Best TV package that doesn't require a license?

According to this story on the BBC news website MP's are suggesting to replace the licence fee with a mandatory charge payable by every UK household whether they watch tv or not.
 
Six6siX said:
If there's a problem with that, then the BBC should enforce the licence for on demand content.
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Yes, yes they should in my opinion, my TV licence goes towards making the programs on iplayer and the cost of the site itself probably, dunno if that's particularly fair, not that is anyway the OP'school fault, it's the fault of the system.
 
pastymuncher said:
According to this story on the BBC news website MP's are suggesting to replace the licence fee with a mandatory charge payable by every UK household whether they watch tv or not.
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That's ridiculous. I can understand compulsory taxation for essential services like police, fire, health, transport, cleaning/sanitation etc. but for an entertainment service? Really? :rolleyes:

Shall we start taxing everyone the cost of a Sky, Virgin, Netflix, Amazon Prime, BT infinity, OnLive, Playstation Plus, xBox Live, etc. subscription as well?

Six6siX said:
If there's a problem with that, then the BBC should enforce the licence for on demand content.
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Exactly. If I want to watch Sky on demand, I have to log in with my Sky account, if I want to watch Netflix, I have to log in with my Netflix account, don't see why the BBC can't set up the same thing for iplayer?
 
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What really gets my goat is that i pay Virgin Media for my TV bundle, They bundle the BBC channels in so why should i then pay a tv licence, Surely VM should pay for it or even better give us the option to scramble those channels.
 
Kermit said:
No, the point is your missing the point :p

BBC content whether live or on demand has to be paid for, if he's not paying £150/yr for it then majority of those that do think its reasonable enough value compared to for example Sky content or PPV have to pay proportionally more.
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Not true. On demand you don't need a TV licence for, if you stream live TV via iPlayer then you need to pay.

Direct quote from the TV licence page:
Watching TV on the internetYou need to be covered by a licence if you watch TV online at the same time as it's being broadcast on conventional TV in the UK or the Channel Islands.
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Do I need a TV Licence if I only ever watch on demand services (e.g. catch-up TV), DVDs or downloaded programmes?
No you don’t. As you’re not watching or recording live TV, you don’t need a licence.

‘Live TV’ means any programme you watch or record at the same time as it’s being shown on TV or an online TV service.

If you only ever watch ‘on demand’ programmes, you don’t need a TV Licence. On demand includes catch-up TV, streaming or downloading programmes after they’ve been shown on live TV, or programmes available online before being shown on TV.
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Haggisman said:
That's ridiculous. I can understand compulsory taxation for essential services like police, fire, health, transport, cleaning/sanitation etc. but for an entertainment service? Really? :rolleyes:
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Replace Entertainment with propaganda in that sentence and it all seems to make a lot more sense as to why the government would want to run an "entertainment service".

All the original justifications hold no weight either, education... well we have the internet, like anything on the bbc is educational these days anyway. News... well we have the internet and many print news sources who are all struggling as well.
 
C35799Gamble said:
Not true. On demand you don't need a TV licence for, if you stream live TV via iPlayer then you need to pay.

Direct quote from the TV licence page:
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You are also missing his point.

When he says "BBC content whether live or on demand has to be paid for" he is saying the BBC (not people who use it) have to fund that feature and they get that money from license fee payers (although in fairness the Beeb probably make far more from their commercial arm).

He is basically saying it is not fair to use iPlayer if you're not prepared to put any money into the BBC via paying for the license. Not that you can't legally use it.
 
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anything I don't mind said:
Replace Entertainment with propaganda in that sentence and it all seems to make a lot more sense as to why the government would want to run an "entertainment service".
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Your constant "herp derp conspiracy theory" spiel starts to wear a bit thing after a while, besides there's far more "propaganda" on the other terrestrial channels without the BBC having to get involved (I'm pretty sure Channel 4 do a "documentary" every other day about benefit scroungers/immigrants/junkies/teenage pregnancy/obese kids etc.).
 
Haha these threads, every single time you have people who think you need a license because you 1: Own a TV and/or 2: use iPlayer.

As others have said about a hundred times before, no you don't.
 
A NowTV box is probably the best bet for a tenner. The Fire TV box doesn't have all the main catchup services yet.
 
estebanrey said:
You are also missing his point.

When he says "BBC content whether live or on demand has to be paid for" he is saying the BBC (not people who use it) have to fund that feature and they get that money from license fee payers (although in fairness the Beeb probably make far more from their commercial arm).

He is basically saying it is not fair to use iPlayer if you're not prepared to put any money into the BBC via paying for the license. Not that you can't legally use it.
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Ah I see, I did indeed miss the point.
 
Colbaker said:
Yes, yes they should in my opinion, my TV licence goes towards making the programs on iplayer and the cost of the site itself probably, dunno if that's particularly fair, not that is anyway the OP'school fault, it's the fault of the system.
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The license is very out dated IMO - I'm happy to pay for the content I consume but there was a time when I was moving around a fair bit and using iplayer (catch up) a fair bit without actually paying for a license because there was simply no mechanism for it covering my lifestyle at the time. I would have happily paid for it none the less.

EDIT: Though these days I only ever watch top gear pretty much, the larger amount of the content is utter trash.
 
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The-Plethora said:
I just use netflix and youtube it's more than enough for me. Also safe in the knowledge that you are not paying towards celebraties abusing children or ridiculously biased news reporting.
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When both the right and left, government and people all complain about the bias nature of bbc news reporting there comes a time when you realise that it must actually be fairly impartial... Certainly moreso than any other media outlet in the UK. ;)
 
Thanks very much for the replies. I think Now TV or Apple TV is what I'm going to go for. The TV is only really used for kids stuff for my son and the missus watches most of the soaps on catch up. Do either of these boxes have anything extra to offer over the usual sevices on a smart tv?
 
Haggisman said:
Your constant "herp derp conspiracy theory" spiel starts to wear a bit thing after a while, besides there's far more "propaganda" on the other terrestrial channels without the BBC having to get involved (I'm pretty sure Channel 4 do a "documentary" every other day about benefit scroungers/immigrants/junkies/teenage pregnancy/obese kids etc.).
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Not everything is a conspiracy theory and it is such a stupid term, I am not the only person who thinks that state media exists for that purpose. Why else would the state want to have an entertainment service? it is to control the narrative of the country. That is the purpose of all public broadcasting, well its not for profit, apparently, like the rest of the entertainment and news services. So what is its purpose?
 
anything I don't mind said:
Not everything is a conspiracy theory and it is such a stupid term, I am not the only person who thinks that state media exists for that purpose. Why else would the state want to have an entertainment service? it is to control the narrative of the country. That is the purpose of all public broadcasting, well its not for profit, apparently, like the rest of the entertainment and news services. So what is its purpose?
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I'd be interested to know how many relatives of MP's work at the bbc
 
reevsy said:
Thanks very much for the replies. I think Now TV or Apple TV is what I'm going to go for. The TV is only really used for kids stuff for my son and the missus watches most of the soaps on catch up. Do either of these boxes have anything extra to offer over the usual sevices on a smart tv?
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What about one of the Android boxes or a raspberry PI? They offer more functionality than Apple/Now TV in terms of TV channels, apps for on demand services, streaming from PC etc as well as XBMC.

May also work out cheaper for more functionality depending on how you do it
 
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