TV License. Who pays it?

[Tulipsroses]

Judging by the variety and quality of the streaming services I always ask my self where are the people that actually pay for TV license? I have never paid non of my friends pay. It is obvious that BBC have lost this game and is sticking to the licence fees as a lifebuoy.

We pay. Love the BBC.

Get yourself along to M and S and fill a shopping trolley and leave- same thing. Stealing. Taking items and not paying for them.

They’re all American. And great series they are.

What about children’s television?
News programmes?
Radio 4?

😂😂😂

I don’t care

I’d lose my job if I did that and was found out.

difference is one is physical items and one is none tangable items so its not straight like for like.

that said i understand your point but back in the day the licence fee was setup to fund the bbc, however considering the various other platforms, broadcasting companies etc, it seems it could be debated that the bbc model is outdated.

ill admit some have been good, eg MI High, then some of the documentaries etc, but then if the bbc had not made them other companies would of made similar eg the Show modern marvels etc is quite good documentary.
the bbc shows although quite a few are excellent, i would not say they are the holy grail of all.

The licence fee funds the best quality journalism, tv, radio, news, podcasts and political services in the world plus a huge educational output. And it's ad-free.

It's not owned by right-wing fascists and we should treasure it- and stop the government controlling it by shoving their right-wing stooges onto the board.

Astonishing how many if you think you should use it and not pay a fee when so many buy the streaming services that are mainly utter shit- Prime, Netflix etc. They are mainly crap or mainstream tv re-runs. The quality is worse every year.

And if you want to watch the others you either pay ir sit through interminable ads every 10 minutes and most of the cable channels are crap.

Oh give over. I remember when DD was studying in the Netherlands she could get BBC channels on the TV in her room (provided by the uni!). No licence to pay as it doesn't exist over there. Actually that year she watched a lot of crap like the One Show, as it was a taste of home, nowadays she doesn't bother, only watches streaming services, and doesn't have an aerial /satellite dish or a licence. Her friends do similar.

Do you think that citizens of the Netherlands are also 'stealing' from the BBC then? Surely something should be done!

The licence is on its way out I'm afraid, it's an outdated concept.

nah, if you record it then its seconds to fast forward the ads, used to do that watching the series town called eureka, x files, star gate etc all great shows or easier what is saved on the tv license, is buy the dvd box sets second hand no ads and great shows.

plus when the bbc are running repeats after repeats then they are not much different

I wonder this too, is it generational? I don't know anyone under 35 who pays for a TV licence. I've never had one (never needed one either before anyone accuses me of stealing TV..), saved thousands over the years.

It's excellent value. I challenge anyone to go without all BBC services for eight weeks, then ask them if they missed it.

My DD is 21 and has a TV licence.

I have gone without all BBC services for years and haven't missed them

That's interesting, maybe it's regional then 🤔 certainly all the people I know in real life, under 35, don't have a TV licence (or the need for one)

All TV completely? Not once watched Channel 4, or flicked on ITV?

Literally all TV. We don't even have an aerial so couldn't flick on ITV even accidentally.

Because it’s better value than the streaming services, which only tend to do certain types of show. And Love Island or Married at First Sight are pretty popular among young people.

It’s generational, there’s lots of stuff about how younger generations use streaming far more than live tv.

Ok, fair enough.

Netflix is cheaper than a TV licence.
Both those shows are available on catch up, you don't need a TV licence to watch ITV catch up or Channel 4 catch up. I don't watch either show but googled them to see what channel they're on 😂

Always pay. It's worth it for TV, radio and the other services like the orchestras, the Singers and the Proms. In fact it's worth it just for radio 4.

As my internet comes fibre to cabinet (direct in my home with no break) and I live in a highly monitored area, I decided it wasn't worth it.

How do you mean? It doesn't matter if you have fibre to the premises, fibre to the cabinet or plain old copper wire all the way from the exchange - they can still trace what comes to your IP address. Whether that IP address is masked/spoofed is a different matter, of course.

I'd have said that your ISP was more relevant in protecting your privacy - if you go for one of the smaller specialist ISPs rather than one of the big ones - and whether you use Google to search and Chrome/Edge as a browser, or one of the more privacy-based ones.

Also, what's a highly monitored area - I'm intrigued to know?!

difference is one is physical items and one is none tangable items so its not straight like for like.

It's still theft, though, if a product that costs money to use is taken and used without payment being made.

You could say similar about bus fares or entry fees for soft play - where it doesn't cost the provider any extra if you are there or not; but it does cost them to provide the facility and the pricing is thus decided based on the number of users who therefore should be paying for it.

If you're the 48th passenger on a 53-seater bus and the other 47 have paid, you won't cost the bus company any extra (except maybe a tiny bit of diesel with the slightly added weight of you and any bags that you have) - but if all of the other 47 people figured the same as you and refused to pay - and this happened on every bus - the bus service would soon go broke and cease to exist.

As for people in the Netherlands, Republic of Ireland and other countries that receive BBC signals, those who take advantage of it probably are not breaking the law, as the UK licence fee has no jurisdiction in their countries.

Then again, no provision will be made for them in terms of the content representing their country/area or being in their language (if not English or another broadcast UK language) - and if they should ever lose the signal owing to the BBC changing their equipment or somehow finding a sophisticated way to restrict their reach to the UK boundaries only, they will have no cause for complaint at all.

Once broadcast TV ends and everything is delivered online - within the next 10 (or even 5) years, I'd guess - there will be no freebies available for anybody. Then again, people who live anywhere in the world will then be able to receive and watch BBC content/other British TV online if they are willing to pay the charged price for it - just like people in the UK can now watch US content if they pay for Netflix, Amazon etc..