BBC, Licence Fee etc.

[Trem]

Was thinking about this last night. How do we all feel about the TV licence? I am totally against it but on the otherhand there is nothing better than sitting down to watch a film that you love knowing that there won't be adverts.

On the other hand Sky has no adverts in their films but you get 10 minutes worth before and after and it costs a fortune to have it.

Would adverts on the BBC and the radio channels bother you more than paying the licence fee?

I think there is around 6 million people in this country with Sky, they seem fine with the cost of it and the shocking amount of adverts and crap that they show. How come we complain about the TV licence then?

The BBC make maybe 5 worthwhile shows a year and have about 2 decent radio shows, is this worth the licence fee?

 

[babs]

I like the licence fee, no adverts is great, half hour programs that actually have half an hour of content etc. It's sad to think that the latest blah program on sky one that lasts 40 minutes actually takes an hour to watch.

In terms of quality i'd say that 75% of my viewing is BBC channels, 24% on channel 4 and the other 1% on a random occasion if a film is on a digi channel or 5. ITV is terrible, simply terrible.

 

[throdgrain]

I have to disagree young Tremlar. When you consider that most of the good programs watched on telly (it seems to me) are made by the BBC, bloody UK Gold included, it seems like a bargain.
Most of us pay £20 or so a month for cable or sky, that serves up rakes and rakes of made-in-america drivel , yet we dont bat an eyelid, then still end up watching BBC stuff anyway. This stuff has to be funded somehow, or you end up with common lowest denominator TV, ie Big Brother or almost anything Sky One , and we'll all end up even more retarded than we already are.
I also accept that thing will prolly change in 10 years time when the next review comes about, but im sure it will be for the worse :/

 

[dysfunction]

I'm happy to pay the fee.

I watch quite a bit from the BBC channels and having it advert free is wonderful.
They used to have "24" on BBC3 and then it was taken by Sky One...the adverts on Sky One drive me to drink!!

 

[Tilda]

I'd happily pay a lisence fee to miss the adverts.

Tilda

 

[Trem]

I guess what annoys me the most is the way they uphold the law regarding it. I mean think about it, you can go prison for not paying it.

In this day and age I am sure there is a system that they could do where if you don't pay you just don't get the BBC.

 

[oblimov]

I wouldnt mind if bbc stopped showing dumbed down drivel about houses being repaired etc

I must admit the himalya series that michael palins doing is practically worth the license alone, thats amazing

 

[Doh_boy]

I'm also for the license fee. I listen to radio 4 a lot (News Quiz, 99p Challenge, Now Show, Sorry I haven't a clue) and 6music a little bit.

Also, since I've not got any sort of sky/freeview/etc most of the best stuff I watch is BBC. I'm currently enjoying spooks.

 

[Tom]

The license fee is great. We're about the only country in the world who imposes one, and we produce the best television in the world, year after year.

You might complain about the house/garden/diy crap programmes, but they're made on shoestring budgets, and before programmes like this, all you could watch was a testcard (most of them are on during the day).

You also have to understand how much television costs to produce. Its extremely expensive, as an example:

BBC Watchdog
--------------

Day's filming in Nottingham:
Cameraman with equipment - £700
Soundman with equipment - £250
Expenses for above (including petrol, food, parking etc) - £200 average
2x Location staff expenses (including fuel, hire car, food, hotel) - £200-300
Tape stock for filming - £10 per 35min tape - average 5 tapes per day - £50

Thats the basic for a day's filming. It doesn't include things like disturbance fees (to pay contributors if they're losing money by not working), PD150 filming (DV camera stuff), secret filming (add another £300 per day), and things like flights, ferries, and anything else that costs money.

Then you have to consider that they may need more than one day of filming. There's a ratio in TV, if you film 10 minutes, then probably 1 minute gets broadcast. It takes a long time to film anything well. For an interview you might only see 30 seconds of, it could be 4 hours work for the crew on the day.

All that cost, just for a segment on a 30 minute programme that will probably last no more than 5-6 minutes. Don't forget, there are 3-4 other segments in that programme, and they all need filming, on different days, with different crews.

Then add in the cost of the studio. The presenters. The researchers and production staff will be on something like £20k a year (if they're lucky). Things start to get very expensive, very quickly.

