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Do you think the TV license should be scrapped?

Should the TV license be scrapped?

  • Total voters
    43
I don't think the BBC are biased, personally. They never come across biased in their news reports and website articles (well, other than opinion articles, but those will naturally be biased by nature), and I can never seem to determine any sort of bias within their material.

Also, people who think that the BBC are biased can't seem to agree on which direction they're biased in, which I find very interesting. During the election campaign, for example, some people complained that they were too pro-Conservative and others complained that they were too pro-Labour.
 
BarryZola said:
Here we go again. "If you don't agree with me you're stupid and easily falling for the lies from some superior authority". That worked out well in the Brexit debate didn't it? :rolleyes: It is actually possible to have a debate without insulting the intelligence of those you're arguing with you know. Maybe try it some time.
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It depends if you have fallen for the Tory-Murdoch agenda or not that determines your intelligence - it's perfectly possible to oppose the BBC by coming to your own conclusions.
 
At the very least TV licence needs a re-brand. It's more than just a TV service. Even if you don't watch the BBC channels you probably listen to one of their radio stations or check their website for news. And even if you don't directly use the BBC many of the services you use will, and its all covered by TV licence.

Turning it into a subscription service would probably benefit the main BBC channels but for all the other less/non-profitable services there would be no reason for the BBC to keep supporting them. Just like any other business.

I'll admit despite my appreciation for these services I've not always had a TV licence. There's been times I've not watched live TV and so not needed to spend money on it. But I happily pay towards the NHS even though I've very rarely needed it. If TV license was rebranded to the National Media Service or something similar with maybe an optional fee for primetime shows i'd be more than happy to pay it. It wouldn't even be too expensive as the fee could be divided amoung everyone, not just per household.
 
Matt N said:
I must admit, I do like the BBC's unbiased news reporting
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Excuse me

The BBC are one of the most biased news institutions there is. Especially when it comes to things such as the Royal Family, Palestine and Israel. These topics have shown the BBC to be hugely biased in the past.the list could go on and on.

The BBC are very biased, if you say other wise. You need to open your eyes a little bit.
 
Tim said:
At the very least TV licence needs a re-brand. It's more than just a TV service. Even if you don't watch the BBC channels you probably listen to one of their radio stations or check their website for news. And even if you don't directly use the BBC many of the services you use will, and its all covered by TV licence.

Turning it into a subscription service would probably benefit the main BBC channels but for all the other less/non-profitable services there would be no reason for the BBC to keep supporting them. Just like any other business.

I'll admit despite my appreciation for these services I've not always had a TV licence. There's been times I've not watched live TV and so not needed to spend money on it. But I happily pay towards the NHS even though I've very rarely needed it. If TV license was rebranded to the National Media Service or something similar with maybe an optional fee for primetime shows i'd be more than happy to pay it. It wouldn't even be too expensive as the fee could be divided amoung everyone, not just per household.
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Perhaps funding it through taxation is the answer. That way the poorest pay very little for it, and it seems like a fair way to fund services like the website and radio which would be lost under a subscription model.
 
bluesonichd said:
out of interest, checked BBC2 programming for today, as from 6:45 am there are 23 programs showing today 19 of them are repeats o_O
WTF are we paying for :rolleyes:
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About ten national tv channels, four regional national channels, then local tv from a dozen more.
Also half a dozen national radio stations, similar regional, then forty local radio stations, including free local concerts in the radio studios, and a massive net news provision.
It is biased towards the establishment, and white, middle class gammon is becoming the main market.
Many other countries are envious of the reputation and standards of the BBC.
Even though it is run by winkers.
Personally, I find it excellent value.
But I'm old.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
The truth is that the only thing the Beeb gives a toss about is itself. They will support whatever political party is currently in power... Right up to the point that its obvious this party will loose the next election, when guess what? They suddenly support the new favourite!
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You would argue that since 2010 'the BBC' has been Tory leaning?

When I worked for the BBC, I never got the sense that colleagues had an agenda. If anything, they spent far too much time ensuring that they were impartial and whatever was written couldn't be construed as being biased either way.

