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twoleftfeet

BBC Funding

By twoleftfeet, in General Chat

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RoboFox

RoboFox

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The argument against the BBC is that the license fee is seen as a tax. As others have said, it isn't. You can opt-out.

 

Many of our tax pounds are spent on services that most of us will never use in our lives, and rightly so. The Beeb is a service 99.9% of us use most weeks if not days, and it's genuinely the envy of the world. 

 

Even though there are commercial subsidiaries (BBC Studios being one), largely because of the way it's funded it is absolved from that KPI which is the be-all and end-all of nearly every other major broadcaster: ratings. People cannot moan about the dumbing down of our national culture and at the same time chastise the BBC's output.

 

Yes, it's largely staffed by liberals and Blairite asylum seekers, but it's the media industry. I've worked in broadcast for years, and have many friends who have worked, or still work at the BBC - it's just the way it is. 

 

The uprising against the BBC seems to come from the small-government, free-markets, cut-welfare, civil-liberties kind right-wing folk, as a monolithic and unwarranted state intervention in the UK's broadcasting market. 


Yet as universal funding models go, the flat-rate licence fee is a pretty right-wing solution: the rich are not subsidising the poor.

Edited by RoboFox
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Guesty

Guesty

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A lot of people I know like Netflix because they use other people's passwords or get stuff for free. I did read/hear a story which said they've already developed technology that will stop illegal viewing. They just want everyone to become so reliant on their service before they start using it. That's one reason why they're prepared to go into debt now; they think in the future they'll make it back. If that did happen I do wonder if some people's attitude might change.

 

I just think till they have a viable plan it's easier to charge the equivalent of roughly £13 a month with the licence; it will change one day, but it needs to be properly thought through - not just forced on the BBC. Part of the licence fee goes on all the infrastructure too.

 

For all it's faults I still think it does a lot of good. People rightly complain about some parts of the news, etc - but Netflix aren't sending people like Jeremy Bowen or John Simpson into warzones and covering all the costs and logistics.

Edited by Guesty
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Bellend Sebastian

Bellend Sebastian

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I hold the BBC very close to my heart and I cannot really put into words how significant a lot of its output has been to me throughout my life, so naturally I'm very protective of it when I hear it being said it's not fit for purpose.

 

That said, it's clear that how television is consumed has changed enormously and will continue to do so, but even so, I think it would be EXTREMELY rash to interfere with it too much when the competing services are in their infancy.

 

Netflix and Amazon are currently popular, but then again, if my kids are anything to go by, so is watching 8 year old Kimberly from Denver, Colorado literally opening Kinder Eggs on YouTube, every waking moment of every f****** day. They forget that actual television programmes exist, and then they chance across one and they think it's amazing.

 

It would be a shame if the BBC was to have to fundamentally change because of a fashion for binge watching Friends on Netflix.

 

I already find myself in the slightly odd situation of being recommended at best 3 star rated serials on some streaming service by people who genuinely haven't heard of shows on terrestrial telly that are universally adored and won awards left right and centre.

 

We've been here before, of course.  When Sky launched I paid out like everyone else did and it took me ages to convince myself that I wasn't getting value for money, despite only watching Totally Scott-Lee and the same Second World War documentaries on the History channel again, and again and again, and missing far better stuff on terrestrial.

 

The shiny new thing is rarely all it's cracked up to be, I find. Why am I reminded of the Beeching cuts? 

 

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yorkie1999

yorkie1999

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I think the government should get rid of the BBC license fee simply for it's own good and it's own future. Eventually it will become unsustainable due to costs and they will have to resort to other revenue steams such as advertising but by that time all the other media suppliers will have taken up that advertising revenue. For it's own good, it needs to be independant sooner rather than later.

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Guest MattP

Guest MattP

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21 hours ago, ealingfox said:

It was a secret ballot, so how have they designated? Did they survey each and every person they've included in those statistics? Or did they just assume?

lol  Can you think of a single political figure that has appeared on the show that hasn't declared how they voted in it? Are we now at the point of wilfully ignoring bias we are prepared to pretend Nicola Sturgeon may have voted leave in the secret ballot?

 

Back on topic. It actually seems people are in the same tent of idea.

 

Vast majority agrees that;

 

The BBC should stay.

The BBC is good value.

The content of news and programming is excellent.

It provides numerous vital services others wont do.

 

The point is always going to be the fee and how it is paid - it certainly can't go on being effectively a stealth tax though.

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PaddyS

PaddyS

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I rarely watch BBC TV but I really love their website. There's just so much good stuff on there.

 

It's not just about news, it's more like a magazine with my favourite sections being on tech, science, art, culture, music. There's plenty of other topics too.

 

It's probably my favourite website and I'm happy to pay what I see as a subscription. I do think it's a bit high though, and I agree with the earlier

poster that it shouldn't be a place for high-earners.

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Strokes

Strokes

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7 hours ago, yorkie1999 said:

I think the government should get rid of the BBC license fee simply for it's own good and it's own future. Eventually it will become unsustainable due to costs and they will have to resort to other revenue steams such as advertising but by that time all the other media suppliers will have taken up that advertising revenue. For it's own good, it needs to be independant sooner rather than later.

It can be done without advertising, Netflix and amazon don’t have adverts.

If they made it optional/subscription but opened it up to the world. With expats and a few extra foreigners could they make even more revenue?

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Dr The Singh

Dr The Singh

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5 hours ago, MattP said:

lol  Can you think of a single political figure that has appeared on the show that hasn't declared how they voted in it? Are we now at the point of wilfully ignoring bias we are prepared to pretend Nicola Sturgeon may have voted leave in the secret ballot?

 

Back on topic. It actually seems people are in the same tent of idea.

 

Vast majority agrees that;

 

The BBC should stay.

The BBC is good value.

The content of news and programming is excellent.

It provides numerous vital services others wont do.

 

The point is always going to be the fee and how it is paid - it certainly can't go on being effectively a stealth tax though.

If anyone thinks BBC Asian Network is good value etc, they should be shot

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Shane

Shane

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2 hours ago, Line-X said:

A $12.43m operational deficit and a streaming service propped up by a global e-commerce business. 

Is that because they are operating beyond their means or is it because debt can be considered a good thing especially in large corporations? Genuinely don't know, it's just a thought because debt is everywhere. Aren't Youtube, Uber and other huge businesses in debt also? Even our owners are in 'debt' by taking out a bank loan to pay for our training ground. 

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Milo

Milo

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13 hours ago, Shane said:

Is that because they are operating beyond their means or is it because debt can be considered a good thing especially in large corporations? Genuinely don't know, it's just a thought because debt is everywhere. Aren't Youtube, Uber and other huge businesses in debt also? Even our owners are in 'debt' by taking out a bank loan to pay for our training ground. 

Pretty sure this is the last deficit year for Netfix, according to them (?). 
 

Their plan was always based on a longish term investment model, so early losses are planned for. 

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Foxdiamond

Foxdiamond

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On 08/02/2020 at 17:16, Strokes said:

It can be done without advertising, Netflix and amazon don’t have adverts.

If they made it optional/subscription but opened it up to the world. With expats and a few extra foreigners could they make even more revenue?

How would you charge for listening to BBC radio ? I have no doubt this is a political anti BBC move by the Tories. Surely the licence fee is good value compared against other subscription services. 

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Jon the Hat

Jon the Hat

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1 hour ago, Foxdiamond said:

How would you charge for listening to BBC radio ? I have no doubt this is a political anti BBC move by the Tories. Surely the licence fee is good value compared against other subscription services. 

Its the compulsory nature of it that simply doesn't fly anymore.  It is a tax for TV.

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