TV license

[jim8flog]

I hope you’ve removed the radio out of you car then as well.

now there is a memory

I am old enough to remember when you had to have a separate broadcast receiving licence for a radio in the car.

My mate once got stopped by the police and was asked to produce his documents. The copper was quite astounded when my mate also showed him the radio licence.

 

[jim8flog]

It should be funded through PAYE, fairer for most, and removes the ability to opt out of paying.

That assumes you pay tax via PAYE, or any tax in the first instance.

 

[jim8flog]

If you want a simple way to fund it and ensure most are paying it. Add it to council tax and business rates.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

now there is a memory

I am old enough to remember when you had to have a separate broadcast receiving licence for a radio in the car.

My mate once got stopped by the police and was asked to produce his documents. The copper was quite astounded when my mate also showed him the radio licence.

As far as I am aware, businesses that have radios on are still supposed to have a broadcasting license.

 

[jim8flog]

The argument about too many ad breaks is rubbish. Neither hbo nor Netflix have ad breaks.

Soon to be coming with the economy subscription.

 

[jim8flog]

As far as I am aware, businesses that have radios on are still supposed to have a broadcasting license.

Quick google search and you are mainly right. Needed if you use multiple speakers.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Quick google search and you are mainly right. Needed if you use multiple speakers.

Does multiple radios then equate to multiple speakers then?
Just asking

 

[PNWokingham]

Quality of content isn't the issue. It's the manner in which it is delivered.
Traditional broadcast TV allowed us to get everything available through a single "subscription" (the TV licence). And because there's an advert free BBC service, the competitors cannot afford to broadcast their content in a significantly more irritating way. Take away the BBC and there's no standard they have to match.

Hard disk recorders make catch-up, multi-room playback and ad-skipping simple, so convenience is not an issue.

The advent of streaming has fragmented the marketplace. There is now lots of great content scattered around multiple services, and if I want to watch it all I have to pay multiple subscriptions. If I want to stream ITV/C4/C5/etc I have to put up with loads of unskippable adverts or pay yet more subscriptions. And this when there are only a few worthwhile programmes on each platform. In the end we, the consumers, get to pay WAY more than the apparently much hated TV licence.

Let nobody be fooled: the move from broadcast to streaming is fundamentally a way to extract more money from viewers.

the solution to keep the bbc as some people may like and to keep those happy that do not want to pay is simple - to make the licence fee/subscription optional - let those that want ad-free in a likely new online format pay for that service and let those happy to have commercial adverts etc watch that in that fashion and dip in and out as they can on all other commercial and online platforms.

The crux of this is issue is that many many people are forced to pay for the Licence fee for a service that they do not want and are thus subsidising those that do want it delivered in this way (which i am pretty sure is a shrinking minority). Everbody wins - simples

 

[Lord Tyrion]

As far as I am aware, businesses that have radios on are still supposed to have a broadcasting license.

They do, we do. I think we pay to the PRS, it might have changed? The money goes to the artists, writers etc rather than broadcasters I believe. The amount you pay depends on whether it is in house only or heard by the public. A shop playing music, for example, will pay for more than we do, in an enclosed factory.

@jim8flog stop sticking more on our business rates . We are already a cash cow for the authorities, we don't need this adding on top.

 

[cliveb]

the solution to keep the bbc as some people may like and to keep those happy that do not want to pay is simple - to make the licence fee/subscription optional - let those that want ad-free in a likely new online format pay for that service and let those happy to have commercial adverts etc watch that in that fashion and dip in and out as they can on all other commercial and online platforms.

If you make the licence fee optional, many will opt out and the BBC will collapse. This is not a good outcome.

The crux of this is issue is that many many people are forced to pay for the Licence fee for a service that they do not want and are thus subsidising those that do want it delivered in this way (which i am pretty sure is a shrinking minority). Everbody wins - simples

Everyone pays for all kinds of services they don't want or use. It's called maintaining a decent society. A quality PBS is one aspect of a decent society that should be maintained.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

We have a close friend who is a senior supervising editor for NPR in the states. She was recently telling us how incredibly difficult her job was during the T**** presidency and since from him and the G**. Serious interference and threats whenever they contradicted, ‘told truth to power’, or threatened to drift from the line.

Start undermining or narrowing the BBC remit and source of funding and that is the route we start down, regardless of how well we might think news balance and independence would be protected.

