Fuck tv license. I refused to pay for one while a student, so we just never watched any tv for 3 years. Missed out on quite a lot of news lol.
Fuck tv license. I refused to pay for one while a student, so we just never watched any tv for 3 years. Missed out on quite a lot of news lol.
How do they even enforce the TV licence, can't you just buy a tv and watch the channels that are broadcast through the air?
They claim they have equipment to check if your using it, we were told if a van is in the area it will know lol. Luckily i dont even like tv, but i would appreciate being able to have the news channel on while cooking or whatever.
Maybe I just don't understand the value of money or I've always been in a cushy environment but I'd gladly pay £140 a year just for Doctor Who, Top Gear, BBC news, all the David Attenborough programs that are on there and then my ~hour and a half of Family Guy and American Dad combo every night on BBC3. It probably averages out to maybe 2 hours on the average night, and call it 200 nights of the year I'd actually bother. That's 400 hours a year. That's 35 pence an hour. That's also with not a huge amount of tv watching. Seems pretty fair to me.
Last edited by MerinPally; 2012-12-07 at 03:26 PM.
That's a good point that I had nearly forgotton: Even american shows and films are commercial-free on the BBC. It's really odd seeing how many "cut-to-black" sections these shows have where they would normally be filled with adverts, but on the BBC they just keep going.
It makes me glad I don't live in america - having 2 sets of adverts in a 25 minute show would drive me crazy.
T.V. won't be around in its current state for long so the question is fairly irrelevant. Expect to see a model similar to a F2P mmo mixed with Itunes. You buy each episode of a show(or a subscription to a news show) or you go free to watch and have ads.
That said, America does have the Public Broadcasting System which runs off of donations, merchandising and government funds. Its news is generally pretty left leaning though. The great thing about the free market is people can choose what they want to watch and decide for themselves what is balanced, because everyone has a different perspective and different values that they prioritize.
Also I like BBC for many things- Especially Doctor Who and Merlin!
mute tv and walk away, go to the bathroom its like a few min where the show isn't on, and that makes our TV free to the consumer.
---------- Post added 2012-12-07 at 03:45 PM ----------
Your first Idea is kinda already in effect with things like hulu plus. If you pay for hulu plus you get no advertizements and you can just watch stuff, but if you just want to watch hulu normal you have to watch a few adds, usually maybe 5 30 sec commerials over the course of a 45 min show.
There is equipment used that is supposed to pick up and display what you tv is showing i don't know how well or if it works with plasma or lcd sets though
Other than that they assume every household has a set and every set sold requires you name and address...if you haven't got a licence they'll know and then it's just down to them checking.
I have no complaints about the license fee at all. The fact the BBC doesn't have to worry about commercial pressures means it can experiment and try new things or cater to niche markets. I'd rather have lots of different things that are each loved by a minority of people than some bland trash that is liked (or at least tolerated) by a vast majority because we've seen what the latter is, and it involves celebrities and telephone votes.
Plus, compare some of the stuff produced by the History Channel and Natural Geographic to documentaries by David Attenborough or Horizon.
Who would determine that it is balanced. It will end up being one sides mouthpiece that the public is forced to pay for
BBC... High Quality TV shows ? Make me laugh more.
Occasionally we get a really good natural history program, Maybe a good period drama, or even a semi good TV series.
But believe me the £145 per year TAX (because that is what it is, you have to pay it regardless if you watch BBC Channels, or any TV in the UK) Does not justify the sheer amount of crap that is on the various BBC TV channels (regardless of a few gems that it produces). Let alone what is on the radio stations.
Yes the BBC news has good news reporting, but this is the only thing that is going in its favor, also with the recent troubles that the BBC has suffered (including the possible cover up / ignoring of Jimmy Savile's possible sexual assaults against children, and that they where complicit in tax evasion from some well known celebrities ) then it is in my opinion time for a massive change of how the BBC is run, how it is funded, and more importantly, give people the choice of not paying the tax and not being able to receive the TV channels.
The BBC is an antiquated service and needs to change a lot of its ways before I will ever consider paying the money they demand for watching TV.
I guess i would if the channels are interessting.
The BBC is hardly what I'd call "fair and balanced". They're not Fox News, but they've got plenty of bias of their own. They're also a state-backed media organization, which makes me a little bit wary.
Human progress isn't measured by industry. It's measured by the value you place on a life.
Just, be kind.
Yes they are.
But we also have to put up a lot of shit programs, and repeats.
Most of the daily programing is made up of a team of presenters showing people
- Buying a house at an auction, then showing it done up and what they could sell it for. (not the actual restoration which sometimes could be interesting)
- A Team of presenters going round someones house to sell things at an auction so the people involved can do something they want.
- A couple of "experts" buying antiques at a store then selling them at an auction
- People giving a presenter a budget saying they want to move to the countryside then get shown a couple of "interesting" properties
- A Show about a business looking for the Hiers of dead people to try and sign them up to that business to see if they can find out if they are to get any inheritance.
- A repeat of a period TV show that was shown over 12 years ago
- A Repeat of a Game show
Much of these (if not all) are repeats of shows well over a year old and this is just off the top of my head from BBC1. There is the other BBC channels (2, 3, 4, etc)
Now dont get me wrong, I expect repeats of shows there is no way that they could have 100% new programming every single day of the week, Just not possible. However I also dont expect to see repeats of TV Game shows from a couple of years back, or the same type of program with different presenters and location (and repeated) I mean how many times can someone put up with someone buying antiques, then selling them ?
Like I said, yes Beeb does produce some great shows like Dr Who and a few others. But the amount of crap it produces is far more. People outside of the UK only get to see the good stuff and not all the rest to put it into context. Talking of which, Copper is one of the best entertainment programs from the BBC I have seen in many many years comes from BBC America. Funny how a great TV program, is made by a British TV station, yet is first shown on an American station and yet to be shown over here.
Last edited by mmocd8f86ed6f0; 2012-12-08 at 02:15 PM.
Aye the TV license...was a time when you watched the BBC channels and there was no advertising other than a static screen listing the programs that were coming up through the evening. Now we may not have commercial ads, but they fill those slots between their shows with enough *advertising* of their own shows. So much so that it feels like any other channel with ads.
I'd rather they gave us the option of buying a TV license, I can do without the BBC channels pretty easily.
They have a database of everyone who buys a new TV, they then send you a letter saying you need a license, if you dont buy one then you get another letter saying TV detector vans are in your area (look up Myth of the TV detector Van) Occasionally they will send someone to your home and you are under no obligation to let them in, you can simply tell them to go away and they have to.
Truth be told there is no way to enforce it other than encrypting the channels and providing everyone a decrypt device when they pay the tax.
Just to be perfectly clear, I have not paid the TV Tax in over 10 years, I have had two or 3 letters about vans in the area, and one visit (who was told to go away) once a year I get a reminder, and once a year it goes straight in the bin.
Last edited by mmocd8f86ed6f0; 2012-12-08 at 02:27 PM.
Just owning a TV/PC/Phone that is capable of receiving live TV = TV license required.
I watch all my stuff online or via my ISP's TV, not live yet still have to have a TV license. If there was an option to not receive ANY BBC stuff so i wouldn't have to pay a TV license, i'd be on it like stink on good cheese.
In regards to buying a new TV from a store. You have to provide a valid address when purchasing any TV receiving equipment, that data then gets sent off to the TV license people who then send you a letter.
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-i...impaired-aud5/
This is also my most hated part of the TV license.
Last edited by mmoc2810eb85ec; 2012-12-08 at 02:32 PM. Reason: More info