Why pay for a TV licence ?

Moonpie2

Moonpie2

Moonpie2

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I've just been thinking, does 100% of the TV licence go towards funding the BBC ?
If that's the case, why on earth does everybody in the country have to pay for just one company's broadcasting/production overheads ?
Why doesn't ITV CH4 CH5 get a slice of this cash ?

If 100% of it doesn't go towards the BBC, are we essentially just paying for the right to watch telly ?
Even when satelite owners already pay a certain ammount per month for the privalige of watching telly.

So many questions....
 
Well if what you said about bbc getting the money is true.. then fair enough because they dont broadcast adverts :p
 
Because ITV, CH4 etc. have adverts? I'd much rather pay a licence fee than watch those bloody adverts :)
I think you get a pretty good deal for the licence, I think there's already been a debate on it. It all goes to BBC funding, but it's not just BBC1 and BBC2, it's obviously stuff like Radio 4 - Gotta love their comedy stuff.
 
Kind of annoys me to be honest. I don't even want to watch BBC programs. if I could somehow have it so I couldn't recieve BBC broadcasts and not have to pay their fees, I'd be happy with that.
 
jidh007 said:
Because ITV, CH4 etc. have adverts? I'd much rather pay a licence fee than watch those bloody adverts :)
I think you get a pretty good deal for the licence, I think there's already been a debate on it. It all goes to BBC funding, but it's not just BBC1 and BBC2, it's obviously stuff like Radio 4 - Gotta love their comedy stuff.
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While I agree the BBC is well worth the cash I do object to this system. They're essentially taxing TV even though there's no guarentee that anyone wants to have their channels, I suspect that most people do... but it's just the principal of the thing (there's a cliche I hoped I'd never use).

It would be like me setting up a toll booth in front of McDonalds and charging people to go in even though I have nothing to do with McDonalds.


The trouble is I'm not sure there's anyway to fix it. If the licence fee became optional then they'd have to start broadcasting encrypted tv and radio channel and make their website a paid member site. People would need decoders/new tvs and new car radios.

There's also the risk that too many people would stop paying and the optional licence fee would get much higher, possibly even to the point where the BBC shuts down or more likely would be bought out by Sky, heh.
 
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The BBC strikes me as great value for money and io use a hackneyed phrase "it keeps the other channels honest". I've been to the US, Canada and Australia and their TV sucks and I'm convinced that is in part due to the fact the BBC is freer of financial constraints and can afford to make the prgrams they want so the other channels have to innovate to keep up and cannot reduce quality to improve their margins.
 
fatiain said:
Can. Open. Worms. Everywhere.
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And even the right order/words/combination. Someone got it totally wrong the other day.. and i just wasnt happy.. im still recovering!
 
PlacidCasual said:
The BBC strikes me as great value for money and io use a hackneyed phrase "it keeps the other channels honest". I've been to the US, Canada and Australia and their TV sucks and I'm convinced that is in part due to the fact the BBC is freer of financial constraints and can afford to make the prgrams they want so the other channels have to innovate to keep up and cannot reduce quality to improve their margins.
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yeah, at least we have the option of watching a quality program as well as complete trash on the other channels.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/licencefee/
 
Well I can only compare the tv with Greece, unfortunately the tv back home is filled with Brazilian soap operas, man do they suck! But there are a few movies you can watch, some good talk shows, and there are a lot of channels to watch on freeview, around 50 or so if you put the small stations in as well.
Now, the tv here has some good points and some really awful ones, why on earth are there sharkloan's comercials all the time? Get out of debt by paying even more and risking losing your house, hooray!

Anyway, the landlord pays for our licence, so I don't really care.
 
TO be honest I used to think the BBC Licence fee was a rip off tax, then I started realising that I use the BBC a lot more than I realised, their website is top notch, not just the news side, the radio beats the hell out of local commercial radio (with the exception of Radio 1, which is tosh!!) and to top it off, their TV broadcast is excellent.

Just imagine if there was no BBC or licence fee, ITV and C4/5 would have no competition and would broadcast naff tv, as it stands, they are in the position where they have to always "keep" up with BBC.
 
Just to quote a few pertinent posts...

fatiain said:
Can. Open. Worms. Everywhere.
Click to expand...
Nix said:
I think this thread had been done before.
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I believe a portion goes to Channel 4 as well, but most goes to the BBC.

Frankly, having seen several other countries' TV output, I'm glad we have the BBC, and I know people from other countries who get syndicated BBC programming and say the same.

BBC TV, BBC News 24, BBCi, BBC radio. I watch/listen/use them all, so I've no objections (well, not yet, anyway).

And as for those who say they don't watch/listen/use any of the above, I challenge you to say what you think is so bad about BBC programming.
 
Hi,

the goverment did renew bbc's term, we're stuck with the licence for a few years yet. I do think however, that this is the last time the licence term will be renewed.

Thanks
Raja
 
Moonpie2 said:
If that's the case, why on earth does everybody in the country have to pay for just one company's broadcasting/production overheads ?
Click to expand...

Because it's goverment backed, if you don't pay the tax, they will take you to court and fine you.
 
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