UK: Scrap the TV License fee

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 13 Jul 2008, 12:42

Many of the programs shown on BBC3 aren't suitable for younger teens.

Besides most teens are still watching TV between 10pm-1am. (That's if they're not out boosting cars or mugging old ladies...)

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 13 Jul 2008, 13:49

bradavon wrote: especially as the BBC is in financial crisis.

The BBC only have themself to blame. They have so many channels (radio and TV) now its a joke. Some get so few people viewing them, they loose cash every day if they had a brain in the company they would start shutting down the shuitty channels NOONE WATCHES. Esspecially the racist radio channels.

The BBC are scum basically, the spread themself so thin now the whole brand name is insulting. Yet people still praise them, scummy rip off merchants who need shutting down I say.

Do we see any of the cash they make from selling dvds, books, etc.. no.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 13 Jul 2008, 14:12

People praise them because BBC1, BBC2 and BBC News are very well made, on the whole. You may disagree but then look at some of the utter tosh on the Digital channels (including Sky/Cable). I do completely agree that this fact causes people to praise them to highly to the point they're happy to pay a whopping £135-140 a year, at it's current price.

Whenever I've brought it up with my Mum she says she wants to continue to pay her license because BBC has no adverts. What an utterly stupid reason for continuing to pay. It's definitely the under 40s who dislike paying.

BBC News is also one of the most unbiased news channels in the world. No I'm not saying it's complete unbiased just comparatively speaking it is.

The BBC does have to appeal to as many different types of people as possible, simply because the entire nation has to pay for it. I agree though in reality it's not exactly practical.

Markgway wrote:Many of the programs shown on BBC3 aren't suitable for younger teens.

I think it's "a young audience" channel so presumably that includes 18-25 too.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 13 Jul 2008, 14:25

The thing is adverts work, they have the world over, the BBC need our cash and get more from us than edverts, so they will never get rid of them.

I personally dont mind ads, but then I dont watch TV anyway to care that much

The figures they get for some of the digital radio channels are scary, basically the friends of the presneters listen and thats about it, yet they pile hundreds of thousands (cannoy remember exact figures) into them every month for them few people.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 13 Jul 2008, 14:27

I don't mind adverts either. I never really have. Especially when you own a Freeview, Sky or Cable PVR.

I especially don't mind now I'm forced to pay 140 fucking quid a year for two sodding channels and a news channels. That link above says the dude who runs the BBC is good value for, it's not if you only watch 3 channels

.

It also grates me I'm paying for channels/services I never watch/use. I've never used and won't ever use BBC iPlayer but I still pay for it. I may (and it's a big may) use it when/if it comes to Freesat but never before. A service showing lots of future potential.

I forgot BBC World Service is also very popular. I'm sure many smaller stations get limited listeners though.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 13 Jul 2008, 18:39

You pay an extortionate licence fee so the BBC channels have no ads, but EVERY other channel does. So it's not like paying prevents you having to watch ads. Might be worth the licence fee if they covered EVERY channel AND it was an opt in scheme. But as is, it's extortion. Pure and simple.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 13 Jul 2008, 20:34

bradavon wrote: It's definitely the under 40s who dislike paying.

it didn't bother me paying it when i was 25 and it doesn't bother me now i'm in my 40's

are you suggesting once the likes of you turn 40 you'll suddenly change your opinion and be happy to pay? if you don't like paying it at 39 you won't like paying it at 41 either

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 13 Jul 2008, 21:15

It SHOULD bother you!! Or do you have a lot of spare cash? Maybe they pay you too much at work?

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 13 Jul 2008, 21:28

what's the licence fee around £2.50 a week?i pay it monthly by DD and nope it doesn't bother me paying it in the slightest,sorry. Now the rip-off utilities of gas/electric/water on the other hand..

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 14 Jul 2008, 16:18

Yeah, but you need water, gas, electirc, etc... Do we NEED the BBC? 8)

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 14 Jul 2008, 16:28

So in other words, Salty is saying:-
"Paying £130 annually? I wipe my arse with £130!"