I would also argue that 'The BBC' as an entity would struggle to be biased any which way, it's far too big and disorganised to be so. If you take someone like Andrew Neil, who you know is biased towards one side, I think he does a pretty good job of giving grief to both sides equally. That said, you could look at most entertainment output, like a Radio 4 panel show and they are almost always anti-Tory or anti-government, irrespective of who is in power.
 
Rick said:
You could look at most entertainment output, like a Radio 4 panel show and they are almost always anti-Tory or anti-government, irrespective of who is in power.
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I would say that is because
1. Most comedians are left-wing biased
2. It is far easier to mock the government than the opposition
 
Of course individual employees will always have their own views. (The vast majority of people I have met in 19 years in the industry are extremely left leaning.)
I've never worked in news, which is - naturally - the department that matters here. But I know many who do. Its not the people who work there that are biased, its the organisation itself.

... Allegedly. ;)
 
I was an ardent defender of the BBC for years, and still wouldn't want to live without it. I think their radio and music services, both regionally and nationally, are superb, and I love what they've done with 'Sounds'. Their recent collaborations with HBO and Netflix have been great and added something that wasn't there otherwise, and even as a casual sports fan, I'd much rather watch the football or Olympics there than anywhere else. They provide entertainment, enlightenment and information to swathes of people who might not be able to afford every shiny new stream.

However, I do think their news and politics coverage has become a little more establishment, even right-leaning in recent years. This is probably due to the enormous pressure they're under these days to justify themselves, with the threat of an establishment who want to defund them, as may now happen. I also used to say that the right and the left hating the BBC was a good thing, as it proved they had remained "neutral". But that was a different time, in a different social climate.

My personal opinion aside, recent events seem to have triggered a "down with everything" mentality that it may struggle to survive.
 
Perhaps their aim is to make the the news and politics right wing biased and the comedy left wing biased so everyone has some programs they can relate to and on average they are neutral
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Perhaps their aim is to make the the news and politics right wing biased and the comedy left wing biased so everyone has some programs they can relate to and on average they are neutral
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Hahaha, not sure if you're kidding? Definitely one of the most unique ideas I've seen on here, either way.

Historically, comedy almost always leans left-wing or at least anti-establishment. News, less so!
 
I love loads of BBC content but I do think the license model is outdated. Really, there's very little that the BBC have produced recently that I think is worth the fee for me. The thing I don't like about commercially funded programming is the tendency to play things safe and greenlight only that which will guarantee a big return. It's happening in cinema a lot but I don't know if the BBC are really safeguarding against that anymore as much as I think they might have done before.
 
I reckon changing the licence fee model is one of those things that is not really top of the list of priorities for most of the general public. Let's face it, when you consider the annual cost of running an average household, having to pay £157.50 (from April) isn't really a significant sum for most households. It's the politicians and some of the media who are trying to get people worked up and attempting to turn it into a bigger issue than it really is for their own agenda. A bit like membership of the European Union. Until about five years ago that was also an issue that was not top of priorities for most people and then look what happened.....
 
Is the issue not that many people are dropping the licence? Whilst £160 might be loose change over the year, when it comes to renewal it's easy to decide you don't want it.

This makes BBCs model already commercial, now that there are alternatives they have to consider keeping people subscribed instead of heading to netflix.

The BBC right now are in a disadvantageous position. Whilst their product is still high value and good for the cost to most households, it's becoming less so. It's also one of the least flexible TV subscriptions available. All internet providers are 1 month rolling contracts as far as I'm aware, so it's far easier to pick those up than a TV licence.

This means the content the BBC and the other channels put out live has to be good enough (and enough of an 'event') to get people to tune in and watch live, or at least in the first few days.

This is without mentioning the people who watch TV without a licence as there is basically no way to tell who is watching live TV.
 
One thing that I've heard mentioned is the possibility of "decriminalising" non-payment. If this happens, the only people who will pay it are BBC staff... because it's written in to their contracts that non-payment of the fee is a firing offense!
 
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