Should BBC go ?

Discussion in 'Just Talk' started by quasar9, Jan 18, 2022.

  1. quasar9

    quasar9 Screwfix Select

    I note that the minister for culture has decided to freeze BBC fees for two years, while it’s future funding model is debated. I read this as a shot across the bow, warning BBC to prepare itself to the day when it’s public funding will be cut off and the law changed so that owning a TV does not entitle BBC to claim a licence fee.

    I used to be a critic of the BBC when younger as it had no relevance to me but changed my views as I got older but now I am not a fan any longer !

    It seems to have become a propaganda channel, not one of the government as is the usual case in some countries that use this licensing model, but a law of its own. Just look at the morning news (called Breakfast, so BBC can claim it’s another current event program and not necessarily the news) to understand what I mean !
     
  2. MRY

    MRY Screwfix Select

    I don't really care if it's biassed or whatever the media (with its own bias!) or people with their own percepions think. I can make my own mind up about that, and agree with it or disdain it!

    What I do care about is that if I want to watch "live" broadcasts, from anywhere in the world or beyond, I have to pay the BBC to see them, even if they're from a completely free provider. THe BBC gets the licence fee, and apart from a tiny payment in partnership with Welsh language broadcaster S4C, no-one else does. I think that's iniquitous. To use a real-life comparison, whould I be happy to pay a fee to Toolstation to shop at Screwfix? No!

    So the funding is what I object to. Anything that preserves the general model, i.e. people pay the BBC in some way to watch, and have to pay if even they want to watch free non-BBC channels, is not acceptable. So that means no licence fee as it stands now, no general levy on internet connections, or on council tax, or anything like that. How will they fund themselves? Advertising, subscription, whatever. Not by an unfair fee which everyone must pay to watch "live" TV. If the BBC cannot deal with this, it should be broken up, and its assets, tangible and intangible, sold off to any other company that wants them.

    I have not bought a TV licence for some years. Do I miss watching TV? Not really, when theree's so much stored stuff on "catch up", the 'net, etc, which a "loophole" allows me to see without a licence fee. What I do find is that when "the media" witter on about "slebs", I have no idea what they are on about, and if I look these people up, I find I have no desire to know!
     
    NJ Rider, Johnik and longboat like this.
  3. rogerk101

    rogerk101 Screwfix Select

    The British Brainwashing Corporation is just that ... and there is no way I will ever again pay the ridiculous licence fee to perpetuate their existence.

    They are the founders of the Trusted News Initiative, which is nothing more than a censorship organisation, which basically means they're the UN-Trusted News Initiative!
     
  4. BiancoTheGiraffe

    BiancoTheGiraffe Screwfix Select

    I don't think it should go, but I do think the TV license should be scrapped and the BBC made to fund itself either through subscription or advertising.

    They can't keep defending the insanity of having to pay for the BBC in order to watch other broadcasters content.

    On the subject of the license fee, I don't pay it, mainly because I haven't actually lived in my house for two years during renovations. However, I get monthly threatening letters telling me I'm breaking the law, which are to all intents and purpoes harrassment.

    Why on earth are the TV licensing wombles allowed to threaten visits to my home to "check" I'm not breaking the law?!

    HMRC can't just drop by and check my books without reasonable suspicion that I'm doing something illegal. The police can't drop by whenever they like just to check that I'm not storing weapons or growing cannabis in the loft, so why the hell are the TV license lot any different?!
     
    Kitfit likes this.
  5. MRY

    MRY Screwfix Select

    You don't have to let them in. I had one come once, he stood outside the door and said "Can I come in to have a look around", ducking from side to side like a boxer. So I politely told him to go away, and left it at that.

    If they come back again with a search warrant and a policeman, then they do have the right to come in, and should be let in, or there will be trouble.
     
    Sparkielev likes this.
  6. BiancoTheGiraffe

    BiancoTheGiraffe Screwfix Select

    I don't let them in, I have no intention of letting them in.

    The point is, why on earth are they able to get a warrant? The police can't just get warrants without reason to think there's something wrong, why the hell should the TV license people be allowed to?
     
  7. quasar9

    quasar9 Screwfix Select

    Good points made above. I have no issues with BBC carrying on in any way which they want to go, just don’t do it with our money. I just realised the costs for BBC over a year is roughly the same as Netflix. Amazon is a good deal if you already have Prime. There are others too entering the market and BBC used to the comfort of a fixed and known income will find it tough going in this competitive market. On the flip side, it will remove the yolk of the government which is increasingly pushing it to move to locations it wants.

    It’s somewhat strange that BBC somehow survived the privatisation of much of our transport, utilities and others.
     
