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[hoj]

Get rid of not?

[Mister Rog]

Get rid of not?

Those who already use lots of pay/subscription services are highly likely to say "Get Rid" as they probably don't use much BBC, freeview and whatever.

Getting rid of of it would almost certainly mean the end of, or at least radically changing the BBC. It would need to become a 100% commercial organisation with advertising etc. So, that is the real question.

I have many issues with the BBC. Overpaid staff, sheer wasted cash, frequently a very strange management and culture, and the bizarre lust for ratings that results in crap programmes. But, in general I still support it. It is still refreshing to watch a programme without having adverts thrown at you at regular intervals. In the grand scheme of things, I think the TV license still represents reasonable value for money. However the quality of the programmes that they produce is sliding downhill, if this continue my opinion may well change.

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Basically agree with every work Mr Rog says, there. It still maintains the best quality programmes. 

[b4ndit]

get rid

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Get rid. Its a tax on viewing. Make the BBC pay per view. If its the best broadcaster in the world, as it and its supporters claim, it will thrive.
If however, it is a huge gravy train, with an enormous sense of entitlement, run by lefty liberal Islington types, who have no actual clue what they are doing, it will fall on its arse.
My money would be on the second scenario. 

[STEMO]

With the various add-ons, I pay c£80 a month for sky. I pay c£12 a month for he all the BBC channels. I know which I think is best value........the BEEB.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I say be careful what you wish for. Subject the BBC to commercial pressure and the end result is likely to be endless commercial crap.

Advertising revenue will become all important.

Wall to wall trashy soaps and excrement such as Big Brother will be the order of the day.

Quality viewing such as Horizon and Newsnight will slowly disappear.

The BBC has  lowered it's standards too much already with crap such as Eastenders.


 

[Kevin Wood]

Yes, you only have to see what bilge TV is in the US to see what would happen. The BBC, rotten to the core as it is, is the only thing setting any kind of standard for quality in the UK.

[Nick W]

Basically agree with every work Mr Rog says, there. It still maintains the best quality programmes. 

There are lots of quality programmes from other broadcasters and producers. But they tend to be specialists in one type; eg sci-fi or fluffy-silver-tabby-kitten programmes. The BBC's advantage is its ability to keep quality high whether it's crap like Let Big Brother Come through drama, comedy and intelligent documentaries or comment. The funding is one of the reasons why that is the case.

[zirk]

Out of interest, theres a new ruling that kicks in September meaning that even if you only download or watch old content (ie, not live) on BBC iPlayer or any of the other Players (ITV, 4, 5 etc) you must have a TV Licence.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

The Beeb is already wall to wall trashy soaps and excrement. Plus its news coverage is akin to the Bolshevik Brainwashing corporation.
As said,if its well worth the money, let those who think so pay per view to watch it, and those of us who think its a load of sh1te which has been surviving on its past reputation for several decades choose not to watch it or pay for it.
Personally, I could probably do without TV altogether now, but when there is something I want to watch on TV, its almost never on the BBC, so I see no good reason why I should be forced to pay for it under threat of a criminal record.

[Diamond Black Geezer]

I understand that perspective, and it's a fair argument. I think in truth if there was a way to completely and reliably block anyone who doesn't wish to pay the license from viewing any BBC channels, iplayer and block that person's IP from accessing the BBC website, etc, then that's fair enough. It'd never work, practically, of course.

[Kevin Wood]

I understand that perspective, and it's a fair argument. I think in truth if there was a way to completely and reliably block anyone who doesn't wish to pay the license from viewing any BBC channels, iplayer and block that person's IP from accessing the BBC website, etc, then that's fair enough. It'd never work, practically, of course.

Seems to work OK for Sky. The technology to make them pay channels is all there. The problem is, a TV licence is reasonable value to obtain access to all the free channels plus BBC. It would be abysmal value to obtain access only to BBC services, so nobody would go for it.

[YZ250]

I honestly can't remember the last time that we watched a BBC channel.     I think we concluded some years back that there was nothing on there of interest to us so we just don't bother looking at the guide for the BBC anymore.    They could remove it from my TV and I doubt that we'd notice.  There may be some cracking programmes on there but we just don't bother looking anymore.

[McBandy]

Out of interest, theres a new ruling that kicks in September meaning that even if you only download or watch old content (ie, not live) on BBC iPlayer or any of the other Players (ITV, 4, 5 etc) you must have a TV Licence.

To my knowledge the new ruling on affects I player as the bit of paper that came with the nagging letter about getting a licence says so I've already deleted I player! We find the best stuff is on all 4, bbc shot themselves in the foot when they ditched bbc 3 imo