Regarding the post “TV License Fee” There are so many conflicting comments made in this article that being a simple layman I’m not sure if it is defending or offending? Firstly I never use Face book, it far to open and unsafe, however I agree that the TV license hits the pockets of the lower paid and the poor with no consideration of actual ability to pay the legally demanding fee that holds a custodial sentence for non payment. For goodness sake; I wish I had a business that I could force people to pay for.
Fine them over and over again in court giving them CCJ’s as long as both arms, put them in jail for three months knowing when they get out they not only have the CCJ’s but have a criminal record and yippee for me the glorifiable part for me is they still owe me the money. Now I can spit in my palms rub them together and wait until I take them back to court again. Who cares? I don’t, ok they now have court costs to pay as well as my license fee but because the law is on my side I can’t loose.
How can any body compare food, drink & trousers to a license fee? There is no comparison what so ever. The above are part of essential living the BBC is not!!!
We can choose to pay for our sustenance according to our means. According to the post the license fee equates to £0.38p per day. Not a lot I hear you say, well let me tell you now with all but 27p short I can purchase. 1Bag of frozen peas, 1 bag of cauliflower & 1 bag of carrots that my wife will make last a month. So your 38p means £11.27 per month to me and my wife and I can assure you that’s a lot of frozen pease, actually enough for almost twelve months, so crippling to you may be not? but it would help feed me and my wife as well as millions of others in this “Great Country” of ours.
I see that you consider the BBC are following the same pattern as 99.9999999% of things in the universe, I’m not the least surprised considering your comment about the cost of “Twix” what’s next Mars perhaps? What planet are you from? You are certainly alienated from the real world of the lower class who have absolutely no interest in the universe. Only WHAT DO I DO FOR DINNER TOMMOROW!!! FACT!!!
Who cares about the £7000.00 Audi that you mention? That is more than I get in a year. At least you do agree on the argument of free choice. One point for you.. Now it’s my turn to back off a little and give you a reprieve before I dive in head first again with attack mode from the outer universe. I did watch the rugby on Saturday and Sunday the 8th Feb 2009 and enjoyed it. Thank you BBC 1…..If I watch the whole tournament (that I doubt) I would be up to 2.3 full 24hr days of BBC usage @ 38p = 87.4p I am more than happy to send this in to the BBC for the privilege. Thanks again BBC.
However I have to sit 12” yes twelve inches from the TV and still wear glasses because I’m going blind and totally colour blind so I have a rather uncomfortable 80 minutes of enjoyment for each game. I have damaged optic nerves that no ophthalmic surgeon in the world can fix but I still have to pay a full license for two days uncomfortable pleasure. Piss off BBC I will get the results off the internet and save myself the 87.4p. Close to my bag of frozen carrots though!!! The BBC have refused to give me a reduction in my license because I am ONLY partially sighted, only when I go blind am I entitled to this wonderful 50% discount, I ask you, what good is it to me and the many thousands in the UK with similar problems? I will tell you, (NONE)
You are putting a lot of the blame on people who were justifiably opportunists in the 1980’s who, as I did found a fantastic avenue to have more than just BBC 1, BBC 2 & HTV or ITV giving us thirty plus channels instead of three, of course we went for it. Introduce me to a person who didn’t and you will find a liar. And if you think we all enjoy the likes of Sir David Attenborough, Black Adder. Fawlty Towers etc. Yes we DID and we all have them all on VCR or DVD so we don’t need the BBC do we? Not when we can watch it at 5:30am after a night shift on our VCR or DVD. So it is not a case of people being at fault for volunteering to join Sky etc it is the fault of the BBC for being as blind as I am and not grabbing the opportunity to take over the whole worlds network TV. And if as a grown man you still watch the new Dr.Who then I feel sorry for you. Grow up and stop publishing such rubbish. I’m sure you used the word “Moron” in paragraph 6 this is not what I would have said!!! I also note you repeat things, do you work for the BBC?
In paragraph 7 you say that other channels fund themselves by advertising and the government have prevented the BBC increasing the license fee so they raise the money commercially. What a fantastic idea, and now we have the money we can give it to Jonathan Ross. After all he is worth 6.5 million a year. (Now we are talking a lot of frozen peas) & maybe a “Twix or two”
And no I can’t afford a “Twix.” I drink to much so I have to pay my water rates.
I now have the audacity to ask you to please have a look at these links. They take you to two Blogs that I have linked together. I need as many people as possible to fill in the simple poll against the TV License and post comments if they want to. This is going to be a hard fight so please forward to every one you can.
Thanks Chris. http://tvlicense.blogspot.com/ http://chris-debtpaymentsquasher.blogspot.com/
“the TV License takes no account of your ability to pay, nor how much (if any) of the service you use. It hits the lowest incomes hardest by percentage of income.
