And why is that a bad thing?
I assume you mean in regards to
keeping the failing BBC alive rather than filling Capita’s coffers.
It’s just dumbfounding that people just accept the License Fee, and expect others to do so too. Almost like they cannot step back from their views as the BBC being saintly, or “a British Institution” for a second, to just see how outlandish the TV License scheme really is.
Here we have a system, whereby your details are recorded when purchasing a TV (or were, when I last bought one physically in a store), or they just take a punt and think “well, everyone has a TV, so let’s send letters to this address…”, or…. who knows how they know. I digress. And Capita then start firing letters to you, initially softly, but with a veiled threat that you need to buy a license or else. Ignore at your peril, as these letter will then ramp right up in terms of pressure, and then start the threats of visits etc.
Now, to most people below the age of, say, 65 (a guess) we have a better understanding and will either ignore these letters, or fill out an online form telling Capita we don’t need it. But it still feels like a poor ‘cloak and dagger’ scheme, where we are being strongarmed into buying something we may not need, under the threat of investigation, prosecution etc. And for old folks, or anyone who hasn’t followed the objections to the License, they could be low hanging fruit for Capita, and a nice bit of income for the BBC.
Now I have no idea exactly how much of the license fee goes to the BBC, Capita certainly won’t be doing it out of the kindness of their hearts, so will be taking a chunk; but there’s no smoke without fire as they say - and the general consensus is that the ‘fee’ is predominantly going to fund the BBC. I just think that in this day and age, where people are happily paying for subscriptions to various services, the Beeb ought to be doing the same – and stop grabbing money via a shady “license”.
As others have already pointed out on this thread, the rules for needing a license extend to watching
anything aired live, irrespective of where you are watching – that just seems ****-end up imo! If I decide to pay Jeff Bezos £80 a year for Prime, and Prime has something aired live – why the hell should the BBC expect to be paid? Pretty sure they didn’t lay the network infrastructure that is getting the Prime show into my home…
It ought to be an easy choice – but it just feels like the pressure the BBC put on Capita to collect, and then Capita put onto the punters, makes you feel like you are a criminal for doing absolutely nothing wrong. I won’t get into what the BBC do and do not offer, as I haven’t watched anything live in many years, and only really hear the term “BBC” when people are banging on about how woke they are, or something they re-wrote in history or whatnot; and frankly I cannot be ****ed to fall into that mire.
. I laughed in their face and shut the door. 
