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I have no idea why the TV tax is still a thing when digital streaming services seems to be thing.
The TV licence and the commercial licence to show live sports crippled pubs. There was a landlord who got done by using a Kodi in a pub, he was either grassed or just bad timing.
I not a had an inspector at my door for years but I do get letter's which I save for Winter log fire. If an inspector asked if I watch Match of The Day? I would roll on the floor with laughter.
Remember the inspectors can't look in window's or enter your property unless you invite them in. Sign nothing or better still don't answer the door to strangers.
I'm conflicted as in theory a high quality public service broadcaster is desirable and I don't mind paying. There is still enough to persuade me: Natural World, some dramas, sport radios 3 & 4. "In Our Time" with dear old Melvyn worth the fee alone. But my goodness I am tired and resentful of how political the BBC has become.
The principal of having the BBC is a good one, in my opinion.
If it is crap and has abused it's position, you stop that happening, not get rid of it entirely.
Honey wrote: The principal of having the BBC is a good one, in my opinion.
If it is crap and has abused it's position, you stop that happening, not get rid of it entirely.
In some ways the BBC reflects how society is. Is it even possible for the BBC to jettison its political agenda currently? How does it do it in this stifling atmosphere?
Wyot wrote: Honey wrote: The principal of having the BBC is a good one, in my opinion.
If it is crap and has abused it's position, you stop that happening, not get rid of it entirely.
In some ways the BBC reflects how society is. Is it even possible for the BBC to jettison its political agenda currently? How does it do it in this stifling atmosphere?
It's all the same to me Wyot. GB News is is funded by WEF globalists...they are just paid opposition.
Is the licence fee going to be phased out, I can't imagine people paying the tax hike.(If it goes up)
I have no idea people buy the licence in the first place. The inspectors are only salesman and need strong evidence for a warrant. I never answer the door, it's only bad news like a salesman, travellers wanting to odd jobs at silly prices but at the same time wanting to buy jewellery at low prices, local candidates or some old bint asking if I am on the electoral roll.
I don't vote, own my house got it cheap because it's rustic and I can't do jury service. So why be on it?
It is impossible to put broadcast tv via an aerial behind password encryption, let alone all the radio stations. The licence fee money doesn't just go to the bbc, but to all channels on freeview. It is not comparable to other streaming services like Netflix. Netflix and Prime have no live content, apart from some sport. I think we should keep the licence, if you don't want to pay for it, then don't have a tv, just watch your streaming services through a laptop.
Green Man wrote: Freeview days are numbered also, the big tech companies want the the multiplexes for telecommunications.
I wouldn't be surprised if BBC sold their radio stations off also. OTT services seem to be the new normal these days.
It's a tax Robbie, very little go towards content. The production dramas are bought from production companies.
I think it would be a very sad day if the bbc and freeview were to go. I've had netflix and Geoff Bevos's slave factory channel (prime) a couple of months and seen everything worth seeing on them. They have no live content (except sport), and most of the series are overlong, just for the sake of generating more revenue. More tv is watched on freeview than by any other means. The cost of the other streaming services have gone up by about 40%, so the fact that the licence fee has gone up by 9% after a two year freeze is hardly surprising.
robbiex wrote: Green Man wrote: Freeview days are numbered also, the big tech companies want the the multiplexes for telecommunications.
I wouldn't be surprised if BBC sold their radio stations off also. OTT services seem to be the new normal these days.
It's a tax Robbie, very little go towards content. The production dramas are bought from production companies.
I think it would be a very sad day if the bbc and freeview were to go. I've had netflix and Geoff Bevos's slave factory channel (prime) a couple of months and seen everything worth seeing on them. They have no live content (except sport), and most of the series are overlong, just for the sake of generating more revenue. More tv is watched on freeview than by any other means. The cost of the other streaming services have gone up by about 40%, so the fact that the licence fee has gone up by 9% after a two year freeze is hardly surprising.
Freeview won't go but will only be accessible like Sky Glass over the Internet. I never watched it but people go on Freesports the only dedicated Freeview sports channel, the government could of salvaged it by giving it government support. But let the channel go. David Cameron pushed for free sports on TV after the London Olympics. I have a TV for DVD/Blu Ray only but it's rare I watch those. I only watch Jack Hargreaves Out of Town or Out of the Country, one of the last sets Network DVD put out before they went bankrupt. I don't pay for any streaming services and never will.
I rather watch YouTube or Rumble and a lot live channels do stream on both platforms.
Green Man wrote: It is OK BBC staff, a few of my mates have dodged the licence fee for 3 decades whilst they normal TV. They have gave the middle finger to you first.
Tick Tock.
So youy mates are criminals, no better than shoplifters. One of the reasons the license fee is so high is because of freeloaders like your mates.
Shows the model has failed then. USA TV is full of ads but there's a heck of a lot of terrestrial free sport that are not on cable.
My mate's have proved that TV work well without a tax. I have no idea why people pay for it at all. The inspectors can't enter your property. Unless you let them in.
Personally I think live TV is a dying format and has been for nearly a decade.
