Free BBC from the licence fee?

[SpontaneousOrder]

Ah yes, no requirement for private tv company to have any revenues - everybody will work for free out of goodness of their hearts.

Do the BBC employees work for free and out of the goodness of their hearts?

[SpontaneousOrder]

They do by far the best programs IMO like BBC News, Father Brown, Shylock and er, um. Apart from The Simpsons and South Park and the occasional 70s horror film on The Horror Channel none of the other n million channels on Sky ever has anything worth watching.

Oh yeh, Merlin er um.

I don't really watch TV (apart from the HBO stuff that's often pretty good) so I can't comment on most of it, but you can't seriously be saying that the BBC news is good?! I'd always watch a mix of the best news channels from different countries to bet a more balanced view, but Id alway rate the likes of RT way above BBC news.

[Flashman]

Top Gear well past its best. Same with Dr Who.

Sherlock. Was going well but turned to crap in the last 20 minutes. Not bothered as long as head scriptwriter Stephen Moffat stays in charge. See Dr Who.

News? Prefer Russia Today. Its biased in its own way but so is the Beeb with its liberal lefty Guardian point of view.

I turned the Beeb commentary off for major events like the Olympics/Jubilee. Honestly a far better experience. Once you try it you won't go back to the commentary.



So £140 a year telly tax for Match of the Day ?

[vetran]

So £140 a year telly tax for Match of the Day ?

You forgot Question Time (or a Political Broadcast on behalf of the Labour party as we tend to call it).

[Flashman]

You forgot Question Time (or a Political Broadcast on behalf of the Labour party as we tend to call it).

Arrrrgggghh! .

Can't stand more than 5 minutes of that show. Panellists vary in quality. but every week the audience is packed with Labour drones.

[Kanye]

Is this bit true?

Currently the BBC prosecutes around almost 200,000 non-payers a year in England and Wales (2012: 193,049), an amazing one in 10 of all court cases.

I've never remotely heard of anyone done for no TV license. I think it's part of the myth.

[Gittins Gal]

I'd gladly pay double to be able to watch ground breaking drama like Waterloo Road and edgy comedy like Citizen Khan

[expat]

A BBC-by-subscription 'would be richer', MPs told





so are you willing to pay directly for the BBC?



this makes it attractive!

Yes. I'd prefer to pay per view though, since I only watch up to 4 programmes a week, all on BBC channels but none on BBC1.

[hyperD]

Is this bit true?


I've never remotely heard of anyone done for no TV license. I think it's part of the myth.

It could have been zero if everyone had politely closed the door when faced with the Capita Business Services salesman.

Remember folks, these are individuals with no special authority and have no right to enter your premises, the same as your milkman or the gasman. Just because they have a shiny badge and call themselves "Officers", don't be fooled, they are still door-to-door salesmen.

If everyone closed their doors on these salesmen, the cost of recovering the licence fee would be too expensive and that would be the end of that particular anachronism. A similar situation happened in New Zealand many years ago.

[Zero Liability]

I am guessing the enforcement of TV licences is a bit like IR35's and with similar aims.

Ah yes, no requirement for private tv company to have any revenues - everybody will work for free out of goodness of their hearts.

Well we're working on the premise that their work is so high quality that it's worthwhile taxing the population to support it (a concept I disagree with from the outset.) Surely if it is so valuable, they can come up with a business model that excludes advertising.