The TV Licence.

[Chippy_Tea]

Will the BBC end up like Netflix and other streaming services?

I cannot remember the last time i watched anything on BBC 2 3 & 4.


Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has said the next announcement about the BBC licence fee will be the last - and it was time to discuss new ways to fund and sell "great British content".
She said "the days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors" were over.
Her comments comes as reports suggest the government is expected to freeze the annual fee of £159 for two years.
The government has not confirmed this. The BBC has declined to comment.
The licence fee's existence is guaranteed until at least 31 December 2027 by the BBC's royal charter, which sets out the broadcaster's funding and purpose.
The fee is set by the government, which announced in 2016 that it would rise in line with inflation for five years from April 2017.
Money raised from the licence fee pays for BBC shows and services - including TV, radio, the BBC website, podcasts, iPlayer and apps.
Lengthy negotiations have already taken place between BBC bosses and the government over a future funding settlement, with the idea of freezing the licence fee discussed back in October.

A government source confirmed the BBC discussions over the licence fee were ongoing.
But they said the culture secretary recognised pressure on people's wallets - and the licence fee was an "important bill" for people on low incomes and pensioners, which ministers could control.
Previously, Ms Dorries, who was appointed culture secretary last September, said she thought the BBC should exist, but it needed to be able to take on competitors such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
At the Conservative party conference in October, Ms Dorries said the broadcaster needed "real change" in order to represent the entire UK and accused it of "groupthink".
The BBC was "a beacon for the world", she said, but she thought people who had worked their way up had a similar background, a certain political bias and thought and talked the same.
Labour's shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell accused the prime minister and Ms Dorries of seeming "hell-bent on attacking this great British institution because they don't like its journalism".
"British broadcasting and our creative industries are renowned around the world and should be at the heart of Global Britain," she said.

In 2020, people over the age of 75 began paying for their TV licence, which had previously been free.
The BBC said continuing to fund free licences for all older viewers would have force it into "unprecedented closures" of services. In 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the BBC should "cough up" and cover the cost.
TV licence evasion itself is not an imprisonable offence. However, the government says non-payment of the fine, following a criminal conviction, could lead to a risk of imprisonment - "a last resort" after other methods of enforcement have failed.
Last year, the government decided not to move ahead with plans to decriminalise non-payment of the TV licence fee, but said it would "remain under active consideration".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-60014514

 

[The Baron]

Lets hope it ends this ludicrous situation of us having to pay for very few good programmes but I fear it will become pay per view but that may suit some

 

[Chippy_Tea]

We only watch BBC 1 so if it was PPV it might work out cheaper for us.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has confirmed the BBC licence fee is to be frozen at £159 for two years.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Ms Dorries said the government could "not justify extra pressure on the wallets of hardworking households".
Following the two-year freeze, she said the fee will rise in line with inflation for the following four years.
Director general Tim Davie said the freeze would mean "tougher choices which will impact licence fee payers".

The licence fee pays for services including TV, radio, the BBC website, podcasts, iPlayer and apps.
Its existence is guaranteed until at least 31 December 2027 by the BBC's royal charter, which sets out its funding and purpose.
Ms Dorries said: "The BBC must support people at a time when their finances are strained, make savings and efficiencies, and use the billions in public funding it receives to deliver for viewers, listeners and users."

Full article - BBC licence fee to be frozen at £159 for two years, government confirms

 

[Braufather]

As a nation The bbc is probably our greatest global brand, it’s certainly the worlds most respected media platform . It’s not as good as it used to be but still deserves public spending.

 

[moto748]

Absolutely. It's really not about "well I don't watch much on BBC anyway, so so what?".

The BBC is about much more than that. Few like the licence (I'm one of them), so it's an easy option for a government that wants to defang any oversight. This is simply a political attack on the BBC.

 

[ScotchMist]

As an independent musician, the BBC's radio stations are the only major media outlet willing to broadcast my work and those of others like me.

Commercial radio is only interested in playing oldies or big chart acts with major budgets behind them.

The BBC gives new artists who don't have loads of cash a chance. They're absolutely vital. Losing that to pay-per-view/subscription would be a disaster - the media will just become more profit driven and London-centric, and posh private school boys and girls will have even more of an unfair advantage.

It's not just music either - you might watch more stuff on Netflix, but pretty much every British writer/performer of any kind who's work you see on there got their start because of the BBC.