Thats just a small fraction of one weekly programme. Stuff like news is much cheaper, because you normally employ only staff, and most of the programme is in a studio. Documentaries are much more expensive than both examples. Dramas - hideously expensive to produce.

You have to ask yourself, what role is the BBC there to fill? Its remit is to inform, educate, and entertain. I think it does that extremely well.

Also, ask yourself this; what is the true cost of advertising funded television? How much would your shopping bill reduce by, if nothing were advertised? I think you'll find its much more than the cost of the license fee, and were the BBC to be funded entirely by advertising, how would a channel like BBC2 manage?

 

[sibanac]

I dont live in the UK and thus dont pay the Licence Fee.

I would gladly pay it if i lived in the UK tho.
I think the BBC is one of the biggest and best acomplishments of the UK,
And every UK citizen should be proud of the BBC.
For me the BBC produces about 90% of all quality TV these days (10 % remaining is the simpsons), from outstanding comedy to documentaries and news.
BBC is probably the only public broadcaster that actualy exports its prodcuts to foreign broadcasters

 

[itcheh]

The licence fee means that the BBC are accountable to the Govt (and by proxy the public) for the programmes they produce ... which means that although they don't get it right all of the time, on the whole they produce quality.

Channels that are reliant on advertising money will always produce crap that appeals to the lowest common denominator - because they are more interested in 'bums on seats at home'.

The licence fee also means that the BBC can afford to trial new program formats and comedy programmes - both on radio and TV - the likes of Little Bratain, Fast Show, League of Gentlemen would not have appeared on a commercial station.

 

[rynnor]

Hmm - I seem to be in the minority here but I'd scrap the license fee tomorrow as I havent watched BBC channels for a few years - the quality of what is on offer has dwindled in the last decade.

I tend to watch dvd/videos if I want to see a film so the adverts thing is fine by me - the bit I most object to is the mandatory aspect - if people want to pay the equivalent of the license fee to watch the beebs offerings thats fine but why should people who dont like em be forced to support the system?

 

[nath]

I'm of mixed feelings about it. I don't like that they still call it a TV License when it's actually just paying for the bbc, it's not really a license for a TV. However, the BBC is quite possibly the finest TV network on the planet - it only manages to stay that way because of the way its funded. By you, the public. There are many ways you can pay, but direct de.... uh. Sorry :\

Anyhoo, I love the fact that the BBC is so respected that nazi republican bastards JUMP at the chance to spew bile when it looks like it may have made a mistake. We all saw that vid didn't we? Such an inferiority complex

 

[babs]

Other than the football, I can't think of a single thing I'd watch ITV for (rare exception of a film). It's a travesty The only thing more shocking is ITV2, there they interrupt the films for an entertainment news update. Ok BBC3 has 60 seconds but a> it lasts 60 seconds and b> it covers proper news not just who was seen sucking the semen from who at the worst soap awards.

 

[Doh_boy]

Anyhoo, I love the fact that the BBC is so respected that nazi republican bastards JUMP at the chance to spew bile when it looks like it may have made a mistake. We all saw that vid didn't we? Such an inferiority complex

Didn't someone get there wrist slapped for that, what with it having little to do with actual fact?

 

[JingleBells]

I'd gladly pay my license fee just to get Match of the Day, football on ITV is despicably biased towards Ars*nal and ManUre.
The dramas on BBC are well worth watching esp. Spooks. You get quality comedy like Little Britain, Monkey Dust, Room 101, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News For You, They Think It's All Over etc... etc...
Top Gear is the best sunday evenings entertainment on the tele, and you get top quality local news presenters like Nick Owen and Gordon Burns

 

[Trem]

Jingle has converted me. I never even thought about Top Gear and MOTD. I fucking well love those programs and the ITV equivalent of MOTD was absolutely shite.

