BBC licence fee could be means tested everyone pays regardless of whether or not they own a telev

antijoke · 16 Jul 2015 at 07:45

Now Top Gear is done, can they not ditch it and just spam the station with ads.

I sky+ all my shows anyway so fast forward ads.

Ekim · 16 Jul 2015 at 08:04

Kronos said:
Oh I can feel a Freedom of Information request to get the BBC to disclose how it arrives at seemingly high and implausible figure of 97% of UK adults using BBC services.

Just looked at the report, the source of the 97% figure is from the BBC Cross Media Insight Survey.
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/annualreport/pdf/2014-15/bbc-annualreport-201415.pdf (Page 31 of the PDF - 27 of the actual document.)

Cross-Media Insight (CMI) is a BBC survey designed to look at consumption across a wide range of media, including television, radio and online. The survey is designed to be a single-source measurement system to sit alongside industry measurement sources such as BARB (television) and RAJAR (Radio). It has been running since March 2008 and is administered by GfK NOP. CMI is a weekly survey of 500 respondents, 450 of whom are on-line and 50 who are recruited offline so the total sample is designed to be representative of the UK by age, sex, social grade and region. In addition, the results are weighted to known proportions in the population so that the results are reliable at a total level and are not subject to sampling fluctuations. Each respondent answers the CMI survey for a week – they fill in a daily questionnaire which identifies the TV programmes they have watched, the radio stations they have listened to and the websites they have visited across a wide range of channels, both BBC and non-BBC.

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthe...y/pdf/context_document_january_march_2013.pdf (Page 12)

arknor · 16 Jul 2015 at 08:05

asim18 said:
That's not what it says though. It says the BBC can "reach" 97% of adults.

Basically if the BBC started using carrier pigeons to spread propaganda to all the people who cant go to bbc.co.uk, don't have a satellite, etc., the figure would jump to 100%.

where does it say can?

This year’s Annual Report shows that in 2014/15:
-97 per cent of UK adults used BBC services on TV, radio or online each week, up from 96 per cent the previous year.

Efour · 16 Jul 2015 at 08:09

Here comes the freakshow

Xordium · 16 Jul 2015 at 08:12

I'd happily pay if the BBC reverted back to actually doing the news properly and produced proper educational programmes other than the utter dross they shovel out. Till that time they can f off.

And why should the poor pay less for TV - maybe make them more so they get off their arses from watching TV and get a proper bloody job. Lazy scrounging so and so's.

russell664 · 16 Jul 2015 at 08:14

Nope, BBC TV is pants IMHO of course.

[TW]Fox · 16 Jul 2015 at 08:15

arknor said:
I'm calling BS how would they even know that? is it even possible?

It's fairly likely to be true though.

I would imagine if you asked 100 people whether in the last year they had watched a BBC television show, used the BBC website or heard any BBC radio station almost all of them would say yes.

Plus don't forget the important contribution the BBC makes in providing yet something else for the anti-everything brigade to whinge about.

Dark_Injection · 16 Jul 2015 at 08:23

This is how it is in Germany.

They collared me for over 400 euro. Man it sucks so much, at the time I didn't even have the internet, let alone a tele.

Haggisman · 16 Jul 2015 at 08:48

I agree with this proposal.

I reckon everyone earning over £50k should also have to pay a tax towards providing me with 10Gb internet to my house.

While we're at it, who are we going to tax to pay for my porn ppv?

Meanwhile, back to reality - personally I don't mind, as long as it doesn't cost me more than the current license.

However in principle I think this is a ridiculous idea - how on earth can it be justified to force people to pay for a non-essential entertainment service that they don't use?

Are we going to start taxing people to pay for everyone to have football season tickets, annual cinema passes and skiing holidays as well? :rolleyes:

anything I don't mind · 16 Jul 2015 at 09:27

I would pay for the bbc if it was like cspan. Book reviews and politics. I'll never pay for that mind numbing pantomime bs like the voice. It should be a subscription. Fully voluntary.

