added more confusion to vulnerable elderly people.

'Luckily' for her, she was no longer in a position to deal with her own post, so she never actually saw the poisonous letters; but what kind of a system thinks this is a remotely acceptable thing to do?

The people deciding this just don’t think many people don’t engage with the BBC, they are in a complete bubble. The arguments are going to be the same as justifying arts funding. Plus the cost of digital infrastructure and Ofcom will be paid by a licence. Any new contract for anything digital will have a surcharge or licence. I just think it’s the way it’s going to go, no real change to this cosy world.

Why can't the BBC just make content that people are prepared to pay to watch? Instead of forcing people to pay and then putting out content that they think people "should" be watching?

Done

@CuttingNails "saying "I never consume anything from the BBC", still are able to access most of the BBC like radio, sounds, iplayer, website for free"

I don't know about anything, but iPlayer, but iPlayer is not free - you have to have a licence to watch it.

When I ditched my licence, I made a point of deleting the iPlayer login so they could have no argument that I had used it - another thing they accuse people of.

I'm not going to engage with it but the only thing I would say to them is that they need to move to a subscription only model.

I don't have a need for live television - I realise if you're a sports fan then you do need it. I think it's ridiculous that they can cover anybody watching any live TV.

as for the BBC stats, I have no reason to believe their statistics, but are they actually saying that some people are watching live TV? Not the BBC specifically?

The management company in my block of flats said to me that some of the younger people here don't watch any live TV but they paid up because they think they have to. It's really appalling that they're allowed to do this.

imagine if Netflix came after me and said "you cancelled your subscription, but you have to keep paying us in case you ever want to watch it in the future". That is insane.

The BBC model is completely out of date. It was perhaps different when they owned all the transmission infrastructure and there were only five channels to watch, I guess?

they can't argue for it now.

Done!

I always respond to their surveys. We can hardly complain if we don't - just as you can't really moan about the government if you don't vote.

I support the need for the BBC, although I have lots of issues with it.

I'd pay my licence fee for BBC radios 3 and 4 alone, and some of BBC 4.

I hardly watch the telly - I hate bloody celebrities and celebrity travelogues, which seem to make up 80% of the output nowadays. And the same old faces cropping up on every programme...

But their news, current affairs and World Service, as well as children's broadcasting, is vital and wouldn't and couldn't be provided by anyone else int he same way. They should leave the tacky drama to the commercial channels and streaming platforms and stick to what others don't do - the public service stuff.

It’s a national broadcaster, it was always known that some people just wouldn’t watch it. ITV back in the day but now it’s Netflix and YouTube.

The survey is so skewed towards the BBC it’s quite a joke but then again that represents the BBC which is an absolute joke and I have put in comments where possible and appropriate that the license fee should be removed. I wonder why the BBC have hidden this survey from people because I was not aware of it and surely every license we pay should have access to it …. Maybe because this is just another farce of theirs.

Done

Done and put that it should be a subscription service.

I don’t watch any live tv, I don’t listen to the radio or use bbc news.

I shouldn’t be forced to pay via an internet tax or whatever else they might try. The bbc is outdated.

Just wait for the BBC shows to appear on Netflix like they do already

No thanks, I’d be glad to see the back of it. It’s an embarrassment to Britain.

Move away from everyone must have a licence to a subscription service and there would be over 90% of the people watching who's paid to do s. I suppose there will always be some who get something for free.

I ditched Netflix because of this, one time decade old episodes of ITV’s Fat Friends were in the Netflix top 10. I just realised it wasn’t good enough. I just dip in for a month when something seems ok to watch, Adolescence and some true crime was the last time. I can’t keep up with British tv at the moment there seems to be loads of good stuff to watch.

are you sure about that? I just did the survey and nothing in it suggested they were thinking of moving away from the license fee - it was all about how to better enforce it, and then a suggestion that they should keep the license fee AND have a subscriptions service on top which I thought was an absolute joke, talk about having your cake and eating it!

I'm one of those people who don't have a license, haven't for at least 10 years, so I've never watched any live tv or BBC at home, even though it would be very easy to get around. I absolutely would sign up if it was more like netflix or amazon whereby it's easy to cancel and restart on a monthly basis, but the absolute faff of trying to get a refund and then get aggressive letters if you try that with the BBC makes it unrealistic.

I also think it's unfair that a 1 person household pays the same as a 6 people one. In student halls, for example, a hallway of 6 students would have to all buy an individual license - how is that fair? Again, netflix is fairer etc in that way in that you pay more the more devices you use.

It really is.

done

Are they forced?

You are only expected to pay if you use their services, no?

No, that's not true. If you watch or listen to anything live you need a licence.

You may never watch or listen to anything provided by the BBC but you must pay your licence which directly supports it.

If you watch or listen

No. You don’t pay anything if you just listen. The radio and podcasts do not require a licence, nor does watching videos on YouTube

It’s been a while since I filled out the forms but listen to would imply the radio and you don’t need a license to listen to the radio.

The BBC used to be good. But now it's showing its biased liberal-left globalist agenda. Time for it to be funded by subscription only. Let it compete in the open market.