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 14 Jul 2008, 17:52

saltysam wrote:It didn't bother me paying it when i was 25 and it doesn't bother me now i'm in my 40's are you suggesting once the likes of you turn 40 you'll suddenly change your opinion and be happy to pay? if you don't like paying it at 39 you won't like paying it at 41 either

I don't mean anything in your comment. It was just a general comment, nothing more. As you knew full well

.

I would wager that "generally speaking" most over 40s are happy enough to pay but most under 40s are not (or maybe under 30s). Partially because they're been paying it so flipping long they quite simply don't know any different.

Good value for money or not, if you think about it, it is a cheek to charge to just watch TV. Why not charge to listen to the radio too?

saltysam wrote:what's the licence fee around £2.50 a week?i pay it monthly by DD and nope it doesn't bother me paying it in the slightest,sorry. Now the rip-off utilities of gas/electric/water on the other hand..

Sky is cheap when you break it down by the week but it doesn't stop it from being a rip off too.

It's completely irrelevant if it's only £2.50, it's still a forced price I have to pay (unless I want to watch no broadcast TV). Obviously you're one of those people who always fall for the "it's only this and that per week" marketing ploy

.

Just because utility bills rip you off it doesn't stop the TV Tax being a rip off. They're all rip off prices, plain and simple.

I also think it stinks that the unemployed, those on low wages and the blind don't get a discount. The latter apparently is coming in, to match up with deaf people.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 14 Jul 2008, 18:08

Thing is dont pay, people get away with it every day. I have know people who went easily 5 years and never got caught, the ones that did got off with it anyway. So really its only the odd old person who ever gets locked up for not paying

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 14 Jul 2008, 18:28

romerojpg wrote:Thing is dont pay, people get away with it every day. I have know people who went easily 5 years and never got caught, the ones that did got off with it anyway. So really its only the odd old person who ever gets locked up for not paying

I knew someone who thought that, till these guys paid him a visit:

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 14 Jul 2008, 18:38

bradavon wrote: Obviously you're one of those people who always fall for the "it's only this and that per week" marketing ploy .

i fall for fuck all.i pay big bucks for Sky HD and i accept that (my choice to pay) so why would £2.50 a week interest me?it's an irrelevance. i pay more in a month for my utilities than i do in a year for a tv licence.big deal.

bradavon wrote:doesn't stop the TV Tax being a rip off. They're all rip off prices, plain and simple.

i never said i agreed with a tv tax just that it's not something i remotely care about.if you feel so strongly either stop paying or buy a black & white licence.(if they still sell them)

bradavon wrote:I also think it stinks that the unemployed, those on low wages and the blind don't get a discount. The latter apparently is coming in, to match up with deaf people.

i agree with the low paid,disabled but the unemployed? i don't know but using you as a test case, months of taxpayer's money paid for you to live in a £600 a month bedsit, buy a steady stream of hd discs and finally buy a £500 player! sorry but if you managed to afford all that while claiming dole you could afford £2.50 a week you cheap fucker

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 14 Jul 2008, 18:45

Unemployed dont need free TV thats for sure.
Should never be in the house long enough to see a TV screen, should be out every second looking for a job.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 14 Jul 2008, 20:07

romerojpg wrote:Thing is dont pay, people get away with it every day. I have know people who went easily 5 years and never got caught, the ones that did got off with it anyway.

How did they get off? Personally I don't want to risk a criminal record. It's that simple. Which is a bit hypocritical when I have speeded in my car. I still wouldn't risk it though.

romerojpg wrote:Should never be in the house long enough to see a TV screen, should be out every second looking for a job.

You're expecting people to be out 24/7?

saltysam wrote:i pay big bucks for Sky HD and i accept that (my choice to pay)

Exactly! The TV tax is not your choice.

saltysam wrote:i pay more in a month for my utilities than i do in a year for a tv licence.big deal.

