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Channel 4 privatisation to go ahead

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Channel 4 privatisation to go ahead

#51

Post by gpmcadam »

shapefrog wrote: post #25
gpmcadam wrote: post #6

Its odd in a democracy in 2022 that a government should own a media/news organisation. If the argument that this is profitable is true, then it should be capable of carrying on its endeavours privately with no issue whatsoever.

I think you are confused as to the difference between democracy and capitalism. Indeed privatisation could be seen as anti-democratic; the motivation to sell it off (to sympathetic parties?) is because it is critical of your government or you want to maintain control of the media once you are voted out of power.

I'm not confused as to the difference, but thanks for the concern!

Re: Channel 4 privatisation to go ahead

#52

Post by makomk »

andy_ppp wrote: post #40
gadders wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We already have the BBC - why do we need a second state broadcaster?

Well Channel 4 actually critique the government for one… secondarily they produce different content than the BBC which will also soon be privatised.

The BBC has been pretty anti-government since about the time of Brexit. It was really obvious in particular during the pandemic, which had many decisions where all options had major downsides - and they spun whichever the government chose as obviously bad, focusing entirely on the downsides of that particular choice, then forgot about all those downsides and switched to spinning the new choice as the bad one the moment the government changed their mind. They also tend to just outright parrot opposition talking points without questioning or challenging them in any way, because that's reserved for stuff the government does. They even managed to outright knowingly lie about how the UK's Covid response compares to other countries in Europe during the early days of the pandemic, and apparently this doesn't violate their standards in any way.

They're just not anti-government enough for a lot of people; for example, their journalists don't get to tell readers that every single Covid death was caused by Boris and he should go to jail for criminal manslaughter, even though that's clearly something they back given... certain retweets.

Re: Channel 4 privatisation to go ahead

#53

Post by sega_sai »

traceroute66 wrote: post #44
pdpi wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s hard to believe channel 4 needs to be privatised in order to get better at streaming. All you need to do is look at BBC iPlayer, which is miles better.

> BBC iPlayer, which is miles better iPlayer and "miles better" in the same phrase, really ? iPlayer has the most ludicrously useless interface. Low hanging fruit example: looking up things based on the schedule ? Forget about it. For clarity I'm not saying Channel 4 is the best, but at least they cover all the blatantly obvious low-hanging fruit that the BBC singularly fails to do.

I certainly prefer iPlayer interface to Netflix's one.

Re: Channel 4 privatisation to go ahead

#54

Post by FerretFred »

"Channel 4 called it "disappointing" that ministers had made their decision despite "significant public interest concerns" over privatisation"

This is what our elected representatives do though, and it never ends well. One day we'll actually elect someone with a brain, but it may not be in my lifetime.

Re: Channel 4 privatisation to go ahead

#55

Post by Veen »

doublerabbit wrote: post #31

That's another no-brainer to why I shouldn't pay for a TV License. I'm not going to support an organisation which cuts off my Scottish PM, refuses air importance. Produces poor quality entertainment and now wanting to sell a decent broadcaster from the UK. No seriously, to the down-voters; in the UK you have to pay a TV license. I find the quality of BBC programming really poor. C4 was decent, but if the government i…

> in the UK you have to pay a TV license

You have to only if you watch broadcast TV, live TV, or use iPlayer. If you're not doing any of those things, then not paying isn't really a boycott. On the other hand, if you are doing them, then you're likely to get fined for it eventually.

Re: Channel 4 privatisation to go ahead

#56

Post by doublerabbit »

te_chris wrote: post #34
doublerabbit wrote: post #31

That's another no-brainer to why I shouldn't pay for a TV License. I'm not going to support an organisation which cuts off my Scottish PM, refuses air importance. Produces poor quality entertainment and now wanting to sell a decent broadcaster from the UK. No seriously, to the down-voters; in the UK you have to pay a TV license. I find the quality of BBC programming really poor. C4 was decent, but if the government i…

They don’t receive license fee funding

They do not receive funding from the TV license. However channel four is owned by the British Government.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Government_Investments

Re: Channel 4 privatisation to go ahead

#57

Post by Veen »

traceroute66 wrote: post #45
gpmcadam wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly you’ve never seen some of the bizarre stuff that C4 had put out over the years then? Perhaps the thing to take from this is that people want to watch bizarre stuff?

> Clearly you’ve never seen some of the bizarre stuff that C4 had put out over the years then? Bring back Eurotrash I say !!! ;-)

That show was certainly an eye-opener for 12-year-old me.

Re: Channel 4 privatisation to go ahead

#58

Post by doublerabbit »

Veen wrote: post #55
doublerabbit wrote: post #31

That's another no-brainer to why I shouldn't pay for a TV License. I'm not going to support an organisation which cuts off my Scottish PM, refuses air importance. Produces poor quality entertainment and now wanting to sell a decent broadcaster from the UK. No seriously, to the down-voters; in the UK you have to pay a TV license. I find the quality of BBC programming really poor. C4 was decent, but if the government i…

> in the UK you have to pay a TV license You have to only if you watch broadcast TV, live TV, or use iPlayer. If you're not doing any of those things, then not paying isn't really a boycott. On the other hand, if you are doing them, then you're likely to get fined for it eventually.

> You have to only if you watch broadcast TV, live TV, or use iPlayer. If you're not doing any of those things, then not paying isn't really a boycott.

I disagree by not paying the yearly TV sub, they are not getting my yearly sum of money via protest. No, I don't do any of that, if the content was worth watching I would be paying for it.

Re: Channel 4 privatisation to go ahead

#60

Post by Veen »

doublerabbit wrote: post #58
Veen wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in the UK you have to pay a TV license You have to only if you watch broadcast TV, live TV, or use iPlayer. If you're not doing any of those things, then not paying isn't really a boycott. On the other hand, if you are doing them, then you're likely to get fined for it eventually.

> You have to only if you watch broadcast TV, live TV, or use iPlayer. If you're not doing any of those things, then not paying isn't really a boycott. I disagree by not paying the yearly TV sub, they are not getting my yearly sum of money via protest. No, I don't do any of that, if the content was worth watching I would be paying for it.

The result of lots of people "boycotting" the BBC is that it won't be funded and will end up being sold like Channel 4. Many in the current government would love to break up and sell off the BBC. I agree that the Beeb is largely garbage at the moment, but I hope that it can recover from it's current malaise in the future.
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