advertisement


TuneIn and the BBC

I can sympathise. I've been annoyed for years about how I have to pay far more per year than the Licence Fee for the dozens of advertising channels I never watch. They all get their income whenever we buy things in the shops from companies that advertise on TV. Weird that so few people make a fuss about this. In effect a 'stealth tax' as they don't tell you in the shop what's happening.

Not seen any recent figures, but IIRC the ones that appeared a few years ago showed that the Fat Cats at the just the main advertising channels all cost us over three times the amount that the BBC charge. Why can't I get a discount in the shop by telling them I don't want those channels and never watch them?! 8-]

That’s ridiculous. You don’t have to buy anything in a shop you don’t want, or you don’t think is good value. But if you simply own a tv you are forced to pay the licence fee whether or not you watch any of the mediocre pap that the BBC broadcasts. And if you don’t pay the tax on tv ownership, you can go to jail. Over 120,000 people were criminalized for not paying their licence fee in 2018, nearly 5000 of them over 60, and the prosecutions target women and poor people disproportionately. 30% of all female prosecutions are to do with licence fee evasion, which is shocking. Not that the fatcats at the BBC give a toss.

http://www.moragtreanor.co.uk/?p=350
 
You could make the same point about almost all the BBC. Why single out young people ? I’m sure most here have fond memories of R1 . Might well be same for current cohort.

I would make the same point about the whole BBC; I just picked Radio 1 at random. I’d happily junk the whole organization or make it a subscription service. It is monstrous that people are forced to pay for it just for owning a TV.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SAS
But if you simply own a tv you are forced to pay the licence fee whether or not you watch any of the mediocre pap that the BBC broadcasts.

No you aren't, you only need one for live broadcasts, and recently they changed it to include the iplayer as well. There's no law that requires you to have a licence just to own a TV.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SAS
No you aren't, you only need one for live broadcasts, and recently they changed it to include the iplayer as well. There's no law that requires you to have a licence just to own a TV.

I wasn’t aware of the change. Fair enough. Will the hundreds of thousands of people that have been fined over the years get their money back? Will those in jail get out? It is still the case that you need a licence to watch commercial channels like ITV live, which is preposterous.
 
That’s ridiculous. You don’t have to buy anything in a shop you don’t want, or you don’t think is good value. But if you simply own a tv you are forced to pay the licence fee whether or not you watch any of the mediocre pap that the BBC broadcasts. And if you don’t pay the tax on tv ownership, you can go to jail. Over 120,000 people were criminalized for not paying their licence fee in 2018, nearly 5000 of them over 60, and the prosecutions target women and poor people disproportionately. 30% of all female prosecutions are to do with licence fee evasion, which is shocking. Not that the fatcats at the BBC give a toss.

http://www.moragtreanor.co.uk/?p=350
Actually, they criminalise themselves by knowingly breaking the law.
 
I wasn’t aware of the change. Fair enough. Will the hundreds of thousands of people that have been fined over the years get their money back? Will those in jail get out? It is still the case that you need a licence to watch commercial channels like ITV live, which is preposterous.

It isn't a recent change, it's always only been needed for live broadcasts. The only change was to add in the iplayer. You've never needed a TV licence to own a TV.
 
That’s ridiculous. You don’t have to buy anything in a shop you don’t want, or you don’t think is good value. But if you simply own a tv you are forced to pay the licence fee whether or not you watch any of the mediocre pap that the BBC broadcasts. And if you don’t pay the tax on tv ownership, you can go to jail. Over 120,000 people were criminalized for not paying their licence fee in 2018, nearly 5000 of them over 60, and the prosecutions target women and poor people disproportionately. 30% of all female prosecutions are to do with licence fee evasion, which is shocking. Not that the fatcats at the BBC give a toss.

http://www.moragtreanor.co.uk/?p=350

You cannot be sent to prison for not having a tv licence and receiving live broadcasts or accessing iPlayer.

You can be sent to prison for refusing to pay the fine you receive when convicted of not having a licence and receiving live broadcasts or accessing iPlayer.
 
That’s ridiculous. You don’t have to buy anything in a shop you don’t want, or you don’t think is good value.

http://www.moragtreanor.co.uk/?p=350

But what if the reason you "don't want it" is hidden from you?

In mere reality, your belief swiftly becomes impractical in this case.

Firstly, pretty much all the larger 'shops' advertise on TV, and the smaller ones may not have the items you want. Secondly, a large number of 'brands' and types of item are owned by the same few large corporations. So not having seen a specific 'brand' advertised on TV doesn't mean none of its price goes to pay for adverts on TV, advertising other 'brands' from the same corporation. Thirdly, if you don't watch the advertising channels (all of them, all of the time) then you may not know when buying something that the item *is* letting them put their hand in your pocket for the stations you don't watch.