 

[GB72]

I would acually be happier if the BBC became more niche. The remit as I understand it is to provide scheduling that is not provided elsewhere. The problem, in my mnd anyway, is that the BBC has moved away from this and actually does not offer much different to what is being offered elsewhere. There is little to doferentiate its programming from commercial TV Outlets. Soap operas, cheap drama, reality tv, all covered eleswhere. I would like to see the BBC focus on a few high end dramas that it does so well and then more regional programming or more niche and risky (in a will it be popular sense) shows. As for sport, same thing, I would like to see the end of football, that can be seen anywhere and be picked up by anotehr channel, and see sports that would benefot from the added attention that public service broadcasting would give. I would like to see radio promoting new bands and new music for a section of every show and hot have a populist playlist like the commercial stations have.

I would like the BBC to use the unique method of funding to develop unique or niche viewng options as opposed to being a publicly funded station with a commercial station approach.

 

[jim8flog]

I would like the BBC to use the unique method of funding to develop unique or niche viewing options as opposed to being a publicly funded station with a commercial station approach.

Is this not what publicly funded Channel 4 is supposed to do?

 

[PNWokingham]

If you make the licence fee optional, many will opt out and the BBC will collapse. This is not a good outcome.


Everyone pays for all kinds of services they don't want or use. It's called maintaining a decent society. A quality PBS is one aspect of a decent society that should be maintained.

and making it commercial and paying for itself - and remember BBC Studios already make a ton of advertising funded/commercial revenue around the world - will enable them to continue producing similar content, hopefully focussing on drama, documentary and wildlife/nature. this already competes across the spectrum of peers. The news/ current affairs remit can also continue with a large part covered from the Treasury. The BBC continues to hopefully thrive on a business model fit for purpose, not one designed when their were no alternatives. If there is a demand for content, someone will provide it, BBC or ANOther. It is now a small cog in a global marketplace not a UK monopoly/Duopoloy and should not be funded as such. This is nothing about "maintaining a decent society", it is about moving with the times and adapting to survive. The compulsory TV licence looks like it will end in 2027 and Aunty Beeb will need to fight to survive in a digital age.

And as to collapsng if optional - that highlights the point - the large majority do not want to pay for it. But many will still keep loyal even with advertising, which i think is a far more likely option for the majority - but as said, they could keep the option to "opt in" to a non advertising model for a fee similar to the licence fee for those that want it that way. Hence, everyone is a winner and the BBC survives to fight the big boys and hopefully thrives and continues to improve on what it does well

 

[PNWokingham]

We have a close friend who is a senior supervising editor for NPR in the states. She was recently telling us how incredibly difficult her job was during the T**** presidency and since from him and the G**. Serious interference and threats whenever they contradicted, ‘told truth to power’, or threatened to drift from the line.

Start undermining or narrowing the BBC remit and source of funding and that is the route we start down, regardless of how well we might think news balance and independence would be protected.

political again..............bla bla bla

 

[Crazyface]

I would acually be happier if the BBC became more niche. The remit as I understand it is to provide scheduling that is not provided elsewhere. The problem, in my mnd anyway, is that the BBC has moved away from this and actually does not offer much different to what is being offered elsewhere. There is little to doferentiate its programming from commercial TV Outlets. Soap operas, cheap drama, reality tv, all covered eleswhere. I would like to see the BBC focus on a few high end dramas that it does so well and then more regional programming or more niche and risky (in a will it be popular sense) shows. As for sport, same thing, I would like to see the end of football, that can be seen anywhere and be picked up by anotehr channel, and see sports that would benefot from the added attention that public service broadcasting would give. I would like to see radio promoting new bands and new music for a section of every show and hot have a populist playlist like the commercial stations have.

I would like the BBC to use the unique method of funding to develop unique or niche viewng options as opposed to being a publicly funded station with a commercial station approach.

Brilliant

 

[GB72]

Is this not what publicly funded Channel 4 is supposed to do?

They all are, the basis, to my understanding, is to free the channel from relying on viewing figures that would deem a channel a commercial success and to produce programmes without the requirement for high viewing figures. I am not saying it all needs to be obscure but too much now appears to have an eye on commercial success. As I said, just my opinion on what I would like to see to justify the unique funding method.

 

[Orikoru]

Why do some people seem to think you need a TV license for the radio?

 

[GB72]

Why do some people seem to think you need a TV license for the radio?

Fair point, I had lumped BBC radio in to my comments as they are licence fee funded.

 

[Orikoru]

Fair point, I had lumped BBC radio in to my comments as they are licence fee funded.

I wasn't referring to you specifically, it started on a previous pages. I suppose when talking about what the BBC provides the radio would spring to mind, but given that it's a TV licence discussion I don't really think it's relevant.

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