BBC License fee

[#1]

Agree with bnb, within the next couple of years I believe the TV licence will be abolished and replaced by a 'communications licence', a fee on every device capable of connecting to the internet , the license fee will be collected by the ISP's.

[#2]

Flicking round a few channels the other night to see if there was anything interesting.
Most of the channels I landed on were commercial and most were in an ad break so I didn't get to see what was on (yes I know there is a channel guide).
What a pleasure it was to return to the BBC.....long may the remain commercial free.

[#3]

Always makes me laugh as nearly every time SWMBO comes into the lounge to watch something I've already started watching the ad break starts
Yes - the number of times an add starts and I flick through the channels to see what else is on and just find more bloody ad breaks.
I often leave it on BBC News HD in the background while at the PC.

[#4]

I strongly agree that non-payment of the licence fee should be a civil offence. TV licence offences account for one in ten UK court cases, that's 3,500 (often poor) people being criminalised per week because they didn't fund EastEnders. Utterly barbaric.
While we're on the topic here are some other reforms I'd like to see. The licence fee should be taken from general taxation, scrapping the current collection system, which would save up to £1.55 billion over 15 years(estimated payments to Capita for the period). The standard complaint about this is that it would lead to government interference but in fact the BBC has to regularly renegotiate its charter with the government every so often and not many people describe that as government interference(in fact the BBC IIRC employ a very large team of people to ensure they get what they want from charter renewal). The other benefit of taking the fee from taxation is that it doesn't penalise people on low fixed incomes, those who are wealthier will contribute more.
Now my more extreme suggestion which will never happen   Public service broadcasting is (or should be) a benefit for society, therefore I'd like state funding for only news, political, and educational output. The rest of the output can be ad supported or cut, I don't care. 
The BBC is often portrayed as an innocent little flower cowering from dreadful politicians but in fact the UK media lives under the shadow of the world's largest broadcaster. The UK media establishment is peppered with people who have connections with the BBC and rush to protect it from any change it doesn't want. The reality is that only very brave politicians take on the BBC and try to change the status quo regarding such issues as the licence fee which the BBC will cling onto at all costs.

[#5]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2585792/New-carpets-BBCs-1bn-HQ-just-18-months-opened-Corpor...
That's probably where our license fee is really going.
Shame I can't afford new carpets, still I get to enjoy BBC ad free instead. 

[#6]

Our license fee is currently going on fixing their broken iplayer for the past 2 evenings
https://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,125080.0.html

[#7]

Went to look on the http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/keyfacts/stories/licencefee.shtml to see when the Radio license got abolished as per Google's suggestion & was faced with

However Google also suggested & did not let us down
http://www.radiolicence.org.uk/costlicence.html

[#8]

That error page popped up yesterday for me when I was trying to look at their local weather page.
It was back OK after a few hours.

[#9]

TORPC, i'm sure the radio licence was bundled with the tv licence because no one ever bought a radio licence.  they didn't buy dog licences either and because they were so cheap they were abolished.
those of you complaining about the gargantuan costs of the tv licence 'just to watch the beeb' are forgetting that we pay far more for our commercial television through the advertising costs.  if you buy anything that is advertised on television, a small proportion of the purchase price goes to advertising.  over the course of a year, that extra penny on a six-pack, plus the penny on this, penny on that of all the other things you buy, could add up to a lot more than a hundred and forty-odd quid.

[#10]

Does anyone (genuinely) still watch (receive) B&W TV?  About time the B&W license was abolished IMO.

[#11]

Apparently some people do still buy a B & W licence. I think it was discussed on the forums a while ago and it was something to do with partially sighted people who do not use colour TV. Can't remember the full details but I'm sure someone will.

[#12]

Quote from: artificer

those of you complaining about the gargantuan costs of the tv licence 'just to watch the beeb' are forgetting that we pay far more for our commercial television through the advertising costs.  if you buy anything that is advertised on television, a small proportion of the purchase price goes to advertising.  over the course of a year, that extra penny on a six-pack, plus the penny on this, penny on that of all the other things you buy, could add up to a lot more than a hundred and forty-odd quid.

We are never going to prevent advertising in the world in order to sell products and I guess we are forced to accept that the purchase price of a product is made up of various manufacturing, transport, advertising costs to name a few. The TV license is different in that it basically is an  'additional cost' which is as we are told funds the BBC.
It is really just another way of putting another 'tax' on us and I still think that despite BBC programmes being a lot better than foreign channels that they are no better than ITV. I get equally frustrated when flicking around channels and finding ads on each one (they always seem to coincide with each other!) but then flick to BBC to see trailers for their programmes, just as irritating as ads in my book....
I can't afford and don't particularly like or want Sky tv but I would prefer to not be forced to shell out £146 for BBC channels and have the option to spend that on Sky, Virgin, or whatever.
I say scrap this ridiculous license.

[#13]

Quote from: rja66

It is really just another way of putting another 'tax' on us and I still think that despite BBC programmes being a lot better than foreign channels that they are no better than ITV. I get equally frustrated when flicking around channels and finding ads on each one (they always seem to coincide with each other!) but then flick to BBC to see trailers for their programmes, just as irritating as ads in my book....

You would think reading this thread that we are the only country to have a TV licence, there are a few European countries that have licences and some are more expensive than the UK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licence#Europe
and the BBC do not stop during a program to run trailers like ITV channels do for ads.

[#14]

It's not only the BBC that run trailers. The commercial stations also run them. I don't object to them as it gives me a chance to get a taste of what's coming up.

[#15]

Agreed. Merely saying that trailers are in fact a form of advertising 
At my age I can't sit through a 1.5+ hr film without needing a toilet break or wanting another cuppa and therefore on the rare occasions that I watch live tv I welcome the ad breaks to fulfil these requirements !
It's not really about the ad's for me it's about an outdated form of taxation.
I guess I am still struggling to understand why 'Freeview TV' isn't actually free...
Actually, thinking about it I'd be happy to have all of the other freeview programmes and not BBC to save the £146 fee.