Public survey: 40 per cent think BBC license fee is good value

[jim]

I really struggle to believe that with all of the money wasted on 'enforcement' and the incessant letter writing the current arrangement is more efficient than just rolling it into council tax or similar.

But I don't really object to the fee. Yes, it sucks having to pay it, but I'd happily disconnect and stick with non-live and non-iplayer content if I wanted to not pay it. Is it really that awful that someone who wants to only watch ITV has to pay for a TV license? I hear this argument all the time but I'm sceptical.

Personally, even though I don't consume much of their content I can see that it provides great value for money, and I'd rather pay the fee for the rest of my life than see the BBC disappear and replaced by something on the level of ITV.

[spacein_vader]

I really struggle to believe that with all of the money wasted on 'enforcement' and the incessant letter writing the current arrangement is more efficient than just rolling it into council tax or similar.

The problem with making it a tax is the BBC would then be at the whims of the government of the day so may be inclined to give it more favourable coverage.

[Corky34]

They should just declare it a tax and make everyone pay it.

IIRC one of the government agency did that in 2006, 9, or a few years ago and arguably that's what's caused half the problems as now other government departments see the license fee like most taxes, in that they can plunder it for things it wasn't intended for, i.e broadband roll-out, funding the free OAP license, etc, etc, and that leave either less money for content or demands for higher fees.

[flearider]

try asking the beeb to declare what they pay the people that work for them ..
as it's public funded they should answer .. yet they don't what does that say to you ..
1 they think there a power unto themselves ..
the top boy's are milking us ..
take your pick ..

[scaryjim]

try asking the beeb to declare what they pay the people that work for them ...

I've seen several FOI releases from the BBC listing pay for various executives, and their general pay scales are freely available on their website (or at least were last time I applied for them, which was only a couple of years ago). Perhaps your google-fu simply isn't strong enough

[Saracen]

All I personally want from the bbc is to get rid of the blatant biases they have and just factually report stuff. They have reporters etc that have been pretty anti corbyn and it just feels crappy atm.

It 's hard to ctiticise the BBC for being, let's say, Corbyn-sceptic, when about 80% of his own party's MPs want(-ed) him gone.

That said, I'd certainly agree about the quality of BBC reporters, at least, politics and current affairs reporters. Newsnight is an utter disgrace, barely watchable, due to the vastly overpaid muppets that usually present it. Or perhaps, it's the culture of Newsnight turning them into muppets, as Evan Davis is a class A moron on Newsnight, but a pretty good interviewer on Bottom Line. Maybe it's editorial direction still trying to get one of them to out-Paxo Paxman. But whatever it is, Newsnight has gone from "must watch" for me, to "can't stand" entirely because of presentorial style.


My main criticism of this poll, however, is that it is statistically invalid because it does not adequately protect the impartiality of sample selection. Indeed, it horrifically pre-selects a bias into the sample, by virtue of being an online survey.

If polling for a henhouse guardian, don't ask only foxes!

[Wozza63]

People shouldn't be forced to pay for entertainment content like streaming rights for football matches which are far from cheap to host or paying extortionate wages for celebrity hosts. Should be a channel of opportunity for young talent breaking into the industry.

But, I'm not for getting rid of it. We need a source of news and politics that isn't in a few peoples interests. Which is why the EU funding was extremely concerning and I think the BBCs side on that debate was incredibly obvious compared to GEs where they do a pretty good job at staying neutral.

BBC should be a small, efficient entity that only offers important services. Leave entertainment to those that don't effectively force people to pay.

[aniilv]

The fact I have to pay licence fee when I don't even have access to bbc by having only VIASAT satellite dish connected is showing how outdated the system is.

To me, it's already a tax, I have no ability to watch/access British TV, yet I have to pay for it by law.

[Wrinkly]

The Brittish are not the smartest bunch when it comes to polls.

[excalibur1814]

I don't watch TV, at all, as I instead choose to buy box sets of shows I'd like to watch. This leads to some nasty letters from the BBC. It's almost like a criminal organisation bullying people!

Why is it LAW to pay for such a thing?

[EndlessWaves]

If it was 80%/90% then maybe, but with this level of disparity the poll has clearly been spiked. People have not voted on the question asked but have taken the opportunity to vent about other issues. It wouldn't surprise me if it was widely shared among campaign groups too and didn't represent anything like the normal readership.

The licence fee pays for radio, broadband rollout, participation in schools (Microbit etc.), the BBC website, weather app and many other things. It'd be good value even if you removed the TV channels from it.

Making it optional would require every single BBC service to implement a paywall. We'd have to replace all our radios and add set-top boxes to all TVs, and the one-off costs involved would be huge. Stuff like the participation in schools would likely get scrapped.

It ain't broken, stop trying to fix it.

[ik9000]

I don't watch TV, at all, as I instead choose to buy box sets of shows I'd like to watch. This leads to some nasty letters from the BBC. It's almost like a criminal organisation bullying people!

Why is it LAW to pay for such a thing?

the bbc don't send you any letters. If you read them you will notice they are from the TV licencing agency. A totally different entity, a gov dept I think, and nothing to do with the BBC

[spacein_vader]

the bbc don't send you any letters. If you read them you will notice they are from the TV licencing agency. A totally different entity, a gov dept I think, and nothing to do with the BBC

Not entirely true. The enforcement contract is currently with Capita, who were appointed by the BBC.

[tomthum]

should be free to all pensioners not just 75yr old buddies

Tom G Scotland

[spacein_vader]

should be free to all pensioners not just 75yr old buddies

Tom G Scotland

Shouldn't be free to any of them IMO.

[excalibur1814]

Nice positive title. Shouldn't it be "60% per cent think that the BBC licence fee is another form of tax, forced onto people, by a virtually criminal government!"?