Presumabely you've used the articles at www.moneysavingexpert.com to see if you can reduce your outgoings? I've saved an absolute fortune using that site.

saltysam wrote:months of taxpayer's money paid for you to live in a £600 a month bedsit, buy a steady stream of hd discs and finally buy a £500 player! sorry but if you managed to afford all that while claiming dole you could afford £2.50 a week you cheap fucker

Just a few corrections:

* £550 a month - I'd have been sent to court if I was unable to pay. It's a legal contract. I don't feel guilty doing this. It was a "legal" stop gap (granted longer than antiquated) to get me back to work. We should be thankful it's there, if we ever need it.

£550 a month for a one bedroom flat is by no means expensive. You keep implying it is. It's not a bedsit, what gave you that idea?

* I didn't buy anywhere near as many HD Discs as you may think - I only own about 35 discs total and a fair few I bought before I was unemployed. I went months on end buying nothing. It just seems like I bought more than I did as I'd buy 3-4 in a go when they went stupidly cheap.
* The HD Player went out of my savings. It certainly was not paid for with jobseekers allowance - How do much do you think JSA pays you?

Last and by no means least I live "incredibly" frugally. Most people would NOT be able to live off what I lived off for a year. I'm even surprised how little I managed to live off.

Some facts for you:

* JSA - £121 every 2 weeks - So roughly £240 a month
* Council Tax £87 a month - Not necessary to pay
* Rent paid for - £550
* All other bills still needed paying: All per month:

* Broadband/Telephone - Yes Broadband is an essential, especially when looking for work in the IT field - £20-25
* Water - £13. It was £25 (I think), it then went down to £18 and now is currently £13. I now have a water meter.
* Electricity (incl. heating) - £25. It was originally £40. I originally paid pre-paid, not any more.
* Food - £110
* TV License - £35 (a quarter)
* Petrol costs - Virtually nothing. I walked everywhere.

As you can see money left over, which is remarkable when I was only living off £240 a month (+ my rent paid for and no council tax). Be thankful you guys have never lost your job, before you go dissing other people!

Now I'm working again my costs have obviously gone up. I spend roughly £120 a month on petrol and £2-3 on food a day for lunch.

Lastly it will come as no surprise to learn that the job centre is next to useless and provides no incentive to find work whatsoever. If I didn't want to I could still easily be unemployed now. They also talk down to you, like you're a complete and utter moron. Granted most people who go there probably are but I don't think I am (you may disagree

). There's no way I'd bother with it, if they didn't pay me cash to live.

p.s - Don't say I'm being "up myself again". You stated incorrect facts. I'm correcting them

.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 14 Jul 2008, 20:45

bradavon wrote:

Exactly! The TV tax is not your choice.

it is.you don't have to pay it.

bradavon wrote: Presumabely you've used the articles at www.moneysavingexpert.com to see if you can reduce your outgoings? I've saved an absolute fortune using that site.

yep but my water/gas/electric isn't far off £150 a month.don't forget i live in a 3 bedroomed house and gas/electric is increasing all the time.

bradavon wrote:£550 a month for a one bedroom flat is by no means expensive. You keep implying it is.

my mortage including buildings insurance is currently £114 a month for a 3 bed house.so yes £550 a month seems a lot to me for a flat.

bradavon wrote: How do much do you think JSA pays you?.

don't know,did they pay your rent on top of your allowance.because i'm guessing £70 & £135 a week rent equates to over £200 a week.not bad.i bet some people working fulltime in some jobs don't make that.in fact my daughter a fully qualified nursery nurse takes home less than £200 a week.

bradavon wrote:Last and by no means least I'm a cheap bastard

.

.

bradavon wrote:"Be thankful you guys have never lost your job, before you go dissing other people!

who is dissing anyone without a job?it could happen to anyone,i have a brother who hasn't worked in years.were you made redundant from your police job or were you sacked?i was criticising the fact you expected help with your tv licence while the taxpayer was paying £550 a month for your pad.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 15 Jul 2008, 00:49

saltysam wrote:don't forget i live in a 3 bedroomed house and gas/electric is increasing all the time.

Holy shit! Our entire house only has four (tiny) rooms. Can I move in with you?