Green Man wrote: Shows the model has failed then. USA TV is full of ads but there's a heck of a lot of terrestrial free sport that are not on cable.
My mate's have proved that TV work well without a tax. I have no idea why people pay for it at all. The inspectors can't enter your property. Unless you let them in.
Personally I think live TV is a dying format and has been for nearly a decade.
People pay for it because it is the right thing to do. It costs a lot of money to make television programmes and most people accept that peoples work should be paid for. Most shoplifting isn't prosecuted these days, due to lack of resources, but most people don't shoplift. I think the decline of tv is exaggerated. In a recent poll in the right-wing newspaper the Daily Mail, the best tv programmes ever were Only Fools and Horses, Line of duty and Happy Valley. All on terrestrial tv. Young people don't watch tv, true, but they won't be young forever and their habits will change. Their attention span will increase. They don't use cash either, but the use of cash increased last year for the first time in ten years. I think the decline in tv has probably peaked. There are more and more streaming services offering increasingly smaller ranges of programmes and there are only so many streaming services people are willing to pay for. I got the Disney streaming service for a month to see the Beatles Get Back documentary, once I'd seen that I cancelled my subscription because there was very little else that I wanted to watch. If you want to have tv to purely watch dvds and blu-rays, that is fine, but it seems like a very expensive way of watching tv
A lot of ad revenue and sponsorship makes the programs. ITV make a lot and BBC buys them they make very little of their own content.
Depending on the young people I see a lot of them in pubs using cash it's normally the bohemian type that use cards, normally credit cards no doubt paid by their parents. Basingstoke and Bournemouth are the main 2 student towns I go to for work. Near me.
TV sets are flipping cheap these days and DVD's I have are birthday presents or cheap pick ups from charity shops, that I donate again. The only Blu Ray I have is Likely Lads Movie with 2 lost episodes.
I have never heard of Happy Valley then again I can't get no TV reception where I live...unless I get Freesat or Sky.
I don't go for for box sets that are cash ins either.
Credit cards are a godsend - free credit for a month, if you pay on time. Tap your card to pay; detailed receipt provided; no need to search for change. Bars, restaurants, shops, petrol stations, chippies etc. - all accept them now, including online businesses. Cash will be obsolete by the end of the decade.
Trevor S wrote: Credit cards are a godsend - free credit for a month, if you pay on time. Tap your card to pay; detailed receipt provided; no need to search for change. Bars, restaurants, shops, petrol stations, chippies etc. - all accept them now, including online businesses. Cash will be obsolete by the end of the decade.
At the same time easier to go in debt, I always carry a wad on me a lot shops near me prefer cash! Since lockdown I have been wary of money and I look after every penny. Funny I can always find my change in my wallet without problems.
If cash does better than cards again next year and so on it will last. I will give you an example. I was in Tesco last Saturday, the card only checkouts was deserted despite them being open.
People wanted to use cash and even the ATM outside there was a long queue.
Even the Metro branch in Basingstoke had queue of people, waiting to pour in their lose change they no doubt saved throughout the year for coin machine, then withdrawing the money from their accounts straight away.
I have no problem paying for diesel with cash at the forecourts same with my local boozer and the Chinese takeaway prefer cash as they don't have to pay for fees nor wait for the Wi-Fi to kick in. I don't chippies I can do it at home!
Green Man wrote: Trevor S wrote: Credit cards are a godsend - free credit for a month, if you pay on time. Tap your card to pay; detailed receipt provided; no need to search for change. Bars, restaurants, shops, petrol stations, chippies etc. - all accept them now, including online businesses. Cash will be obsolete by the end of the decade.
At the same time easier to go in debt, I always carry a wad on me a lot shops near me prefer cash! Since lockdown I have been wary of money and I look after every penny. Funny I can always find my change in my wallet without problems.
If cash does better than cards again next year and so on it will last. I will give you an example. I was in Tesco last Saturday, the card only checkouts was deserted despite them being open.
People wanted to use cash and even the ATM outside there was a long queue.
Even the Metro branch in Basingstoke had queue of people, waiting to pour in their lose change they no doubt saved throughout the year for coin machine, then withdrawing the money from their accounts straight away.
I have no problem paying for diesel with cash at the forecourts same with my local boozer and the Chinese takeaway prefer cash as they don't have to pay for fees nor wait for the Wi-Fi to kick in. I don't chippies I can do it at home!
Credit and Debit cards of course have their advantages, such as those described previously. However it also gives the authorities and companies a way of tracking your spending and using that information. For example if you were to buy a lot of petrol with cards, the information could be sold to insurance companies to rack up your insurance because you drive a lot. The same goes for spending money in pubs and assumptions about your health regarding insurance companies. Many people including older people have never used credit cards or the internet in their life, due to poverty, or for cognitive reasons. I went on a boat trip recently from Runnymeade to Windsor. It was a three or four hour party boat. The bar only took cash due to lack of internet connection to process credit cards. I was one of the few people to have the foresight to have cash on me. The boot was on the other foot for a change and people weren't happy.
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