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BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

theguardian.com

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

#111

Post by kaashif »

cracrecry wrote: post #28

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 Government does not get to control the national TV like it does when the one who pays is it directly.

You may want to double check who's in charge of the BBC. The Director-General Tim Davie is a former deputy chairman of a local Conservative party and Conservative councillor candidate. Not that bad, perhaps. But the Chairman of the BBC, Richard Sharp, was a banker at JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, advisor to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, and has donated more than £400,000 to the Tory party.

The Conservative party does control the BBC, selecting the leadership according to their political aims or whichever donor has thrown them the most money recently. And the BBC budget and license fee are decided by the government, of course the government can cut funding at any time...

None of this is to say that the BBC is as bad as the worst of state controlled media, just that there are obvious elements of government control, and having one model of funding over another doesn't really change that - the government can still squeeze funding whenever it wants to (and they have done this before).

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

#112

Post by IAmEveryone »

rhn_mk1 wrote: post #92
cracrecry wrote: post #28

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…

What about the license fee prevent the control by the government? The money goes through the government, and government chooses who pays and how much, so it's pretty close to as if the government was "paying" it directly. Poland, as mentioned by a sibling, is a counter-example. How does the license fee prevent the propaganda?

It works by setting a license fee by law and making it hard enough / take long enough to change to make it impossible to punish or reward journalists for their work.

This could mean requiring 2/3 majorities for anything but a default adjustment for inflation. Or a 10-year lag for any budget changes, etc.

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

#113

Post by odiroot »

fiftyacorn wrote: post #26

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…

There's also this https://www.jpost.com/opinion/lets-get-long-buried-report-on...

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

#114

Post by mbirth »

cracrecry wrote: post #28

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…

We have a license fee in Germany, too. The income from that comes out at about twice of that in the UK. (With most of it burned for pensions.) And the public TV stations still appease our government so they (the government) never question the license fee amount.

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

#115

Post by t6667877789789 »

peregren wrote: post #47
Freskis wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

You need to distinguish between the Conservative government (= Boris Johnson' Lying Circus) and the Conservative Party. The latter are not well pleased with the former.

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

#116

Post by kaashif »

verytrivial wrote: post #21
bennysomething wrote: post #7

Good. Currently I'm forced to pay for content I dont consume.

Mate, you're going to spit blood when you hear about all the roads, hospitals and armed forces you're paying for but not directly using.

Careful, it is actually possible they want to fully privatise roads and hospitals.

I always find it funny when people come out with "but that would mean X!" and the target answers "yes, that would be great".

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

#117

Post by sofixa »

Nextgrid wrote: post #99
Hokusai wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are not that funds created so taxpayers are there ones in control of party finances instead of corporations? The USA seems a good example of what happens when politicians are fully dependent on corporations if they want to be elected, and it's servitude to the interest of the few.

I guess this depends on what the requirements are to access said fund. If accessing said fund requires being on good terms with the establishment then it's the worst of both worlds.

In Bulgaria It's similar to Brazil, parties get a fixed funding from the taxpayer and have a limited amount of funding they can collect from donations, with strict reporting requirements. Just having a party present itself with the minimum required amount of signatures (500 IIRC) for an election is enough to get the official funds, and of course spending is tracked.

It certainly seems a much better way of doing things than the US.

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

#118

Post by IAmEveryone »

tannhaeuser wrote: post #104
cracrecry wrote: post #28

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…

> 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. Don't know about that. Here in Germany public state broadcasters have a board elected by parties, churches, unions and other large bodies aiming, on paper, for proportional representation. The results are insufferable, mediocre palliative-care TV shows, corrup…

Their coverage is well within the range of opinion of every political party except far-right AfD. As such, it represents >90% of the voters in last year‘s election. They are not neutral when it comes to values such as democracy itself, and expecting them to be is silly.

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

#119

Post by samwillis »

pydry wrote: post #58
Freskis wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

This change is more likely a threat to the BBC at a time when they furiously engaged in damage control. It can be rolled back if they "behave". Theyve been making variations of this threat for decades.

The thing is though, none of the leaks have been via the BBC, every single one is via an independent paper or channel - even traditionally right wing publications.

The other angle of this is how much Boris and this government are in debt/the pocket of Murdoch and News Corp. Boris and senior government ministers met with Murdoch and News Copt executives 40 times in the first 14 months of Boris’s government. This is as much about raining the BBC in so that Murdoch can have more control of the media landscape in the UK.

https://pressgazette.co.uk/rupert-murdochs-news-corp-met-min...

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

#120

Post by t6667877789789 »

tristanperry wrote: post #80
Freskis wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

That's what multiple newspapers including The Times are reporting, yes. Since Boris' job is on the line, he's apparently panicking and due to roll out a series of popularist policies next week.

Boris is finished, he probably won't last the week. It reminds me of the day when Thatcher fell. Leading Conservative MPs will be currently phoning each other trying to determine how much support they will get if they make a move. Someone who has no serious chance will be nominated as a 'stalking horse' to stand up and challenge Boris. Then the other stronger candidates will put themselves forward to 'save the name of the party'. That is how they do it.
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