BBC Television License

[Fraser2479]

Hi,

 

My first post to the Consumer Action Group, what a great site! My concern is with BBC Television licenses....every year they hike up the prices and people with televisions are FORCED to pay.

 

Personally I think it is wrong as there are people out there like myself who never even watch BBC channels (no, i don't like Eastenders!), so what gives them the right to take £131.50 from us each year?

 

On top of that, how do they justify such a large amount of money? So they can send Jeremy Clarkson to America to paint a car and drive around like an idiot?

 

What are people views on this and what can we do to challenge this?

 

F.

[Fraser2479]

I have created a petition online with No.10 Downing Street. Once approved I will add the link here.

[Rich44]

Well you could buy a TV with no tuner in it (like a plasma) and only ever watch DVDs and then you wouldnt need one

[StudentInDebt]

I pay Sky £53 per month and watch a fraction of the programming available, £131.50 per year to watch the 2 analogue and goodness knows how many freeview BBC TV stations and to be able to listen to the radio stations seems reasonable to me.

 

Actually just watching Hammond and May launch a Robin Reliant into the skies above Northumberland was worth the 131 quid

[Sidewinder]

Actually just watching Hammond and May launch a Robin Reliant into the skies above Northumberland was worth the 131 quid

 

Agree entirely - the funniest thing I have seen in ages!

 

I don't have strong feelings either way about the Licence Fee - have just got used to paying it I suppose.....I do keep thinking about reducing the Sky subsciption though - paying that much for the full monty and only ever watching a handful of football games a season and never watching a film is ridiculous.

[Glenn UK]

Its a tax like anoy other, i personally would like to see the bbc continue, t may not always produce the best shows, but its about as close to unbiased tv as we will ever have.

 

JMHO

 

GLenn

[Xavoc]

Its a tax like anoy other, i personally would like to see the bbc continue, t may not always produce the best shows, but its about as close to unbiased tv as we will ever have.

 

JMHO

 

GLenn

 

The BBC simply fails to report or present anything in a negative way that would upset their paymasters. It’s an act of self-preservation rather than design I suspect. A simple look at any non-politically sponsored web log will present you with a host of examples concerning this issue

 

It's another sad case of government media manipulation.

 

Take heart its changing fast the truth is out there

 

 

regards

[Rich44]

Sorry they dont report anything that will upset the powers that be?? Did you miss the whole debacle resulting in Gregg Dyke being forced out? That was reporting against the government and pretty damning it was too

[silvermick]

I pay Sky £53 per month and watch a fraction of the programming available, £131.50 per year to watch the 2 analogue and goodness knows how many freeview BBC TV stations and to be able to listen to the radio stations seems reasonable to me.

 

Actually just watching Hammond and May launch a Robin Reliant into the skies above Northumberland was worth the 131 quid

 

Yeh also watched the Reliant launch, wonder how much that cost TOP GEAR!!!

Seems the only way out of paying the licence fee is 1/ don't pay it and become a criminal, 2/ Dont watch TV SKY etc, are there any other options.

[bazak1]

licence fee, well what can you say.

it is another bill that we are all ( or perhaps nearly all ) used to paying, and it stops buzby parking detector vans at the end of your drive.

i know that several people over the years have gone to court with the " i NEVER watch ANY bbc channels" arguement, and have course had the " ok, but your tv receiver still has that incoming signal and you COULD watch it if you wanted to" reply. i wonder if that line of thought would work in other aspects of our life, such as " yes mr police officer it is my car, but i was only going 30 miles an hour" only to be answered with " ok, but it IS capable of 140 miles an hour if you was to put your foot down".

not quite the same thing is it.

never mind, its just one of those things you get used to, and the only way for sure to not pay that licence bill is to sell the tv.

by the way, top gear in America recently, with painted cars, and gangs after them in pick up trucks was one of the best editions of that series i have watched for ages.

[Fraser2479]

Fair enough, if people choose to pay £50 a month for Sky then that's their choice. The point I'm gettin at is that the BBC force people to pay. We don't have a choice and that's what wrong about it.

 

I rarely watch TV and I aint forking out money for a plasma TV with no tuner. There should be TV sets that are simply not capable of picking up BBC channels, I would buy one of those!

 

Seriously though, there are some things in life that we should be forced to pay, e.g. tax, NI, etc....but not for TV. The BBC should be looking at alternative ways to fund their business whether they provide a good service or not.

 

People should have a choice!

[Glenn UK]

Incidentally it isnt the bbc that force you to buy the licence.

