Bbc Licence Fee Extravaganza...

[Khandro]

... from the horse's mouth. Are you happy to keep paying for this?

[Mamyalynne]

Mr Ed?

[brainiac]

Loads of good things on the BBC, but I really object to the likes of Gary Lineker being paid £1.7 million a year to introduce clips of football matches, and then ask the two pundits in the studio 'what did you think of the game?'

[Spicerack]

No.

[pixie374]

No. After a thread on here recently, I rang the licensing people to see if I still needed to keep paying, and they said no.
I have had a refund and no longer need to pay for channels I don't watch. I did make it clear that my TV can receive them... but I don't watch them.

[Mamyalynne]

Whilst my first answer was flippant, having now listened to the piece in full he makes many salient points that need addressing.

Purely from a selfish angle, I derive a huge amount of pleasure and good entertainment for my £3 and a bit per week and I doubt I could get the breadth of what I enjoy for that money on a subscription channel.

Rather me,me I know but cash is tight.

[pixie374]

Fair enough, mamya. I use Netflix, Prime and YouTube. The subscriptions for those are roughly the same as the licence fee... with far more choice. If they want to take BBC from my TV, that is fine with me.

[Mamyalynne]

I realise many prefer films and epics and watch on their computers or have smart TVs - I accept there are things I'll never have - if it goes,it goes.

[albaqwerty]

~Pixie, did you get a no-licence-needed reference number?

[pixie374]

Not a reference number, albs. They said they would register it as "not needed" and contact me in 2 years to see if anything had changed xx

[albaqwerty]

My reason for asking is a bit obscure, but I'll try to keep it relevant.
:-)
About 3 years ago, went on-line to declare no-tv etc needed.
Ref No delivered and confirmed in email.
Last year, reminder letter appeared.
Went on-line etc. etc.
Then a month or so later, nothing but letters arriving stating I need a licence.

I've had my flipping reference number to hand since March last year and now, ready to fire at them if they ever turned up at my door - 2 dates have gone without a visit - I'm slightly peeved.
I've kept all correspondence (at last count, 23 letters)

[pixie374]

I once didn't have a TV at all, for about 8 years and got one visit in that time. They asked if they could check... I said yes, and they didn't bother. I think they are realising that there is so much cheaper competition now, that they are just not needed any more.

[Ken4155]

The Sunday Express did a two page spread on the scrapping of the licence fee. In it they featured a photo of Ricky Tomlinson of The Royle Family, with the caption which read, "Ricky Tomlinson leads a campaign against the BBC for forcing over 75s to pay for the tv licence." Unfortunately for the caption writer, a poster immediately behind the actor proclaimed, "Government should fund the over 75s' tv licence, not the BBC." Bit of an o.g., there.

[pixie374]

If anything, it should be about ability to pay, rather than age. But it should be possible nowadays (?) to just remove those channels from a TV.

[fender62]

bbc is an out dated service, harks back to the days of families sitting round the wireless.. there are so many alternative streaming services
choice is available pay or not pay again choice, mmm id like a coke but i have to pay pepsi, or shop at tesco, but have to pay asda.

[david small]

We pay it just for peace of mind. Yet another tax to be endured. Actually my wife pays it as I refuse.

[Haggisdj]

I do/will pay the BBC licence! I think that it is great value for money. I think that the TV programs are top notch, I use the web site continually and I constantly have the radio on... excellent value for around 40 pence a day!!

[ichkeria]

The BBC can’t really be compared to services such as Netflix which caters for a particular niche.
If every “particular niche” had to be paid for by subscription then it would cost a fortune to cost to come even close to the services offered by the BBC (and for that matter ITV etc)

[emmie]

No..

[woofgang]

I mind that I have no choice in the matter.

[youngmafbog]

An outdated tax. It should be abolished and the BBC should either be funded by subscription by those who want it or go commercial.

We are continually told so many want and love the BBC so it would appear that there will be no problem with the subscriptions.