 

[rynnor]

Lets look at reality rather than peoples nostalgia - BBC1 tonight:

7:00 pm Bargain Hunt - 2nd rate knockoff of the antiques roadshow stylee in its XXXXVIII'th series of regurgitating the same crap every week...
7:30 pm Airport - Ooo long running reality TV/documentary series - be still my beating heart...
8:00 pm What Not to Wear on the Red Carpet - two snotty bitches - nuff said.
9:00 pm British Isles: A Natural History - crap from incredibly bland tit.
10:00 pm BBC News at Ten O'Clock - why no news at 9!
10:30 pm BBC London News - crap regional news with second rate presenters
10:40 pm National Lottery Midweek Draws - nice to see my license money being given to those poor folk who run the lottery...
10:45 pm Car Wars - ooo even more reality TV - good to see the BBC still maintaining the quality...

On ITV1:
7:00 Emmerdale - not my cup of tea but some like it...
7:30 Coronation Street - More soaps for da masses!
8:00 The Bill - pretty good police soap with nothing close to it from the beeb for many a year...
9:00 American pie 2 - Yay!!
10:30 News
11:00 2nd part of the film

Not great on either side but can anyone spot the yawning divide in quality because I cant!

 

[Tom]

Award for the most obviously biased and one-sided post ever goes to..........


























.....rynnor!

 

[babs]

The British Isles documentaries are really good, and I've just been watching Full On Food which was good also Primary Colors is on now and Arrested Development is on later on 2.

Not great on either side but can anyone spot the yawning divide in quality because I cant!

Ignoring the terrible programmes, about 30-40 minutes of adverts

 

[Tom]

Oh, I'll tell you something else about the license fee. How many regional broadcasters are there now on ITV, since deregulation?

Guess?

 

[Trem]

45034950234?

 

[~Yuckfou~]

Part of me wished Sky tv didn't exist. Lots of channels but all shite.
I have no idea how many channels we've got, but I always focus on the first 4. Only eurosport (motogp) gets a lookin in, and sometimes paramount (stand up gigs).

 

[JingleBells]

Hmm, about 4?
Carlton
Granada (who want to merge with Carlton)
LWT
Anglia

I've probably missed TV for remote scotland or something

 

[KevinUK]

My friend has a hard drive TV thingy (forget the name..) so starts to record a TV program then goes to watch it 5 mins into it, that way it has recorded 5 mins ahead and skipped out the adverts.

= Advert free tv!

We should all do this

I suppose paying for BBC is good, I mainly watch all of the documentaries, never seen 24, Spooks, Little Britain... so dont care about them.

 

[Jonaldo]

90% of my TV viewing is on Sky. BBC has come up with so few programs worth watching, ITV even less so but at least I don't have to pay for the pleasure of not watching it.

The odd good comedy show on BBC is ok but they are so few and far between it still doesn't justify a license fee, much as TV cameramen clearly cannot justify the amount they are paid

The new Series of Little Britain has disappointed totally and Monkey Dust just tried to be too weird and shock that in the end it does neither very effectively.

If I could own a TV without paying a fee and just have Paramount comedy, the Sky Sports and Movie channels I'd be more than happy. Unfortunately I can't so it really doesn't matter.

 

[throdgrain]

Part of me wished Sky tv didn't exist. Lots of channels but all shite.
I have no idea how many channels we've got, but I always focus on the first 4. Only eurosport (motogp) gets a lookin in, and sometimes paramount (stand up gigs).

Absolutely m8

 

[Tom]

ITV plc owns twelve of the ITV licences. The remainder are owned by SMG, Ulster, and Channel.

One company ownding 12 licenses. Thats what commercialisation does for television. ITV was set up as competition for the BBC, and was there to provide regional programming. Strange how things work out, now that the BBC makes more regional programmes than ITV.

 

[Tom]

Hmm, about 4?
Carlton
Granada (who want to merge with Carlton)
LWT
Anglia

I've probably missed TV for remote scotland or something

Anglia, Carlton, and LWT are all part of the Granada Media Group; no longer independant.

 

[Cask]

Be nice if we could get a fuckin student discount on the license. Instead of them making adverts bitching about students not buying one and slapping them with a huge fine they should realise that some of us HAVE NO MONEY but still deserve to keep in touch with what's going on in the world.

I could get by without the BBC, Channel 5 News is on at a more convenient time than the other channels and a lot of other programs I watch are on S4C when they aren't broadcasting Welsh shite. Shame I still have to buy a license to watch S4C and C5 though.