Those percentages that bbc released were non sense.

gobbo · 16 Jul 2015 at 09:29

[TW]Fox;28317613 said:
Plus don't forget the important contribution the BBC makes in providing yet something else for the anti-everything brigade to whinge about.

Daily Mail would have to rethink at least 2 of it's weekly headlines though, think of the journalists!

shadow_boxer · 16 Jul 2015 at 09:31

Meh, not going to happen. To be fair I do watch some BBC programmes but I wish they could just have two quality HD channels with a good mix of programmes for everyone and trim down the number of radio stations and their bloated website.

ron3003 · 16 Jul 2015 at 09:49

Doesn't bother me as I've always paid the licence.
This 'everyone pays' stuff was bound to happen eventually as too many people are pretending they're not viewing live tv when we all know they actually are. Telnefit scroungers

arknor · 16 Jul 2015 at 09:57

pfft some of us dont watch live tv rubbish or british tv on catchup

netflix > bbc

any bbc programmes on netflix , netflix paid for the right.

tv license gtfo

Adsta · 16 Jul 2015 at 10:03

tbh the UK is stuck behind the times with stuff like this. Well not stuck behind the times but companys will make the most of "free" income given to them under government rule. It's stupid. Same goes for the whole line rental thing to have internet.... even if you do not want a landline phone and JUST want internet, you still got to pay BT for that line rental because well you know.... BT own the line. It's so stupid.

When I lived in Brussels they had none of this. If you wanted TV services you paid for it, if you did not want TV services you did not pay for it. Simples. Same for internet, you want internet you pay for internet, you do not need to pay for a line rental just for the privilege of having internet thrown on top of your bill.

CyZMyAssBaby · 16 Jul 2015 at 10:09

Adsta said:
tbh the UK is stuck behind the times with stuff like this. Well not stuck behind the times but companys will make the most of "free" income given to them under government rule. It's stupid. Same goes for the whole line rental thing to have internet.... even if you do not want a landline phone and JUST want internet, you still got to pay BT for that line rental because well you know.... BT own the line. It's so stupid.

If you wanted TV services you paid for it, if you did not want TV services you did not pay for it. Simples. Same for internet, you want internet you pay for internet, you do not need to pay for a line rental just for the privilege of having internet thrown on top of your bill.

I am in agreement. The license fee should come to an end. If people want the service then payment can be made. BBC should fall in line with other TV companies and advertise for revenue. It is about time this old out of date system associated with this service comes to an end. I pay for the TV license, yet I do not watch any of the channels provided by the BBC due to poor programming. The license should be abolished, the sooner the better.

CaptainRAVE · 16 Jul 2015 at 10:14

The sooner we get rid of this nonsense fee and the bbc introduce adverts the better. The only thing I watch on the bbc is Wimbledon, and tbh the sooner that goes elsewhere the better, the coverage this year was terrible.

adolf hamster · 16 Jul 2015 at 10:15

The BBC is ad-free, which is something to consider over the dreariness of watching a 1.5 hour film last 2 hours because it has to have an ad break badly edited in to it every 5 minutes.

I dont bother watching live stuff any more because its far easier to just record and skip the ads.

Adsta · 16 Jul 2015 at 10:22

adolf hamster said:
The BBC is ad-free, which is something to consider over the dreariness of watching a 1.5 hour film last 2 hours because it has to have an ad break badly edited in to it every 5 minutes.

I dont bother watching live stuff anymore because its far easier to just record and skip the ads.

Or like use something like Netflix, pay for a service get what you pay for. Very little adds and no interruptions to your stream, none of this having to "wait until 8pm" for the movie to start. Do people still really watch movies purely through "live TV" ?
Even my parents use Netflix and streaming media. Heck even my grandparents use Netflix !!

ubersonic · 16 Jul 2015 at 10:25

matdom said:
He will consider plans for a new means tested levy to be paid by better-off taxpayers based on their annual income – regardless of whether or not they own a television.

Click to expand...

so even if you don't own a TV or watch live TV, how undemocratic of this country.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc...d-under-Government-charter-renewal-plans.html

So basically, the rich are going to pay the licence fee for everyone, the poor get to watch for free, and people still whine lol.