You could argue the same about ….. virtually anything else. ….. So the TV license fee follows the same pattern as 99.9999999% things in the universe. I don’t think this is a strong argument.”
Sorry, but although I live on my own and I’ve made a personal decision to do without TV, it’s not so simple for most people, especially if they have kids. Try telling a child that they can’t have TV. If I had a child, I’d be obliged to find the money somehow.
——————-
“in the UK more people watch BBC programmes than any other channel. You may not like their programming in all cases (I don’t either) but that doesn’t mean your argument is correct. They’re not minority.”
As far as TV is concerned, I’m not so sure. I’d like to see your evidence. After all, most UK governments are elected by a minority of voters – if’s just that the governing party has a larger minority than any other.
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“The average cost of an Audi car, for instance, would fall by £7,000 if they did absolutely no marketing.”
If there were no marketing, nobody would buy Audis. You want proof? Look at the market for crisps. Golden Wonder was once the market leader. Pepsi bought up Walkers and mounted a TV ad campaign with Gary Lineker as the front man. Result? People abandoned Golden Wonder and bought Walkers instead. Whether your figure of £7,000 is correct or not, I doubt that all of it is made up of TV ads. There are other ways including sponshorship.
———————
“But have you REALLY never watched ANYTHING on BBC, or listened to the radio?”
I haven’t watched anything on BBC since I relinquished my licence. I rely heavily on BBC radio, but although the money for that comes out of the TV licence, you only have to buy one if you watch TV. That’s why it’s so stupid. I can’t watch non-BBC TV but I can use other BBC services. BTW there used to be a separate radio licence but it was abolished decades ago. It cost more to collect than the amount collected. But if I could have a TV without BBC, I’d watch other channels sometimes.
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“In 1980 all sport was shown for FREE as part of your licenCe fee”
Indeed, but there wasn’t much live football on TV then. Most of the sport now shown on Sky was never shown on the BBC, or only shown as highlights.
—————————-
“Every other channel funds itself by advertising, so why can’t the BBC do the same?”
I think that may happen eventually. As you pointed out, it already happens on some of their secondary channels.
—————————
“I agree you should be able to opt out. But if you do, your radio, TV and Internet hardware would have to be amended to prevent you from accessing BBC content.”
You can’t watch TV on the internet anyway. It would be easy to modify those filters. And you wouldn’t need to worry about radio as I’ve explained earlier. So it would only be standard TVs. With today’s technology, I’m sure it could be done.
Regarding the post “TV License Fee” There are so many conflicting comments made in this article that being a simple layman I’m not sure if it is defending or offending? Firstly I never use Face book, it far to open and unsafe, however I agree that the TV license hits the pockets of the lower paid and the poor with no consideration of actual ability to pay the legally demanding fee that holds a custodial sentence for non payment. For goodness sake; I wish I had a business that I could force people to pay for.
Fine them over and over again in court giving them CCJ’s as long as both arms, put them in jail for three months knowing when they get out they not only have the CCJ’s but have a criminal record and yippee for me the glorifiable part for me is they still owe me the money. Now I can spit in my palms rub them together and wait until I take them back to court again. Who cares? I don’t, ok they now have court costs to pay as well as my license fee but because the law is on my side I can’t loose.
How can any body compare food, drink & trousers to a license fee? There is no comparison what so ever. The above are part of essential living the BBC is not!!!
We can choose to pay for our sustenance according to our means. According to the post the license fee equates to £0.38p per day. Not a lot I hear you say, well let me tell you now with all but 27p short I can purchase. 1Bag of frozen peas, 1 bag of cauliflower & 1 bag of carrots that my wife will make last a month. So your 38p means £11.27 per month to me and my wife and I can assure you that’s a lot of frozen pease, actually enough for almost twelve months, so crippling to you may be not? but it would help feed me and my wife as well as millions of others in this “Great Country” of ours.
I see that you consider the BBC are following the same pattern as 99.9999999% of things in the universe, I’m not the least surprised considering your comment about the cost of “Twix” what’s next Mars perhaps? What planet are you from? You are certainly alienated from the real world of the lower class who have absolutely no interest in the universe. Only WHAT DO I DO FOR DINNER TOMMOROW!!! FACT!!!
Who cares about the £7000.00 Audi that you mention? That is more than I get in a year. At least you do agree on the argument of free choice. One point for you.. Now it’s my turn to back off a little and give you a reprieve before I dive in head first again with attack mode from the outer universe. I did watch the rugby on Saturday and Sunday the 8th Feb 2009 and enjoyed it. Thank you BBC 1…..If I watch the whole tournament (that I doubt) I would be up to 2.3 full 24hr days of BBC usage @ 38p = 87.4p I am more than happy to send this in to the BBC for the privilege. Thanks again BBC.
