How can the BBC License be justifyed?

Actualy i'll have you know i lead a very fulfilling life. Both The wrestling Channel and FX289 are personal favourites of mine. because they entertain me. but that is besides the point.


this topic is about how people are being Forced to fund the BBC or not be able to watch anything.

I don't see how anyone could find that fair.

Forgive me for making a sweeping judgement, but it seems you aren't old enough to need to pay for a TV Licence .. so I can't really appreciate your anger...

What it you don't use the NHS? Should you stop paying your taxes? Well of course, you can... as long as you don't mind the iron bars.

Yeah but this is TELEVISION were talking about.

I don't see how funding The NHS has anything to do with Funding the BBC.

Well of course, the NHS does save lives. But it's the same concept... only the BBC is certainly much more cash efficience and probably doesn't save as many lives... however, TV and Radio without the BBC would be like Healthcare without the NHS, one big hole...

... probably a crap thing to compare, I'm tired. All I have to say is that without the BBC, UK Television would be in a big mess. Your favourite channels would almost certainly close down due to a lack of advertising revenue.

I think you are missing the point. Let me give you an example, suppose I am a company advertising with ITV, I spend all of my television advertising budget with them. The BBC then start selling commercial space, i'll then spend half on ITV and half on the BBC. The overall amount of money available would decrease. The vast majority of Sky channels would cease to exist and the major broadcasters would find it very difficult.

Just to make this even clearer, having programmes that are 5-10 minutes shorter isn't the issue (although it does have it's own argument) it is the fact that there isn't enough ad revenue to make up for the loss of the licence fee.

That's true, the last thing we want is the BBC to end up as ITV have become.

I'm having a great deal of difficulty understanding the comparisons some people are trying to make between the NHS and the BBC.

Are we not comparing chalk with pears?

The only connection I can think of is that there's a television in the Chemotherapy Suite at Royal United Hospital in Bath and that you're allowed to watch BBC One while you sit there for four-and-a-half hours having your treatment.

Does that help?

One thing that does really annoy me is the BBC never really come up with any alternatives to the licence fee themselves.

Also, the notion of public service television is very outdated. In the run up to the charter renewal the BBC - BBC2 especially - has put out more "public service" output and ratings have fallen - and just look at the ratings for BBC 4.

I'd certainly like to see the licence fee phased out by 2012 and the following implemented (this is all theoretical - obviously there would be problems!).

BBC TV as a subscription service, price at no more than £15 a month. This fee could also include UKTV.

BBC Radio becoming a seperate operation to BBC TV. The national stations would become commercial, under the banner "UK Radio". Local stations would also be commercial, either under the UK Radio banner or sold off to rivals.

The core BBC TV services would be BBC1 (general entertainment, comedy, drama!), BBC2 (incorporating BBC4 and timesharing with CBBC) and BBC3 (incorporating BBC2's youth programming and timesharing with CBeebies). These would not carry advertising, but would incorporate sponsorship. BBCi Interactive services also continue, but only with programme related content.

The BBC could offer some live events on a pay-per-view basis - these would be free to BBCsubscribers.

BBC News 24 would be rebranded UKTV News and be commercially funded. This would probably be FTA.

UKTV would be thrown in with the BBC subscription and slightly revamped. It remains commercially funded, with new channels including UKTV Film and UKTV Sport (for minority sports). A channel offering the best of UKTV ("UKTV Mix") would also launch and probably be FTA.

bbc.co.uk can carry banner advertising in the same way TV Forum does. Content wise, the News and Sport sections remain - but everything else is programme related.

Changing to subscription would cause some problems with rights - especially with sport - including flagship events such as the Olympics and FA Cup final.

One way around this is for events like this to be covered on "UKTV Mix" as well - though subscribing to the BBC would bring you a much better service - including the interactive extras! Events like the Six Nations would be live on the BBC, with highlights on UKTV Mix.

Events such as Comic Relief and Children in Need would also be simulcast on UKTV Mix.

Are you sure about that? that means around 12billion in income? didn't think it was that high

Brekkieboy:

Why do you want all radio to be commercial? I bloody hate listening to commercial radio these days where everything down to the DJ scratching their arse is sponsored. When I've listened to something like that for a while it's very refreshing to come back to a BBC station where there are no commercials.



Why?