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BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

theguardian.com

41–50 of 225 posts

Re: BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

#41
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So they become state tv? Then why have them at all? Why not call it TV?

State TVs don't necessarily represent the current party. I've seen plenty of examples of state TVs siding with the opposition in various countries. Media and journalists mostly have a left bias and when there is a right government they won't side with the government, unless the government is a de facto dictatorship and you can't go against it for safety concerns (Russia comes to mind). Not that I justify state TVs at…

> Media and journalists mostly have a left bias

This is an astonishing comment. Can you justify it?

Re: BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

#42

I have issues with the BBC - especially its partisan news reporting on the current government and its performance during the Scottish independence referendum, but would still like it to exist I find BBC drama is consistently of a high quality - and unlike the paid services i can watch 6 episodes and its pretty much ended. Everything on netflix/prime is like 10 seasons of 20 episodes Sad times - but im sure Rupert Mur…

ITV also make short drama series which are often better, in my opinion, and manage to do this without threatening to send people to jail for not contributing financially. You can subscribe for £3.99 to have an almost ad-free experience too. I doubt the BBC could compete at this level as a subscription only service in its current state though?

Worth noting also, the prevelance of BBC ads for its own content which have become something of an irritant over the past few years.

Re: BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

#43

One of the great things of the Licence fee was that the Government does not get to control the national TV like it does when the one who pays is it directly. In places like Spain the national TV(and regional TV too) becomes a propaganda machine for the exclusive service of the Government(s, national and regional). It is awful to have your taxes redirected for the private interest of the Party in charge. In fact with…

The BBC is welcome to encrypt their broadcasts and sell subscriptions directly.

Re: BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

#44
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> especially its partisan news reporting on the current government Is that pro-government or anti-government in your view?

They are pro-government, pro-union - but the point is BBC news should be non-partisan

No post body was provided.

Re: BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

#45
post #42

I have issues with the BBC - especially its partisan news reporting on the current government and its performance during the Scottish independence referendum, but would still like it to exist I find BBC drama is consistently of a high quality - and unlike the paid services i can watch 6 episodes and its pretty much ended. Everything on netflix/prime is like 10 seasons of 20 episodes Sad times - but im sure Rupert Mur…

ITV also make short drama series which are often better, in my opinion, and manage to do this without threatening to send people to jail for not contributing financially. You can subscribe for £3.99 to have an almost ad-free experience too. I doubt the BBC could compete at this level as a subscription only service in its current state though? Worth noting also, the prevelance of BBC ads for its own content which have…

Yeah i signed up to britbox on the £10 for 3 month deal - its not bad with a mix of BBC, ITV and Channel 4. Lots of content you cant get elsewhere

The nostalgic viewing makes it easy to watch

Re: BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

#46
post #6

BBC Tech salaries are awful, even by UK standards. Good luck for getting more efficient when you're not paying anyone to disrupt workflows.

Jobs at the BBC are often seen as having more value than pure pay, because of two related factors:

(1) The BBC is a British institution and supporting it is seen as a worthwhile act. The same effect is what keeps teachers' and nurses' pay artificially low;

(2) Jobs at the BBC have historically been seen as "for life", because of the entity's perceived stability.

I'll be interested to see what happens to both of those factors over the next decade.

Re: BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

#47
post #40

I’m not sure how much cut through this has had outside of the UK, but the government are currently in serious trouble because of constant leaks about parties in Number 10 Downing Street during the pandemic - including a particularly poorly timed one the day before the Queen was photographed at her husband’s funeral alone. The leaks are ongoing, so we know that this particular plan is part of “Operation Red Meat”, whi…

Your comment does't make any sense. You are saying that the Conservative party are making this huge change to distract from their current problems. Are you saying they created the entire plan in a few weeks? Do you have any evidence for your extraordinary claims?

You are giving this Conservative government far to much credit. Their entire track record in government is full of poorly thought out sweeping changes. (See the entire Brexit process)

Re: BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

#48

One of the great things of the Licence fee was that the Government does not get to control the national TV like it does when the one who pays is it directly. In places like Spain the national TV(and regional TV too) becomes a propaganda machine for the exclusive service of the Government(s, national and regional). It is awful to have your taxes redirected for the private interest of the Party in charge. In fact with…

Italy has a license fee but the parliament nominates part of the board. It's a little less clear cut now but until the 90s the only three channels of RAI at the time were clearly aligned to demochristians (RAI 1, center), socialists (RAI 2, left) and communists (RAI 3, when they were almost what you would think a communist is.) The three major parties of the time.

Re: BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

#49
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> especially its partisan news reporting on the current government Is that pro-government or anti-government in your view?

They are pro-government, pro-union - but the point is BBC news should be non-partisan

The government doesn’t appear to have noticed this bias

Re: BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

#50

One of the great things of the Licence fee was that the Government does not get to control the national TV like it does when the one who pays is it directly. In places like Spain the national TV(and regional TV too) becomes a propaganda machine for the exclusive service of the Government(s, national and regional). It is awful to have your taxes redirected for the private interest of the Party in charge. In fact with…

> It is awful to have your taxes redirected for the private interest of the Party in charge.

In the USA this is solved by having your taxes only go towards liberal media outlets regardless of who’s in power: https://wcti12.com/news/nation-world/pbs-attorney-fired-afte...

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