Superb idea OP

I have recently got Netflix and it's a travesty that I have had to pay to watch Red Dwarf again; on top of the £40 I had to spend for an Only Fools and Horses box set.

Like you say, good TV from the BBC is few and far between these days.

I always wonder why Ch4, Sky, Netflix etc have such good streaming services yet iPlayer don't. They certainly have the budget.

I'd sooner not pay a TV license and have the BBC advertise, or simply not have the BBC at all.

The only thing that really irks me about the licence fee is that you get criminalised for not paying it.

The BBC need to adapt to survive, we are very lucky to have the BBC but I don’t know why they don’t just go the route of being ad supported.

"I'd sooner not pay a TV license and have the BBC advertise, or simply not have the BBC at all. "

This.

comment by Heads shoulders knees John Stones, knees John Stones (U9760)
posted 53 seconds ago
The only thing that really irks me about the licence fee is that you get criminalised for not paying it.
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Like you would for any other good/service that you didn't pay for

Why are we lucky to have the BBC? I use few of their services anymore (occasionally the website, Dragons Den) as I have sky, yet have to pay £150 a year for it.

I'd rather have the option to use BBC channels tbh, as if chose not to.

comment by Robben #20 (U1145)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Heads shoulders knees John Stones, knees John Stones (U9760)
posted 53 seconds ago
The only thing that really irks me about the licence fee is that you get criminalised for not paying it.
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Like you would for any other good/service that you didn't pay for
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Point being, many people would chose not to have BBC products for the price they charge. But they make it law that to use any kind of TV you have to pay for the BBC service.

comment by Robben #20 (U1145)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Heads shoulders knees John Stones, knees John Stones (U9760)
posted 53 seconds ago
The only thing that really irks me about the licence fee is that you get criminalised for not paying it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Like you would for any other good/service that you didn't pay for

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But what if you don't watch the bbc?
Why get charged fo a service you don't use to be able to watch serves you do (sky)

Also, they don't need to adapt at all. They have the country by the balls, you want to watch TV (even products they do not support) you pay the license fee.

comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Robben #20 (U1145)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Heads shoulders knees John Stones, knees John Stones (U9760)
posted 53 seconds ago
The only thing that really irks me about the licence fee is that you get criminalised for not paying it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Like you would for any other good/service that you didn't pay for
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Point being, many people would chose not to have BBC products for the price they charge. But they make it law that to use any kind of TV you have to pay for the BBC service.
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It would probably be prohibitively expensive to implement some sort of blocker. Also, imagine the number of people who would cancel... the BBC would collapse overnight and people would still use/watch the content through streams or online or whatever.

It's £150 ffs, over the course of a year it's £2.50 a week - get over it.

Was in the house for most of Sunday, saw BBC1 news bulletins a few times, and there was a report every time on the new Mission Impossible film, interviewing Tom Cruise at the premiere.

Later on just happenend to put the BBC News24 channel on and there was a longer more in-depth interview and clearly promotion of the film. Presumably the BBC don't have any financial interest in the film, so not sure why it should be promoting it. But if it can do this so blatantly, why not introduce adverts?

The enforcement of the TV License is a joke.

I moved home a few years ago (over Christmas) and five days after moving in, a TV Licensing bloke called at my door, and cautioned me for not being in possession of a TV License.

The TV was installed the day before. At the time I had no Wi-Fi and was caring for my son who was ill.

Despite setting up payment at my doorstep, I received a court summons six months later. The BBC do not distinguish the period of time without a licence. In my case, one day.

I was left with the option of going to court, or paying costs and their fine. Eventually settled out of court for £40.

comment by Heads shoulders knees John Stones, knees John Stones (U9760)
posted 40 seconds ago
The only thing that really irks me about the licence fee is that you get criminalised for not paying it.
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I remember when I was a student we had battles over what we’d watch so you needed to hold on to it or risk someone switching over, there was a knock at the door so I went to answer it with the remote in my hand and it was the TV license people asking if we had a TV in the house as we hadn’t paid the fee! I was given a date to come to the local police station to pay a £1,000 fine, I just didn’t bother going and they never caught up with me.

