BBC funding

I honestly think Britain is a lot better with the license fee.

You do get complainers saying "Well why should i pay to watch my TV when i hardly watch the BBC anyway" or "I don't even watch TV that much, i should be able to choose whether i pay the fee or not"
But what those complainers don't realise is just exactly how much they use the BBC whether they watch the television at all or not!

Not only do we have BBC 1, 2, 3, 4 on the television, we have Radio 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1Xtra, Asian Network, 5 Live Extra as well as around 50 different local radio services providing us with everything we need, including radio stations in native languages such as Native Welsh. I've probably missed some out even.

Even if you don't listen to the TV or Radio, absolutely no one who uses the internet can say that they haven't used the BBC News website at least once or twice a week. It's amazing the amount of information the BBC website has. I believe it is the biggest website in the world. If it was commercially funded it would be absolutely ruined. I work in a Media Centre at a college and we use BBC news pages for handouts almost everyday. Without it, i believe the internet would be a much worse off place.


And if you really want to get into the details of how the BBC works, they even do free services for the community. I.E. a local BBC station i visited in Sussex has free Internet lessons for the elderly.

If the license fee were to dissepear, i really believe Britain would be a lot worse off. The BBC would be majorly shaken up into a commercial broadcaster. Almost all those services i've mentioned above will no doubt be gone or at least partly gone because they aren't really commercially viable most of them. BBC radio stations will have adverts. Bigger and better programs like Doctor Who would never be made, because a commercial station is NOT going to spend that much money on a project like that unless they knew it would be a guaranteed ratings winner.

I honestly think Britain would be a worse off place without the license fee.

I not use BBC websites at all.

But nothing the BBC does will change the fact the fee is unfair. Its unfair on the people who wish to watch other channels that are not associated to the BBC.

And I don't see it matters much if the BBC designed ITV's new idents or not - they were not paid for by the licence fee, they were paid for by ITV.

Yes it would be wrong to lose the public service/community side to the BBC, which is why as I said before it should be run with maybe subscription or a reduced fee which pays for the services that are are not something that would seek a commercial interest.

If the adverts were nothing more than the ones as seen here on TV Forum they wouldn't harm the bbc.co.uk site one bit.

God you sound like Kevin the Teenager : "Oh my god it's so unFAIR!!!"

Skyonefan - please make sure your posts are grammatically correct - and you're 32 and live with your parents?!? Grow up!

I pay my taxes but due to good health havent been to a hospital in 5 years. Should I be demanding a refund of all the money I've given to the NHS? Should I be demanding the money spent on smokers diseases to be recinded due to me being a non-smoker? No.

I pay my taxes but due to non-neccessity I don't own or drive a car. Should I be demanding a refund of all the money I've given to road maintenence? Should my well earned pounds be spent on me rather than the common good? No.

I pay my taxes but due to not having any kids I havent exploited the public education system in this country since I left sixth form. Should I be demanding a refund of all the money I've given to helping my LEA? Should my PAYE tax be taken from other childrens' futures? No.

TV is taxed. It's £9 a month. The price of four beers, a decent dinner, a child ticket to a rugby game at the Millennium Stadium. It's money you'd fritter away elsewhere. I bet all the detractors on here have used Ceefax 555 to check the lotto numbers, or 316 to see the football scores on a tuesday night. (Alright I'll admit to personally using Sky Sports News more and more but for sheer ease of use Ceefax is better.) I bet all the detractors on here watched BBC N24 at some point on 7th July, September 11. I bet all the detractors on here have watched SOME sporting coverage on BBC.

And I bet all the detractors on here wouldn't deliberately not pay their licence fee to uphold their point of view like the council tax protestors.

7th July, September 11It was Sky News for me.

At the end of the day how is BBC the common good,But NHS ,Schools,and other suff is for the common good.

A public information service is an integral part of the common good. As stated somewhere it is part of the welfare state. The ability to communicate information clearly and quickly is vital in times of crisis. In the 2nd World War who kept people informed of the situation? The BBC Home Service. What if a nuclear bomb hit Britain ((it's possible, if improbable)? Where would you go for information if the public service broadcaster was subscription based?

Face it, your argument is baseless and rooted in fantasy. You think just because you watch Sky you shouldn't have to pay for the BBC. Maybe it seems unfair, but you are in the priveliged situation of having a full Sky package - like only 10 million people in the UK. That leaves 50 million without one. Is a subscription service for a PSB in the common good?

And you only need one post to reply - using two reeks of immaturity and bad forum skills. Read an entire post before answering. That way you don't look even more of an idiot than you patently are. (if that's possible)

Skyonefan, you do not pay a licence so you are not entitled to make comment.

The minute you put your hand in your pocket and pay then I will entertain your badly spelled ramblings.

Until then, I shall bid you good day.

*Doffs cap*.

Yes I forgot the BBC is the only well respected service isn't it? Well I think the public are not stupid. If ITV through ITN or Channel 4 through ITN provided public service information or urgent news people would believe it just as much as Celebrity Natasha "lets dance" Kaplinski (or whateve she's called) telling us it on BBC1.

WHO THE F**K DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TELLING ME WHAT I CAN SAY. I HAVE GOT THE RIGHT TO SAY WHAT I LIKE. ABOUT WHAT I LIKE.

I don't think anyone would begrudge paying for the NHS and schools it is a service that we have all used or may need to use in the future. The BBC is a over fed giant that needs cutting back in order for it to run without money being wasted.

I went to see BBC Radio Newcastle's studios in 1997 because a mate worked at their studios. They were still using tape to make reports, and the equiptment was from the early 1980s by the looks of it. The nearest commercial rival was a full computer operated station. Something tells me thats not such a good thing. It will have changed now, but it shows the fee does not meet all the needs.

I think ITV is one of the least respected news outlets due to its overzealous right-of-centre and crassly tacky presentation.