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.

I can't understand why they haven't done this either.

I haven’t paid for a few years. I don’t watch live tv or iplayer so no need and I refuse to voluntarily support the propaganda machine.

We pay. DH works in a creative industry and has done work for the BBC in the past.

Rarely watch anything on BBC (Sewing Bee aside) but value so much of its other work.

It has flaws yes, but worth paying for.

Question- do you need to pay the licence fee if you watch live TV full stop, or only if you watch BBC?

Literally all we watch on live TV is coronation st on ITV

No, that is the single grossly unfair part of it - that you are required to pay for a TV licence, which goes entirely to the BBC, in order to watch ANY live TV, even if you have no interest in BBC programmes whatsoever.

It's the equivalent of being forced to pay Tesco for a home delivery subscription because you sometimes get food delivered by Asda.

Maybe it harks back to a time when it would have been inconceivable that anybody with a TV wouldn't regularly watch BBC programmes - even if they watched 'light stuff' on ITV sometimes as well - but now, instead of being the 'mainstay' of British TV broadcasting, the BBC is just one of a great many high quality options.

It doesn't help that, previously, the alternatives to the BBC were all free (funded by advertising, but there's never any compulsion to buy any of the advertised products) - but now you have to pay a monthly subscription for most of the options, I can see why people would object to it.

Essentially, I think it's one of those things that we've just always done, the 'reason' being because we've just always done it - but it's become more and more untenable as the years go by.

I paid for the first time this year. I watched a few episodes of something on iPlayer without thinking and got increasingly threatening communication. I didn't know you could pay monthly so have paid for a whole year and will probably just watch one or two series!

We have had a TV licence for years and years, and no intention to stop paying it. We watch TV regularly, live or on catch up - plenty of excellent stuff which Netflix etc doesn't necessarily give you.

DS doesn't have one, but then he never watches live TV. He can't see the point of it, and that attitude is pretty common amongst his age group. So yes, I think there is a slight generational aspect to it. Although I'm not quite in the "black & white TV" age group, thanks. 😒

I have always paid, but considering not paying it next year. It's getting really expensive and we don't watch live TV, we have netflix and prime, the DC watch YouTube.

We did use it when DC were younger and liked cbeebies. I could really do with the extra £170 or whatever it is a year. The other streaming services are much better value.

I can understand people not paying as a protest, but it's hypocritical to then continue watching any BBC funded content.

As to the statement that others can pay - always a surprise when people are proud of their dubious morals. Is it an upbringing thing? I wasn't brought up like that so can only guess.

I do

I pay it. I simply don't believe that non payers be never watch BBC TV. I think they're liars.

I pay because I do watch stuff on the bbc and iplayer, listen to the radio/sounds while I'm working etc. It's not cheap but actually for the range of services provided it's pretty good.

However I do think they need to move with the times and drastically rethink the funding model. Maybe introduce different packages for different levels of service with a free package that just covers the basic public service stuff.

😂😂😂

It’s possible to live differently than you, you know.

I'm guessing a lot of it is people who want to watch live sport? That's what we kept ours for, for a bit (DH likes football) but then he was watching less and less (partly because we now have kids, partly because he started working funny shifts) and he decided he was happy to stop rather than pay what really worked out as a huge amount per game.

I'd happily do without streaming services as well, but DH likes lots of what's on Disney+ so we do have that, and we have Amazon Prime for the free delivery so occasionally use that to watch something, though I don't think we'd pay out for it just for streaming.

I think we're very low consumers of video content though - DH probably the most and I reckon he's less than 10 hours a week even on a week where he's watched a lot. The kids watch none and I watch something one evening a week (with DH).

No. I haven't watched anything on live TV for almost 5 years and don't intend to.
I'm not interested in talent shows,drag queens,cookery shows,antique shows,soaps or quiz shows,so it's of no use to me.

I don't pay and don't watch the BBC (although love radio 4 which doesn't count for the fee). I'll never forget just before graduating uni with a journalism degree years ago, our full class got the amazing opportunity of an interview at the BBC. We all went together and... shock horror, only my privately educated classmates were selected for a role. The BBC lost my respect from that point and I don't feel it represents me or people with a normal state school, less than perfect background like mine.

Four channels from 1982 and five from 1997. And more if you had a Squarial!

I do. We watch lots on i-player. I don't pay for any additional streaming services.

I pay for it. I’m not interested in sport, so that’s not a factor for me. It’s worth every penny, and I like the radio too. You also need a licence if you watch ITV or Channel 4, etc. It’s for any programme on any channel that you watch while it is being broadcast. It’s not just for a “live” TV programme.

Don't forget the wonders of cable TV if you lived in an area that had it!

The letters they send out if you haven’t got a license are appalling

I pay it. I watch a lot of BBC and listen radio

You can pay monthly, but you have to buy the whole year's licence. Even if you only want to watch one programme, your legal options are to either pay for the whole year or not watch that programme.

Maybe that could be a way forward - with the BBC allowing people to just subscribe for a month or two - but they would probably argue that many of their programmes are available for a year on iPlayer, so you could effectively still watch much of the content from the time when you didn't subscribe.

Also, massive things like the Coronation wouldn't have only cost the BBC 1/365th of their annual budget, so they might see it as cherry-picking in refusing to pay for the summers of repeats as well.

Plus, the other content providers have full control over it, so if you stop paying NetFlix, they simply withdraw their service from you; but the more nuanced way the BBC works, that's not such a realistic proposition for them.

No, that’s wrong. It’s for all TV channels, not counting the streaming services. And it’s not just for “live” programmes like the coronation or news or sport. It’s for all programmes that you watch as they are broadcast. So you need a licence to watch Coronation Street on ITV.

Thanks. I stand corrected.

They are kinder if you don't have a licence.