It’s actually incredible how incompetent some agencies are, I also got fined at the courts in Manchester for missing community service 3 times (was actually ridiculous, a mate found my summons and about 20 mates turned up for the entertainment of watching me in the dock and got kicked out for giggling on the back row), I just never paid it and they never followed it up. The TV license was in Manchester too.

comment by Robben #20 (U1145)
posted 8 minutes ago
"I'd sooner not pay a TV license and have the BBC advertise, or simply not have the BBC at all. "

This.
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Double This

MUDD, that's two things today that we agree on!!

With technology as it is, the licence fee is barely enforceable. More and more don't pay each month.

The BBC has overstretched. There are far too many channels, both on radio and tv. The website is unnecessary, particularly local sites.

It has also spent far too many years chasing ratings.

I remeber when I was at college, a bloke knocked on the door saying I did not have a tv licence... I said "I don;t have a tv"... bang on queue, the theme tune from the flintstones starting blaring out of my tv. I said it was a cd ... he didnt buy it, was in court a week later

Droog

I became a bit of an expert as a student

If you're in halls they don't even bother, they send warning letter but aren't allowed to enter the premises to check

Regarding a house, they're not allowed to enter unless you let them in. If they come back with a warrant , shut the door in year face unplug the Ariel and tell them you only use the TV for a ps3. They can't prove otherwise and you avoid a fine

The only stuff I watch on the BBC is sport and although the BBCs coverage of sport is better than any other channels they can't keep up with the rising costs for the rights so show less and less of it.

Advertising on the BBC would be a disaster, the fact they currently don't allows them to have far greater control on what they produce.

I'm happy to pay the license fee as I think the BBC play a very important role in culture today and even more so in the past but they definitely need changes such as not making big rating shows such as The Voice that isn't even a BBC product, pays far too big wages to people who really bring little to the BBC and it's end product is awful.

The BBC need to get back to making what it is renowned for, the best wildlife documentaries, documentaries in general, the best comedy in Britain and in general TV and radio that is based on quality and not ratings which is why it must stay away from advertising.

I actually think iPlayer is a very good service, far better than Sky Go whose streaming for live games is appalling. It would be brilliant if the BBC could archive their back catalogue but the fact is that would be a huge operation and take quite a long time to do. Still, if they could remove mindless krap like The Voice and use that money to develop iPlayer to enable it to archive it's programs from the past 50+ years that would be brilliant.

Also, why the hell do people waste money on Netflix, my GF has it and every time I look on it the choice is terrible. Virtually everything is available to stream/download for free online on other services, you just need to know where to look.

Its wrong how they try to enforce payment of the fee as well. It needs looking into.

My mum is 71 and pays for her license fee in installments over 6 months, (£24.25 x 6). Once its paid up she then has a 6 month window before she needs to start paying again.

However every month for the next 3-4 months after paying up, she gets demand letters from the TV License people threatening action because shes 'fallen behind in her payments'.

They actually want her to start paying again straight away for the following years license. She gets 3 or 4 letters saying she could be fined £1000 if she doesn't take action and continue to make payments.

Its ridiculous that they can harass people like this, knowing the license for that particular year is already paid up.

She knows now to just ignore them, but initially (about 5 years ago) when she first started to get them it really panicked and stressed her. There's no chance that she'd fall behind because I pay it for her over the internet so I know exactly when its paid.

Wildlife docs are the main thing I want the BBC to preserve because there really is nothing in the world to rival them that I know of, they're the only thing I'm actually proud of the BBC for.

I'd be interested to see what revenue the BBC makes from exporting their shows compared to the ITV makes in advertising.

Did you know Channel 4 don't make any of their own shows? All commissioned, I think possibly with the exception of the news although they may still have it produced by someone else.

comment by Robben #20 (U1145)
posted 9 minutes ago


MUDD, that's two things today that we agree on!!
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I am generally very agreeable, I'm cool that way

Unknown

That's strange, I've been paying a £10 a month direct debit for years and never received a single letter of any warning.