BBC Licence Fee No More

[Rival]

Thank God. This has been a long time coming.

And later on Sunday morning, Nadine Dorries tweeted: "This licence fee announcement will be the last."

She added: "The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors, are over.

"Time now to discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content."

BBC licence fee announcement 'will be the last', culture secretary Nadine Dorries says

 

[Orbit]

Commercials now? Ick.

 

[sun rise]

The BBC was ahead of all of our streaming services which could add up to close to that if not more if you subscribed to them all and selected the no ad higher price.

Just think soon this will be your standard of culture

more here The 12 Worst TV Ads Ever Made

 

[Revoltingest]

Commercials now? Ick.

I fast forward thru commercials.
But they couldn't fast forward thru license fees.

 

[sun rise]

I fast forward thru commercials.
But they couldn't fast forward thru license fees.

Some of the streaming services don't let you fast forward.

 

[exchemist]

Thank God. This has been a long time coming.

And later on Sunday morning, Nadine Dorries tweeted: "This licence fee announcement will be the last."

She added: "The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors, are over.

"Time now to discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content."

BBC licence fee announcement 'will be the last', culture secretary Nadine Dorries says

There’s no reason to think what Mad Nad says will actually happen. She’ll be back to the back benches once Bozo is defenestrated and her replacement may have other ideas.

 

[kaninchen]

As somebody who has never really been a fan of the way the BBC is run (for example: far to scared of annoying whichever Party is in power and deciding their income), the idea that the future of this major corporation is going to be decided by Bozo's coalition of the incompetent and the corrupt is appalling.

 

[Altfish]

Thank God. This has been a long time coming.

And later on Sunday morning, Nadine Dorries tweeted: "This licence fee announcement will be the last."

She added: "The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors, are over.

"Time now to discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content."

BBC licence fee announcement 'will be the last', culture secretary Nadine Dorries says

As Joni Mitchell once said, "... you don't know what you've got till it's gone."

Typical Tories, if anything holds this government to account scrap it or ban it. They are against free speech and very woke.

 

[Mock Turtle]

I mute all TV ads as a principle - since I'm unlikely to buy anything depicted - and we already have a taste of advertising to come on BBC channels due to their insistent use of trailers for so many programmes, which wasn't the case so many years ago but no doubt has been caused because of the competition from so many other channels now available.

Perhaps the elderly could have a waiver (no doubt technically possible) to avoid adverts - given that they have seen so many and also because the vast majority tend to be aimed at the young who perhaps don't mind flashing imagery or being shouted at - but where many of us oldies do.

 

[England my lionheart]

I don’t pay a licence fee anyway,because we’re surrounded by a forest the reception isn’t great unless you splash out on an expensive extended aerial and I’ve never really watched terrestrial tv,besides the bbc poked their noses into politics where it shouldn’t be.

 

[Secret Chief]

There’s no reason to think what Mad Nad says will actually happen. She’ll be back to the back benches once Bozo is defenestrated and her replacement may have other ideas.

Indeed it's populist stuff being wheeled out quicker to try to save the Liar In Chief.

 

[exchemist]

Indeed it's populist stuff being wheeled out quicker to try to save the Liar In Chief.

I don't see how this is really populist, though. It will delight the Tory Right but not many people in the public at large. Wrecking the BBC is not a vote winner any more than wrecking the NHS.

And in fact the FT this morning reports that Downing St is already distancing itself from Mad Nad's statement, saying that future funding mechanisms remain a matter of negotiation.

I think we can safely ignore most of what she says, actually.

 

[exchemist]

I mute all TV ads as a principle - since I'm unlikely to buy anything depicted - and we already have a taste of advertising to come on BBC channels due to their insistent use of trailers for so many programmes, which wasn't the case so many years ago but no doubt has been caused because of the competition from so many other channels now available.

Perhaps the elderly could have a waiver (no doubt technically possible) to avoid adverts - given that they have seen so many and also because the vast majority tend to be aimed at the young who perhaps don't mind flashing imagery or being shouted at - but where many of us oldies do.

Yes I have not had a TV for a couple of decades now and don't really miss it. I am listening less and less to the radio too, partly because there is now a vogue for inserting distracting silly background music into programmes, which makes it harder to focus on what is being said. But I do listen to the news and a few programmes and I do use the BBC website.

I think it remains the best standard we have for objectivity in news reporting, whatever we may dislike about its style in other ways. I think it is at its best when it doesn't talk down to its audience and treat them as morons. Programmes like Attenborough's stuff, the radio More or Less, and things like that. The problem is that the BBC is terrified of being accused of being "elitist" or "inaccessible" and so feels obliged to churn out a lot of crap that other channels can do equally as well, or badly, rather. So it has become rather bloated, in an attempt to be all things to all people.

If the governing party is hostile to it, that is always a good sign, I think.

 

[Secret Chief]

Yes I have not had a TV for a couple of decades now and don't really miss it. I am listening less and less to the radio too, partly because there is now a vogue for inserting distracting silly background music into programmes, which makes it harder to focus on what is being said. But I do listen to the news and a few programmes and I do use the BBC website.

I think it remains the best standard we have for objectivity in news reporting, whatever we may dislike about its style in other ways. I think it is at its best when it doesn't talk down to its audience and treat them as morons. Programmes like Attenborough's stuff, the radio More or Less, and things like that. The problem is that the BBC is terrified of being accused of being "elitist" or "inaccessible" and so feels obliged to churn out a lot of crap that other channels can do equally as well, or badly, rather. So it has become rather bloated, in an attempt to be all things to all people.

If the governing party is hostile to it, that is always a good sign, I think.

Personally I am very conflicted over the BBC licence fee issue.