  8. Bob Rathbone

    Bob Rathbone Screwfix Select

    OK, so we believe that the BBC is the propaganda arm of government, they control the funding, they call the shots. That is slightly better than Sky being the propaganda arm of the Murdoch corp, at lease we have some say over the government who control the BBC. The quality of the output of the BBC has fallen over the years, due to funding cuts. The only solution is the fund the BBC from a non politically aligned source with the director being selected by non political people, how we do that I do not know. Even if we go down the commercial route for the BBC, the government will still be in control, the additional air space for adverts will increase, making them cheaper for the advertiser, leading to more adverts being needed to fund the channel. That would be a race to the bottom.
     
    WillyEckerslike likes this.
  9. BiancoTheGiraffe

    BiancoTheGiraffe Screwfix Select

    If the BBC really is the "propaganda arm" of the government, how come there's such a massive left wing bias?
     
    rogerk101, PhilSo and Peterdevon like this.
  10. Nail_2512

    Nail_2512 Member

    stevie22 and rogerk101 like this.
  11. quasar9

    quasar9 Screwfix Select

    A few points - as I said before, BBC seems to have its own agenda, hence the wrath from the current government.

    with arrival of direct satellite broadcasting and then with ever increasing speed of the internet, democratic governments no longer have complete control over broadcasting . The days of radio Caroline (it’s back on the internet ) broadcasting from a ship moored in the North Sea and gov’s ( or rather the BBC) attempt to initially jam it and when that failed launched Radio 1 as a spoiler. Not an initial success, it only improved its performance after arrival of commercial stations like Capital Radio.

    Much of the same could be said of BBC1 till the arrival of ITV. Sure, people watched it because there was nothing else , it was a monopoly. If it had to compete with others from day 1, it would have folded a long time ago.

    The only frequencies now desirable and controlled by the governments are in mobile comms spectrum in the GHz range.
     
  12. rogerk101

    rogerk101 Screwfix Select

    I certainly don't believe that. In fact the BBC hates the Conservative Party, especially when they are in government. They LOVE that snake, Tony Blair, which is why they keep interviewing him as if the general population cares what the opinions are of a war criminal.

    No one has to pay to support Sky, so who cares whether they are the mouthpiece for Rupert Murdoch. You don't like them ... you don't watch them ... simple. In fact even if like many of us you despise the BBC, but want to watch Sky, or anything else on Freeview, you still have to pay the licence fee to keep the brainwashing going. It's a disgrace that we have no choice in the matter. If the BBC were to lose its funding from the licence fee payers, it would fail. It's basically just a leech.
     
  13. Wayners

    Wayners Screwfix Select

    I'm all youtube, prime, netflix. Would not miss bbc
     
    longboat likes this.
  14. Mark Griffiths

    Mark Griffiths Active Member

    I think the BBC should get with the times. It’s already a subscription platform however it’s compulsory subscription. My opinion is that they should move to an optional subscription like the rest of the paid services or they should begin to allow adverts like the free channels.
     
    Nail_2512 likes this.
  15. quasar9

    quasar9 Screwfix Select

    One of the often stated reasons for not showing advertising is that they would become subject to demands of the advertisers. Apparently this would compromise on their strict standards and independence. This led to some monumental silliness. I still remember watching Blue Peter when likes of Kellogg cornflakes boxes and everready batteries had the names covered by black tape but one could still make out the brand ! Live broadcasts like sports were a serious problem as advertising could not be completely hidden!
     
  16. BiancoTheGiraffe

    BiancoTheGiraffe Screwfix Select

    I was watching an ITV drama the other night and in the first scene there was a close up shot of a washing machine which had the brand blurred out, but in the next scene someone was driving a Volvo which was clearly impossible to disguise!

    Crazy stuff!
     
    gadget man likes this.
  17. Bob Rathbone

    Bob Rathbone Screwfix Select

    That is just the right wing propaganda put about by those in power. They would prefer you to believe that someone else was in charge of the BBC so you don't apply your internal propaganda filter to get somewhere near the truth. Don't look at what the BBC broadcasts, look at the things they miss out, we should all be 'up in arms' (not literally) with the fuel cost increases, but the BBC has little to say.
     
  18. Bob Rathbone

    Bob Rathbone Screwfix Select

    Hi Roger, at the moment most of the anti Conservative rhetoric is coming out of the Conservative party. I agree that Blair is a war criminal and that the salaries paid to managers are obsene
     
  19. BiancoTheGiraffe

    BiancoTheGiraffe Screwfix Select

    You don't have to listen to "right wing propaganda" to see BBC bias, it's there in plain sight for all to see!
     
  20. quasar9

    quasar9 Screwfix Select

    Product placement ! Volvo obviously paid up but the washing machine manufacturer didn’t. Films and TV shows are full of product placements. Some are overt while others are more subtle. In the minority are progs that are historic, like those featuring murder etc where manufacturers choose not be associated.
     
    gadget man likes this.

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