Commercial producers would never commission a comedy with regional accents in it like Chewin' The Fat/Still Game, or Gavin and Stacey.

Take it away and we lose part of our identity, it really is as simple as that.

 

[Eskimo John]

I agree it's a political attack by the government, a calous distraction from its current despicable behaviour.
However the BBC has an important role that we all forget about, that of a public service provider.
When the brown stuff hits the fan globally the first place the general public turn to for information in the UK is the BBC. It available to all through radio and TV. Don't forget the TV licence pays for radio as well. And when we the public need information a good government can supply it to all through the BBC, to abandon that ability would be criminal.
There has been much confusion about the pandemic, what the rules are etc. The poor leadership we have at the moment had consistently failed to provide sufficient public service announcements with respect to the covid situation. Not the fault of the BBC, but that of Boris's leadership.

 

[moto748]

I'm old enough to remember Robin Day. Back then, I thought he was an awful old Tory, but by God, he held people to account. Can you imagine him skewering Johnson? That is what the BBC currently lack. And make no mistake, it's because they've been cowed.

 

[lancon]

And not to forget the World Service. (I thought we were being Global Britain these days)
And not to forget the Schools part of BBC, Bitesize, big effect pre 2020 massive during lockdown.
And also not to forget that it was the Tories who broke their manifesto promise to keep free licence for over 75s.
The BBC budget is under £4 billion, the Chancellor is to write off £4.3 billion of fraud COVID loans, a bit prompt I would have thought, tax returns for that year are just being sent in. Money is not an issue when it suits them.
The licence should be replaced by funding through income tax.

 

[ScotchMist]

The licence should be replaced by funding through income tax.

I agree with everything else you said there, but this raises an issue. If the BBC were allocated tax money in the budget then they'd be more directly tied to the government.

They need to be independent, right?

 

[lancon]

I get your point, though independence always has a price? Cross party committee to negotiate budget? Transparency & clarity in negotiations? Budget agreed on a rolling timetable so budget would be beyond next election?
The point of using tax would be the answer to Doris' bellowing of too expensive, low paid pay less tax, though hang on, its not a good idea as it would mean the rich would pay more....

 

[Dorst]

I was really surprised about how aggressive the TV license communications were when I lived in the UK. They kept on changing the rules to include all live broadcasting and force people to pony up the tv license (so technically if I wanted to see the Dutch news online I would need to get a TV license).

I never understood why they would not just pay the national broadcasting through taxation like most other countries do. The old model sounded stupid to me - the new one is not much better.

 

[ScotchMist]

Its not a good idea as it would mean the rich would pay more....

God forbid (assuming that was sarcasm)

Anyway, Mad Nad has said she doesn't have a plan to replace it. For all her talk about poverty and fines, she's clearly just out to punish the Beeb for being insufficiently deferential to 'Boris'.

 

[Agentgonzo]

This such a blatantly desperate attempt to distract people from Partygate!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

At £12 a month the licence fee is roughly the same as Netflix and other streaming services so in my view its not expensive, people forget the fee doesn't just pay for the TV channels it also pays for radio, the BBC website, podcasts, iPlayer and apps.
Instead of going pay per view (or whatever they decide) they should get rid of BBC 3 & 4 and all repeats and just have BBC 1 & 2 we don't need favourite TV progs to be on from 6 pm to 10pm these days many houses have TV boxes that record and we have on demand services so there is no need to ever miss a favourite episode or show.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

This such a blatantly desperate attempt to distract people from Partygate!

Do you honestly believe the government are stupid enough to believe the public will forget about the current issues because they bring up the TV licence debate again.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Do you honestly believe the government are stupid enough to believe the public will forget about the current issues because they bring up the TV licence debate again.

I think that the government are smart and know that the public are stupid enough to get distracted by another story. It works time and time again, like the fact that the half-a-billion-pound fraud largely got missed by the public due to Partygate

 

[Dorst]

I noticed that one of the easiest ways to get my British colleagues riled up was to say I did not pay TV license (nor did I watch TV). How come this is such a touchy subject?

At £12 a month the licence fee is roughly the same as Netflix and other streaming services so in my view its not expensive

You forget that you also need to pay for a TV box / subscription. At this moment in time you are at the cost of Amazon Prime, Disney+, and Netflix combined.

 

[Eskimo John]

Don't forget, privatise the BBC and that will mean the issue of shares. The rich will be able to afford to buy those shares and make money on them. The rich are generally Tory supporters.
Just saying