Watched Green Planet last night.....plus brilliant dramas....very happy to pay it.

But then...News coverage (slant/analysis) really pees me off. Cowed by threats from government and now with both a tory Chair and DG the bias is obvious. The "accidental" use of old footage at the Cenotaph was incredible, literally. The excuse offered up AFTER being outed ("just an accident") was rubbished by ex BBC staff - carefully inserting 3 year old footage into a live stream like that simply is not and cannot be an accident. The old footage has to be actively searched for, selected and cued up.

Anyone unsure how the political editor Kuenssberg votes at a GE? Thought not.

The BBC news has become essentially a government announcement and spin channel.

 

[Brian2]

The BBC was ahead of all of our streaming services which could add up to close to that if not more if you subscribed to them all and selected the no ad higher price.

Just think soon this will be your standard of culture

more here The 12 Worst TV Ads Ever Made

BAM, the worst spray on cleaning product I have tried. It comes out as a foam which covers only a couple of square inches when the idea is to cover a vast area so the chemicals can actually have some effect.

 

[exchemist]

Personally I am very conflicted over the BBC licence fee issue.

Watched Green Planet last night.....plus brilliant dramas....very happy to pay it.

But then...News coverage (slant/analysis) really pees me off. Cowed by threats from government and now with a tory "anti-woke" DG the bias is obvious. The "accidental" use of old footage at the Cenotaph was incredible, literally. The excuse offered up AFTER being outed ("just an accident") was rubbished by ex BBC staff - carefully inserting 3 year old footage into a live stream like that simply is not and cannot be an accident. The old footage has to be actively searched for, selected and cued up.

Anyone unsure how the political editor Kuenssberg votes at a GE? Thought not.

The BBC news has become essentially a government announcement and spin channel.

Excellent, excellent! Since the government is constantly carping that the BBC is full of woke lefties, the fact that you are complaining it is a pawn of the Right must mean they have it about perfect.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Yes I have not had a TV for a couple of decades now and don't really miss it. I am listening less and less to the radio too, partly because there is now a vogue for inserting distracting silly background music into programmes, which makes it harder to focus on what is being said. But I do listen to the news and a few programmes and I do use the BBC website.

I think it remains the best standard we have for objectivity in news reporting, whatever we may dislike about its style in other ways. I think it is at its best when it doesn't talk down to its audience and treat them as morons. Programmes like Attenborough's stuff, the radio More or Less, and things like that. The problem is that the BBC is terrified of being accused of being "elitist" or "inaccessible" and so feels obliged to churn out a lot of crap that other channels can do equally as well, or badly, rather. So it has become rather bloated, in an attempt to be all things to all people.

If the governing party is hostile to it, that is always a good sign, I think.

I suppose the quality of BBC programmes is down to how much money they have, and having to compete with so many other channels for an audience. I'm grateful for any decent programmes wherever they appear, so I'll not slate any particular one - given that I only have Freeview. I bought a new portable radio recently - and channels selected: Radio 3, R4, WorldService, and R4Extra.

 

[exchemist]

I suppose the quality of BBC programmes is down to how much money they have, and having to compete with so many other channels for an audience. I'm grateful for any decent programmes wherever they appear, so I'll not slate any particular one - given that I only have Freeview. I bought a new portable radio recently - and channels selected: Radio 3, R4, WorldService, and R4Extra.

Yeah my problem in all this is that I am an elitist white man over 60. So my views count for nothing. But what I think they should do is embrace elitism and return to Reithian values. Leave the commercial race to the bottom on game shows, formulaic sitcoms and soaps to others and put on quality and eclectic current affairs, documentary, drama and comedy that others (usually) don't do so well. That will help keep the others to a higher standard and help to educate the taste of the public. I think it is worth funding that by some kind of universal levy, on the basis that it enriches the life of the nation.

But I can already hear the screams from others that this is snooty, patronising and is making [puts on nasal drone] "value judgements".

 

[Secret Chief]

Excellent, excellent! Since the government is constantly carping that the BBC is full of woke lefties, the fact that you are complaining it is a pawn of the Right must mean they have it about perfect.

Yes, I hear that too. A tory Chair and a tory DG. Yep, straight down the middle.
You accept the BBC "accident" explanation of the Cenotaph footage switch do you? Otherwise they have lied, is that OK?

 

[Secret Chief]

Yeah my problem in all this is that I am an elitist white man over 60. So my views count for nothing. But what I think they should do is embrace elitism and return to Reithian values. Leave the commercial race to the bottom on game shows, formulaic sitcoms and soaps to others and put on quality and eclectic current affairs, documentary, drama and comedy that others (usually) don't do so well. That will help keep the others to a higher standard and help to educate the taste of the public. I think it is worth funding that by some kind of universal levy, on the basis that it enriches the life of the nation.

But I can already hear the screams from others that this is snooty, patronising and is making [puts on nasal drone] "value judgements".

Hey, I'm an elitist white man over 60 as well.

Reithian values? Including the support for fascism?

"In 1975, excerpts from Reith's diary were published which showed he had, during the 1930s, harboured pro-fascist views. On 9 March 1933, he wrote: "I am pretty certain ... that the Nazis will clean things up and put Germany on the way to being a real power in Europe again. They are being ruthless and most determined." After the July 1934 Night of the Long Knives, in which the Nazis ruthlessly exterminated their internal dissidents, Reith wrote: "I really admire the way Hitler has cleaned up what looked like an incipient revolt. I really admire the drastic actions taken, which were obviously badly needed." After Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Nazis in 1939 he wrote: "Hitler continues his magnificent efficiency."

John Reith, 1st Baron Reith - Wikipedia