So it is a fantasy to assume you can choose not to buy any items which mean some of yourt money goes to channels you never watch.

This might change if the law mandated this information to be clearly printed on the packets. But as things stand, it doesn't, so you can't avoid having some of your money sucked off to pay 'fat cats' running advertising channels.

And the total costs of these channels is somewhat higher than the BBC licence fee. And of course, even if you don't have a TV, you still pay despite being unable to see for yourself what brands advertise via the TV.

Quite intriguing how people have become so conditioned to this as to be totally unware of what's being done to them. 8-]

Alternatively, I have wondered if there is a correlation between this 'blind spot' and people getting into a lather about the BBC. Perhaps it is because, albeit unconsciously, they hate the idea that anyone might end the commercial ad channels they prefer because they realise just how much the cost by 'stealth tax'. Even not having a TV doesn't let you opt out!
 
Personally, the BBC4, Proms and R3 for me justify the licence fee charge. Add in the documentaries (as distinct from 'news' or rubbish like 'Today') on R4 and WS and for me the case is made. Particularly when these then inform in a way that others pick up without acknowledging. I tend to regard these as a parallel with PE. If you don't know their content you don't really know what's happening or why. It informs debate, etc, even via second-hand for people who don't watch the BBC TV or listen to BBC radio.
 
BBC2, BBC4, Radio 3, Radio 4, no commercial alternative comes close.
These alone are worth the license fee, with the exception of BBC4, which seems to show endless repeats of TOTP from the '70s and '80s. Its decent output could easily be incorporated into BBC2. Radios 3 and 4 are the gems of the BBC, and no commercial channel comes close to their quality.
 
In the average week I watch BBC4 more than on all other channels combined, and that's without watching TOTP.
 
These alone are worth the license fee, with the exception of BBC4, which seems to show endless repeats of TOTP from the '70s and '80s. Its decent output could easily be incorporated into BBC2. Radios 3 and 4 are the gems of the BBC, and no commercial channel comes close to their quality.

My impression is that the bulk of the repeats on BBC4 are documentaries.

In principle, yes, its 'original' output could be shifted to BBC2. But TBH I already regret the reduction over the years of Proms on TV. Hence - provided we get back 320k audio - I'd prefer it to shift and expand onto the iPlayer rather than be subsumed or lost entirely. Unless BBC2 would commit to many more live or quasi-live Proms, etc. And avoid the tendency of BBC1 to compress the levels more than BBC4 or R3.
 
Well, I live in Ireland now having lived in the UK (NI and then London) for 35+ years. The single biggest thing I miss about living in the UK is the BBC. TV, radio - fantastic. I’ve all kinds of solutions here at home so I can get it (via satellite and via a large DAB aerial) - I listen to a lot of sport so Internet is not a reliable option even with VPN.

Yes I can criticize bits of it. But I pay 1200EUR a year to Sky so the modest licence fee looks amazing value.
 
weather or not the bbc is good or bad value is a moot point, the real point is we DON'T have the choice, we are taxed for the beeb no matter what, and the waist is considerable, some beeb staff spending more than £20,000 on taxi's, a year as they cannot travel on public transport, as they will be recognised and pestered, tooo far up their own arses if you ask me, we need the choice and MY choice would be no , to the bbc, how many signatures do you need to bring it up in parliament, so they have to debate it in the open, that would scare the s%it out of them if they knew how the public really feels, they probably already do but just don't care,
 
What are the alternatives that people think are better? I really don't understand the level of complaints levelled at the licence fee. We get 6 good quality radio stations, World class content, web, iPlayer ans Sounds app. All ad free for around £12 per month.
Yet so many folks seem to be happy to pay Sky £70 for masses of repeated content and 12% of the screen time is adverts.
It doesn't add up.
 
Weather forecasting on the BBC is good whether you listen to it or not. A lot of the BBC staff have quite attractive waist measurements however this post is a waste of data on a drive somewhere.
 
weather or not the bbc is good or bad value is a moot point, the real point is we DON'T have the choice, we are taxed for the beeb no matter what, and the waist is considerable, some beeb staff spending more than £20,000 on taxi's, a year as they cannot travel on public transport, as they will be recognised and pestered, tooo far up their own arses if you ask me, we need the choice and MY choice would be no , to the bbc, how many signatures do you need to bring it up in parliament, so they have to debate it in the open, that would scare the s%it out of them if they knew how the public really feels, they probably already do but just don't care,

Dream on.
Petitions are an utter waste of time.
 


advertisement


Back
Top