TV Licence Super Thread

[Bumhug]

But if you say the news needs to be paid for by the tax payer then what about BBC Weather

BBC weather will soon be using Met office data again, which is government funded, I get your point but bad example

 

[NetMan]

BBC weather will soon be using Met office data again, which is government funded, I get your point but bad example

Not really if you actually think about it the BBC have weather apps for android and iOS, a weather website and RSS feeds all paid for by the licence payer.

They tendered the contract out some time between 2015-18 to save money and moved from the Met Office to Meteo Group all they are doing now is going back to the Met Office presumably because they won the latest tender.

BBC Weather to ditch the Met Office after 93 years’ service

A cost-saving measure will see data come from a new provider but the Beeb's team of forecasters such as Alex Deakin and John Hammond are expected to stay on screen

www.radiotimes.com

Why ‘gloomy’ BBC Weather app is about to become more accurate

The broadcaster may stop erring on the side of caution so much when it switches back to using the Met Office, say experts

inews.co.uk

 

[Nasher]

BBC weather will soon be using Met office data again, which is government funded, I get your point but bad example

Soon the BBC will want people to pay the license fee to check the weather.

Anyway, whatever they have been using since 2015 has been rubbish. They are probably swiching back because people stopped using them. I never rely on the BBC for accurate weather.

 

[413x]

BBC weather is dire. Anyone who watches the met office youtube channels will know how good met office weather is.

If I'm doing anything outdoors I will watch the video from the met office.

Also, their deep dives are incredible for anyone interested in meteorology. Really technical stuff

 

[Maple Leaf]

They do make money from some of their content things like Top Gear and Dr Who are sold / licenced to platforms outside the UK.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8101/

says 65% of their income is from the licence fee

Good. Then they can expand their commercial operations and scrap the regressive TV license. £180 a year is not a trivial amount of money for everyone. Weirdly, they still do a £60.50 per year black & white TV license. (That's as archaic as having a tick-box on the Census form if you still use an outside toilet!)

But if you say the news needs to be paid for by the tax payer then what about BBC Weather, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Radio, all the archive footage they have etc...

There is a reasonable case for making the BBC's news, historical education and political coverage taxpayer funded. Although, in the USA, PBS (15% funded by the taxpayer) and C-SPAN (not at all funded by the taxpayer) fulfil the last two roles. C-SPAN focuses primarily on live coverage of the House of Representatives, C-SPAN2 is dedicated to airing the live proceedings of the Senate and C-SPAN3 airs other federal government hearings, public policy events and educational historical programming.

However, BBC radio, arts, documentaries, entertainment etc should be paid for with subscriptions, advertising and commercial sponsorship deals. This isn't the 1940s or 50s, they shouldn't be using government coercion to pay for "Strictly Come Dancing" etc in this day-and-age.

It's not going to be a simple job to pick it all apart and if the BBC News was funded directly from Gov then there are going to be people complaining that its no longer independent.

But the UK Government already decides how much money the BBC receives from the TV license. The amount is decided by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. TV license revenue goes directly into the government's Consolidated Fund. They then pass the collected revenue back to the BBC as a grant.

BBC News was heavily whipped by the government after the last Iraq war due to its coverage of that. They were able to bring pressure to bear on the BBC using the current system of funding.

There isn't a simple solution and I think eventually they are going to make it harder for people that don't watch live streams to opt out.

They will if we let them because they want the gravy train to keep on rolling! People in the UK are too passive. Can you imagine the outcry if people in the USA were ordered to pay $240 a year to watch live TV broadcasts? They would be out on the streets!

 

[Smeghead]

The way BBC weather splits days at 06:00 instead of the universally accepted 00:00 drives me up the wall.

 

[silversurfer]

Its NYC time midnight almost, newfoundland. Just move and it'd work, kinda

 

[jpaul]

Unless you are nocturnal weather starting at daybreak/6am is useful, for planning outdoor running and cycling in the UK having an accurate 2hour rain forecast +/-5miles invaluable
plus less acurate 24 hour cast and week cast, I use a couple of european sites,
can't seem to get that in the UK for free, the data fro the accurate models is licensed.

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BBC have temporary reprieve on scandalsa with channel 4 now mired in sexual scandal on married at first site reality show, exposed by the bbc/panorama.
that kind of programme and love island (already castigated) seem to be something streamers haven't yet engaged in, because it's localised I guess.
so not enough profit ... viewers perversely like american series' but wouldn't want to watch love island / bake-off .... from another culture.