[StudentInDebt]

Fair enough, if people choose to pay £50 a month for Sky then that's their choice. The point I'm gettin at is that the BBC force people to pay. We don't have a choice and that's what wrong about it.

You do have a choice, the law in this country (paraphrased) says that if you own television set then you must pay for a TV licence, I know it is Hobsen's choice but thats the simple fact. I bought a TV therefore I must own a TV licence in the same way that having bought a car I must have a road fund licence the proceeds of which may not go towards paying for the roads!

 

People have been complaining about the TV licence as long as I can remember but rather unsurprisingly no-one has ever got anywhere. The BBC is a publicly funded service provider which is funded through the TV licencing scheme because the government has decided that is the way to do it, if the TV licence was removed then the BBC would be funded through general taxation or privatised.

[nogard23]

I watch a little BBC Tv and listen a lot to the BBC radio so those who don't are effectively paying for my enjoyment and for that i thank you most sincerely.

[Rich44]

Its not really a TV licence anymore as there are so many different ways of watching without a TV for example TV tuner in your PC.

 

As long as you dont have a device capable of receiving a broadcast signal then in theory you could claim you dont need a licence.

 

Again for example a Plasma TV a lot of these the tuner is an optional extra so without this you cannot receive a broadcast TV signal add on a DVD player again cannot receive a signal then if the TV licence man knocks on your door you can let him in and show him you cannot receive a TV broadcast and again in theory that should be enough to get him to leave although of course theory and the real world are miles apart I would wager they would still try to kick you into court over it but whether you could win is another matter as you would not have a device capable of receiving a TV broadcast signal

[ladybird17]

At least, because the way the BBC is funded, my viewing enjoyment is not interrupted every few minutes by some div from Gre**hill Finance who is going to solve all my problems with one phone call.

Or from a "celebrity beauty editor" who tells me antioxypepdideblahblahblahs are going to make me look 20 years younger.If the BBC were not publicly funded and had to rely on advertising, I would probably spend more than the licence fee in a year on all the products that have "subliminally" seduced me into buying them!

[Rich44]

You know what narks me about that stupid trout? She waffles on about this that and the other polypeptides this n that and shes a bloomin editor not a scientist and not only that her foundation looks like it was put on with a spade so the cream or whatever cant be that good.

 

and yes that is great about the BBC

[ladybird17]

yeh, and what's a "celebrity" beauty editor for goodness sake? Which celebrity's beauty does she edit?

[MrShed]

The BBC have that many of those stupid little adverts for their own TV shows between shows now that I would rather that they just stuck advertising on and be done with it, and removed the licence fee!

[Fraser2479]

Well thanks to everyone so far for their comments. Some of the feedback has been great, I guess I just simply find it difficult to part with my money for a service I just don't use. The licensing fee has been in force for so long now that people just seem to accept it as the norm and don't question it.

[nogard23]

Just think of it in the same way as local rate payers who have no children paying a contribution to education or people who dont drive paying tax for road upkeep. Your payments are for the good of society in general.

[Fraser2479]

...this is TV we're talking about. Not quite as necessary as education or healthcare, etc.

 

Oh and people who don't drive...still use roads!

[Xavoc]

Sorry they dont report anything that will upset the powers that be?? Did you miss the whole debacle resulting in Gregg Dyke being forced out? That was reporting against the government and pretty damning it was too

 

:0)

 

I rest my case

 

Gregg D vs The Government

 

Who won!

[sequenci]

I would like to point out that Top Gear makes alot of its money from the fact it is syndicated all around the planet.

[Guest louis wu]

I never buy a newspaper, if I did it would be a probably be a broadsheet. I am not highbrow, just can't be doing with the tabloids.

 

I get all my news from 2 sources

 

BBC.co.uk

BBC news 24

 

My children get cbeebees...if you have kids you'll know it is the best tv for youngsters.

 

I get radio 5 live, and 5 live sport extra for sport, because SKY is a ripoff.

 

I get radio 4 LW for test match special (i love cricket).

 

a local news program, with actual NEWS on it.

 

and I absolutely love Top Gear (even though I will never own a ferrari).

 

I get all this daily, for the price of a decent news paper. What else can you get for that?

 

and yes, like many, I dislike eastenders, and all z list celebrity comeback shows etc etc but people do, after all if they didn't they wouldn't get made in the first place.

 

It is a shame that people bash the BBC as it is still the closest thing to independant reporting in this country, it does at least try to cater for everyone, and I, for one, dont want to pay for Murdoch TV.

 

Whilst I admire your conviction for doing something that you feel pashionate about, Fraser, stick your petition where the sun don't shine.