Why pay for a TV licence ?

[barnettgs]

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....

TV licence is only £120 per year and you get BBC services almost everywhere - internet, radio and tv with little advertising (eg in comparison to US).

When they announced a small fee increase, there were uproar yet people paying thousands of pounds per year in stealth taxes such as council tax, fuel etc.

 

[Mic]

At least you get the bbc, we get the biggest pile of crap ever, Rte. We DO get ads! Although we get bbc on sky

 

[*Moangroan*]

Wasn't it just on the news the other day that it will no longer be a licience fee and something like a viewing tax.....I cant remember the exact name of the tax but specifically renamed a tax.

 

[Stretch]

Because ITV, CH4 etc. have adverts? I'd much rather pay a licence fee than watch those bloody adverts

Then start you own subscription TV channel. The fact is there is no choice. If you don't mind the adverts you still need a TV license.

 

[Moonpie2]

I'd much rather have the BBC paid for by adverts and keep my cash.
But then again, I quite like adverts

I am kinda annoyed at the fact I am paying for something I may or may not use though.
Its like making carless people buy a tax disc just incase they decide to get a car that year

 

[Berserker]

Adverts suck, but then that's why the PVR was invented.

Mind you, I just hope we don't end up the same as the Americans. They cram them in almost to the point that there's more advert than TV program. Sometimes I think Sky is heading the same way.

 

[hogfather]

these days i barely atch anything but the bbc - some C4, but no ITV or C5 - both are awful imo.


BBC are consistantly excellent, and for that reason I pay my license fee without a complaint

 

[Space Cowboy]

I believe a portion goes to Channel 4 as well, but most goes to the BBC.

It entirely goes to the BBC. Channel 4 is publically owned, but funded commercially.

It's also worth mentioning that the BBC has lots of commerical activities such as selling programme concepts and DVDs, which also subsidise the cost. The World Service is separately funded, mostly by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and part of this funding goes towards the BBC News website.

Shouldn't this thread be a sticky or something?!

 

[Stretch]

these days i barely atch anything but the bbc - some C4, but no ITV or C5 - both are awful imo.


BBC are consistantly excellent, and for that reason I pay my license fee without a complaint

But why could you not just pay a subscription and leave those that don't watch the bbc to pay for what they want to watch. It's only fair that people pay for their own services. The bbc is the only thing I can think off that works this way and it's outdated and unjust imo.

 

[Behemoth]

Can. Open. Worms. Everywhere.

Agreed. Don't think much else really needs to be said.

 

[Sequoia]

But why could you not just pay a subscription and leave those that don't watch the bbc to pay for what they want to watch. It's only fair that people pay for their own services. The bbc is the only thing I can think off that works this way and it's outdated and unjust imo.

Is it any more unjust than expecting couples without children to pay tax that funds education .... or the Children's tax credit system?

It's the way government services are generally provided - they raise funds and provide a service we are all entitled to use. Whether you actually do use it or not is up to you. And the BBC's mandate is, after all, to provide public service television, with core elements including education, culture and news reporting, as well as entertainment.

 

[stoofa]

I think this thread had been done before.

It has - usually weekly although this particular one may have moved to a fortnightly slot instead.

*Waits patiently for the "I don't pay for a license because I rox and I'm cool" posts where people tell us exactly what they "would do" should somebody come to the door and ask to see their TV license.
I say "would do" because we are all aware of the bravado of the keyboard warrior*

 

[Stretch]

Is it any more unjust than expecting couples without children to pay tax that funds education .... or the Children's tax credit system?

It's the way government services are generally provided - they raise funds and provide a service we are all entitled to use. Whether you actually do use it or not is up to you. And the BBC's mandate is, after all, to provide public service television, with core elements including education, culture and news reporting, as well as entertainment.

If the government deems it necessary to provide public service television then there’s no reason why private companies could not bit for contracts. And people saying they don't like adverts is laughable. The bbc uses at leased as much of its schedule for showing non program content as ITV and channel 4.

 

[Roduga]

Spend a lot of time out of the UK and you will understand why it's good to pay for it. BBC World is a savior.

 

[Werewolf]

If the government deems it necessary to provide public service television then there’s no reason why private companies could not bit for contracts. And people saying they don't like adverts is laughable. The bbc uses at leased as much of its schedule for showing non program content as ITV and channel 4.

IIRC If the BBC say a program is 60 minutes long, it's going to be between 55-58 (well over 90% of the slot) minutes of actual programme, compared to ITV or Sky where 60 minutes as a time slot normally means closer to 45 minutes of actual programme.
I didn't realise quite how much of a difference it meant until I watched UK Gold and realised 30 minute BBC shows were running for about 35 minutes on average.

BBC does show some adverts, but normally just an eye catch or something for one of their other programmes at the end of the scheduled programme, the equivilents are also shown on other channels, normally at the start and end of every advert break (on average every 15 minutes).


One of the reasons some of the commercial broadcasters are against the BBC is because the BBC set a minimum standard of quality programming for them to compete with.

The BBC may not be able to compete in every area with the likes of Sky, but that is partly because they have to by law also provide services that the commercial broadcasters don't.

 

[Phantom]

even if you didnt want or watch the bbc channels you'd still have to pay for a license - mad

 

[Moonpie2]

Weirdly, after mulling it over, I wouldn't mind paying for a TV licence if it was just some kind of stupid TV Tax that everybody had to pay.

Its just the fact it goes to fund a company that gets my goat so badly. Dunno why though !!

 

[dirtydog]

The TV licence could be abolished, yet the BBC could still remain in its current form - it isn't a question of one or the other. It could simply be funded from general taxation. The idea that the BBC would *have* to be commercialised if the TV licence was abolished is not correct.

 

[Sequoia]

The TV licence could be abolished, yet the BBC could still remain in its current form - it isn't a question of one or the other. It could simply be funded from general taxation. The idea that the BBC would *have* to be commercialised if the TV licence was abolished is not correct.

Indeed, but the effect would then be that even those people that don't have a TV and therefore can't receive the service would be paying for it. After all, either general taxation would have to go up, or something else would have to be cut. At least with the licence, you can opt out altogther by not watching broadcast TV.

 

[PhilthyPhil]

You can say that about anything though, I don't use the NHS, schools, buses or trains etc etc, so why should I pay for them? Nearly everything else just comes out of the pot so i don't see why the BBC shouldn't be one of those.