BBC and the TV licence fee.

[petercj]

Do you think there is any justification for carrying on with the BBC TV Licence fee?

Apart from the current mess-up over wrongly accusing people of being paedophiles which has cost around a £1000.000, the programs are generally pretty poor, and if you want a broad and rounded view of the latest News, then Sky News does much better than the BBC.

Nearly all of the programs that the BBC claim are popular are made by private companies and not the BBC - Master Chef, for example, is made by a company owned by Murdoch's daughter.

Since Greg Dyke was bounced out as DG because the BBC upset the Government of the day by telling the truth, BBC News has been far from independent and objective, and has become a mouth-piece for the Government of the day.

The TV Licence fee is basically a tax on the right to receive live broadcasts whether they are by commercial channels or otherwise. Is it time to give people a choice of paying the licence fee IF they want to watch BBC programs, but if not, be free to legally access commercial channels through Sky or other providers?

I don't mind commercial breaks when watching TV as they provide an opportunity to put the kettle on, or take a quick comfort break.

If adverts do annoy people, then SKY Plus allows you to skip them if following the program 5 minutes behind live time.

Had the Licence fee not been frozen over the last few years, it would no doubt be approaching £200 p.a., so are you so dedicated to the BBC and the way it is funded that you are happy to pay out that kind of money in future years?

 

[jtsplumbing]

Agree with what you say, program quality as got worse, I would be quite happy to have BBC disconnected from what i watch, pay enough to sky without paying for the rubbish that the BBC have started to put out.

 

[on31ll]

i agree totally i dont see the point really i dont really watch bbc. i dont even know how much the tv licence is at the moment off the top of my head but like above i pay £80 a month already for sky ! its stupid but without the licence fee then i guess there will be no freeview tv ?

 

[Tierney]

Match of the Day is worth the money lol!

 

[petercj]

The Government has now frozen the fee at £145.50 until the end of the current BBC Charter period in 2016.

Freeview has been a long time coming for many people, and as the future is broadband TV, probably on a pay-to-view basis, it's debatable whether such a long-term program was ever worth embarking on. Would have made more sense for the Government to have invested in getting BT exchanges up to spec so that they could have coped with BBTV some years ago, as France has done for example.

The BBC prepared for BBTV by developing iPlayer, and Murdoch got into providing Sky BB for his customers at low cost so that he'd have his customers set up for the rolling out of BBTV. Love him, or hate him, Murdoch is one smart cookie when it comes to business.

 

[zzzjim]

BBC English is something to be proud of all over the world , do we want to dismiss our colonial past .

Just re write history like the Americans !

Not everyone can afford Sky , nor does everyone want adverts every 20 mins !

 

[Howsie]

BBC News urinates all over they sky hyped up rubbish.

 

[SimonG]

BBC News, Match of the Day, Doctor Who and that's about it.

 

[mountainman]

I think that Sky is overpriced nonsense with the occasional gem.
BBC is much better value IMO.

 

[Millsy 82]

I think that Sky is overpriced nonsense with the occasional gem.
BBC is much better value IMO.

Sky is well overpriced for watching repeat after repeat. The only thing I liked about sky was the sports channels. I think the licence fee is worth it just for the radio channels I couldnt listen to commercial stations all day it would drive me bonkers and they play a good variety of music on radio 1 and 2