TV Licence

[corydoras]

Even when it was legal to watch i-player without a licence, I was watching less than 2 hours a week of BBC programming. Do the math on that basis and it ain't quite as convincing.

Currently, I dont use subcription streaming either but the change to the law in September means that I am forever lost to the BBC. I suspect that the same is also true for tens of thousands of students every year. Eventually nobody will be prepared to pay auntie's special little tax.

it's 40p a day FFS, That's about 15p a day less than the standing charge for a British Gas Dual Fuel customer per annum.

[Ken L]

 

You need a TV licence to watch/record any TV programmes, not just the BBC.

 

It's going up by £1.50. per annum, less than a halfpenny a day.

Wrong. You need a licence to watch or record programs as they are broadcast (and to watch the i-player) and while it doesn't matter how you watch (terestrial broadcast, satalite, internet etc), a licence is only required to wat h or record live programming.

You can watch as much youtube as you like, you can watch catchup service other than i-player and you can watch streaming services so long as you are not watching content as it is broadcast.

 

As for Cory's observation, i don't care one way or another about the future of the licence fee. I have simply opted out.

I do think that charging for i-player was a huge tactical error. There's no longer a tempting little morsel to bring people back to the fold.

Edited March 3, 2017 by Ken L

[corydoras]

Wrong. You need a licence to watch or record programs as they are broadcast (and to watch the i-player) and while it doesn't matter how you watch (terestrial broadcast, satalite, internet etc), a licence is only required to wat h or record live programming.

You can watch as much youtube as you like, you can watch catchup service other than i-player and you can watch streaming services so long as you are not watching content as it is broadcast.

 

As for Cory's observation, i don't care one way or another about the future of the licence fee. I have simply opted out.

I do think that charging for i-player was a huge tactical error. There's no longer a tempting little morsel to bring people back to the fold.

Typical Libertarian, tight as a ducks jaxie and that's watertight.

Edited March 3, 2017 by corydoras

[chesters1]

Here is a question for you. If the BBC lose their charter to be funded by the TV Licence Fee what makes you think that that will mean that the Licence Fee will be abolished?

 

Be careful what you wish for. One of the things my two sprogs love to do when they come over to visit is to go to my mates house and watch some BBC (I don't have a TV). French TV is DIRE with very little original programming, adverts on every channel and they still pay something like a TV License. It's very hard to dodge the TV License it's part of their equivalent of our Council Tax.

DIRE? With this delight ,my kids loved it and another program with a person in a silver onesie ?!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f_oEovxpf8s

 

If its dire i expect most frogs will be watching bbc for free as can any other person with a dish within the astra footprint

Edited March 3, 2017 by chesters1

[ayjay]

Wrong. You need a licence to watch or record programs as they are broadcast (and to watch the i-player) and while it doesn't matter how you watch (terestrial broadcast, satalite, internet etc), a licence is only required to wat h or record live programming.

 

 

"We'll just go an have a word with our reporter on the scene" - "except for Ken L who must now go and watch adverts for 5 minutes"

 

There's very little that comes free in this world. It's less than a pint of beer a week.It's a lot less than most people splurge on their mobile phone contracts. I spend more filling garden bird-feeders in a week. I don't have a problem with it.

 

The BBC has slipped a long way from it's previous high standards, but it's still one of the best.

[Ken L]

Nah, ads are one of the reasons why I opted out of TV. That and the endless soaps and "reality" telivision.

[corydoras]

DIRE? With this delight ,my kids loved it and another program with a person in a silver onesie ?!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f_oEovxpf8s

 

If its dire i expect most frogs will be watching bbc for free as can any other person with a dish within the astra footprint

You don't see many dishes in France most people get their TV from Cable or DSL. I can'''t think of one friend or rellie who has a dish. You can get good DSL even in the deepest, darkest bocage.

[chesters1]

Strange indeed ,mind you if their internet was as slow as mine perhaps they would flourish ,lots in spain for the expats to watch corrie but they are big dishes as they are on the edge of the footprint.

98 english speaking channels in the clear (not counting regional) on astra 28' lots of sky ones for the card sharers ,with a non fixed system theres uncountable numbers with a clear view and big enough dish

Weve had sattelite before sky existed ,some people think sky IS satellite its just a little minnow in the pond lol

Edited March 3, 2017 by chesters1

[Steve Walker]

Personally, I don't generally watch it. I don't watch much TV, and what I do watch is mostly the kind of content they don't carry. I record a few things and watch them when I have time. At the moment, my Sky box is mostly recording Fortitude (Sky Atlantic), The Walking Dead (Sky Atlantic), Bones (Fox), Wheeler Dealers (Discovery). And Family Guy and American Dad, in the hope that I might eventually get an episode I've not seen. I've a load of fishing shows recorded that I might eventually get round to watching (Discovery). I'll get Game Of Thrones (Sky Atlantic) when that starts again. Oh, and I watched all of The Grand Tour, on demand on Amazon. Most of the time, if I flick through the channels, there's sod all on. BBC1 is wall to wall bilge that you can get on commercial terrestrial channels. BBC2 and BBC4 occasionally have something interesting on. If I had the choice of receiving and paying for BBC channels or declining, well, they'd have to offer it cheaper than the current licence fee before I'd consider it value for money. But I'm sure the many fans of The One Show, Eastenders and A Question of Sport would happily pay up, and that would be fine by me.

 

The only genuinely distinctive service the BBC provides, as far as I can see, is Radio 4.

[chesters1]

Bbc world is ok but despite us paying for it unless your dish is motorised only johny foreigner can see it

Theres also some forbidden to us non sky lot or those abroad ,hopefully they pay to see them?

https://www.bbcworldwide.com/channels/

 

Sky are also very canny they make their boxes very hard to use on free channels and scramble free ones so they can bung them in with their subscription

 

Some think the bbc are solely dependant on the licence fee or on selling bbc programms but they operate outside the uk criteria

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_BBC_television_channels

Edited March 3, 2017 by chesters1