Who thinks TV Licenses are good value?

[ACiD303]

I dont watch much TV (despite having basic cable channels) - but whilst I think the TV license is just (I wouldnt say tremendous value for money), I do somewhat agree that so many people wouldnt bother with BBC if they had the choice, or dont even watch TV but use it for purposes gaming etc.

The problem with presenting people with a choice is that so many would just not pay it and therefore the price of TV license would either go up and/or the quality of programing of the BBC would dramatically be cut.

I like the BBC, as said before, we have cable here, but I still prefer watching BBC news over the other news channels available. I only really watch BBC, Sky1 and C/E-4. That is when I watch it.

[VladTheImpaler]

You all seem to have forgotton something. Radio 1,2,3,4,5 Radio Solent, Radio Glasgow etc etc. All paid for by your TV fee! Damn good value if you ask me.

[Russ]

lets see,

match of the day
top gear

perfect

[RVF500]

You all seem to have forgotton something. Radio 1,2,3,4,5 Radio Solent, Radio Glasgow etc etc. All paid for by your TV fee! Damn good value if you ask me.

More services I don't use that I'm forced to pay for. The funny thing is. The state enforces the legislation but the BBC is well known for taking any opposite view of the state that it can. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you, and still getting fed That appeals to my sense of the ridiculous. I'm sure there is a message in there somewhere but it's early and I'm at the end of a set of long shifts so I'm too tired to winkle it out.

[Zedmeister]

Personally I'm happy to pay the fee, even if I only watch a handful of programmes on telly.

I personally really do find various BBC documentaries thought provoking and quite well put together and comedy is brilliant!

Don't forget some of the unsung work done by the BBC's R&D department...

[joshwa]

I don't watch TV. (just videos and dvds)

Last year the TV License people sent me a letter every 2-3 weeks telling me that I had to buy a TV License, even though I told them that I don't watch TV.

Anyway, they came round my new house, checked out my TV, said it was fine, only problem was that a month later I kept getting letters...! (PS - You don't need a TV license to listen to the radio)

This year I sent them a recorded letter telling them that because they hadn't updated their records that they were in breach of the Data protection act (which states that any data held about me must be kept up to date and accurate). Since then they've decided not to send me letters

If you watch Top Gear on BBC, and pay £121 a year for it - when you could wait a year and buy it on dvd for £15 - which is better value for money?

[daniel_owen_uk]

Personally I think the BBC which is funded by the tv licence is good value for money.

The quality of the programming on the bbc is superb, from MOTD, spooks, top gear etc.

The radio stations (despite not needing a tv licence to listen to them) is funded by the tv licence, and radio 1 is my main station.

The bbc website is imo, second to none.

[BEANFro Elite]

The tv license is absolute rubbish!! its kind of like taxing air, this is to say that the majority of the uk's population has a tv, so knowing this the bbc instead of only requiring you to pay for watching terrestial tv, make you pay for the privialge of having a tv in your house that is able to receive signals even if you only use it to watch vids, dvds or play games on.

This also denies a basic human right to free information.

the sooner its banned the better.

[Barakka]

I think it's fine. The way that the BBC is funded is what allows it to produce the standard of programming that is envied the world over. The fact that it is not commercial allows them to not have to think about viewing or listening figures as much as commercial stations. And not have to bow to the corporate money cow in order to continue. Someone mentioned that it bites the hand that feeds it, I think that is Very VERY Good, in todays world where everything is sponsored by someone (Channel4 films - Stella Artois, Corronation Street - Cadburys, The Simpsons - Pizza Hut and on, and on...)

The television service is second to none, no two channels on terrestrial or digital provide the variety and quality of BBC1 and 2. The radio service is also outstanding, 1,2,3,4 and 5 are excellent, and the WorldService provides a service indispensible to many ExPats all over the world.

I understand the views about opting out of the licence fee, I used to think the same... however, any methods of restricting access to the BBC would just be horrific to try and implement, akin to getting BT to replace the entire telephone network. How long before everyone can get Freeview ? and they started rolling that out in what 96/97 ?

Also repeats, while annoying at times, IMO are better than endless American TV comedy shows that the other channels show. The BBC produces most of its own programming and to a standard that is higher than a lot of commercial productions.

Would John Peel have been able to keep playing what he wanted and not sticking to playlists for as long as he did if he'd been at a commercial station ? I doubt it, in fact I think the BBC has introduced me to more new music over the years than anything else. For that I am thankful and don't mind paying my £9 a month

[nichomach]

^What Barakka said. Double.^

[Kumagoro]

What i mean is you cant really judge the quality of programs if you cant fully understand the language in which the stuff is broadcast in. You cant say british TV is obviously better then foreign stuff...

Sure we get a lot of foreign, mainly american dross ,but what does that tell us.... it tells us that our dross is not even good enough to put on.

I lived and worked in Japan for quite a long time and can read and speak japanese good enough to watch TV (kind of) the problem was more i didnt get the in jokes from growing up in japan and things like that. Ill never understand why dandy sakano saying "gets" was funny. When i came back to the uk after two years many things seemed cack as i didnt have a clue what was going on. The thing is you dont notice all the rubbish progs in the uk because you know whats worth watching and what isnt, when you go to a foreign country you dont know what to watch really so you see lots of terrible programs.

--

I think the licence fee is annoying but SKY generally is much worse... how many british programs do you actually watch on there? I bet they are mostly american shows.

[starside]

We should go the way of New Zealand

[Atomic]

The tv license is absolute rubbish!! its kind of like taxing air, this is to say that the majority of the uk's population has a tv, so knowing this the bbc instead of only requiring you to pay for watching terrestial tv, make you pay for the privialge of having a tv in your house that is able to receive signals even if you only use it to watch vids, dvds or play games on.

This also denies a basic human right to free information.

You numb nuts you dont have to have a TV licence if you dont watch the TV stations. Having a TV just linked to a video/DVD/console and not to an aerial you dont have to pay.

Um, since when has free TV been a human right?

(Also you say the BBC targeted something 'majority of the uk's population has' well if you actually look back to when the BBC was formed it was a very small amount of the population that had a TV, prob only the high earners and even then only one set per house. Your parents/people in 40-50s prob even remember the first person to get a TV in their street)

[Lowe]

If the TV is capable of receiving a signal then you need a license for it. Doesn't matter if you watch TV on it or not. Disable the tuner, then you don't need the license.

Personally I hate having to pay for it - so I don't. I don't have a TV