However I have to sit 12” yes twelve inches from the TV and still wear glasses because I’m going blind and totally colour blind so I have a rather uncomfortable 80 minutes of enjoyment for each game. I have damaged optic nerves that no ophthalmic surgeon in the world can fix but I still have to pay a full license for two days uncomfortable pleasure. Piss off BBC I will get the results off the internet and save myself the 87.4p. Close to my bag of frozen carrots though!!! The BBC have refused to give me a reduction in my license because I am ONLY partially sighted, only when I go blind am I entitled to this wonderful 50% discount, I ask you, what good is it to me and the many thousands in the UK with similar problems? I will tell you, (NONE)
You are putting a lot of the blame on people who were justifiably opportunists in the 1980’s who, as I did found a fantastic avenue to have more than just BBC 1, BBC 2 & HTV or ITV giving us thirty plus channels instead of three, of course we went for it. Introduce me to a person who didn’t and you will find a liar. And if you think we all enjoy the likes of Sir David Attenborough, Black Adder. Fawlty Towers etc. Yes we DID and we all have them all on VCR or DVD so we don’t need the BBC do we? Not when we can watch it at 5:30am after a night shift on our VCR or DVD. So it is not a case of people being at fault for volunteering to join Sky etc it is the fault of the BBC for being as blind as I am and not grabbing the opportunity to take over the whole worlds network TV. And if as a grown man you still watch the new Dr.Who then I feel sorry for you. Grow up and stop publishing such rubbish. I’m sure you used the word “Moron” in paragraph 6 this is not what I would have said!!! I also note you repeat things, do you work for the BBC?
In paragraph 7 you say that other channels fund themselves by advertising and the government have prevented the BBC increasing the license fee so they raise the money commercially. What a fantastic idea, and now we have the money we can give it to Jonathan Ross. After all he is worth 6.5 million a year. (Now we are talking a lot of frozen peas) & maybe a “Twix or two”
And no I can’t afford a “Twix.” I drink to much so I have to pay my water rates.
I now have the audacity to ask you to please have a look at these links. They take you to two Blogs that I have linked together. I need as many people as possible to fill in the simple poll against the TV License and post comments if they want to. This is going to be a hard fight so please forward to every one you can.
Thanks Chris.
http://tvlicense.blogspot.com/
http://chris-debtpaymentsquasher.blogspot.com/
“the TV License takes no account of your ability to pay, nor how much (if any) of the service you use. It hits the lowest incomes hardest by percentage of income.
You could argue the same about ….. virtually anything else. ….. So the TV license fee follows the same pattern as 99.9999999% things in the universe. I don’t think this is a strong argument.”
Sorry, but although I live on my own and I’ve made a personal decision to do without TV, it’s not so simple for most people, especially if they have kids. Try telling a child that they can’t have TV. If I had a child, I’d be obliged to find the money somehow.
——————-
“in the UK more people watch BBC programmes than any other channel. You may not like their programming in all cases (I don’t either) but that doesn’t mean your argument is correct. They’re not minority.”
As far as TV is concerned, I’m not so sure. I’d like to see your evidence. After all, most UK governments are elected by a minority of voters – if’s just that the governing party has a larger minority than any other.
————————–
“The average cost of an Audi car, for instance, would fall by £7,000 if they did absolutely no marketing.”
If there were no marketing, nobody would buy Audis. You want proof? Look at the market for crisps. Golden Wonder was once the market leader. Pepsi bought up Walkers and mounted a TV ad campaign with Gary Lineker as the front man. Result? People abandoned Golden Wonder and bought Walkers instead. Whether your figure of £7,000 is correct or not, I doubt that all of it is made up of TV ads. There are other ways including sponshorship.
———————
“But have you REALLY never watched ANYTHING on BBC, or listened to the radio?”
I haven’t watched anything on BBC since I relinquished my licence. I rely heavily on BBC radio, but although the money for that comes out of the TV licence, you only have to buy one if you watch TV. That’s why it’s so stupid. I can’t watch non-BBC TV but I can use other BBC services. BTW there used to be a separate radio licence but it was abolished decades ago. It cost more to collect than the amount collected. But if I could have a TV without BBC, I’d watch other channels sometimes.
—————————-
“In 1980 all sport was shown for FREE as part of your licenCe fee”
Indeed, but there wasn’t much live football on TV then. Most of the sport now shown on Sky was never shown on the BBC, or only shown as highlights.
—————————-
“Every other channel funds itself by advertising, so why can’t the BBC do the same?”
I think that may happen eventually. As you pointed out, it already happens on some of their secondary channels.
—————————
“I agree you should be able to opt out. But if you do, your radio, TV and Internet hardware would have to be amended to prevent you from accessing BBC content.”
You can’t watch TV on the internet anyway. It would be easy to modify those filters. And you wouldn’t need to worry about radio as I’ve explained earlier. So it would only be standard TVs. With today’s technology, I’m sure it could be done.