Why do we pay for a TV licence ?

[Hilly]

Stopped paying it years and years ago , hardly ever on ..

 

[MrNoo]

Stopped paying/watching it three years ago, life is much better for it with the exception of missing Carol Kirkwood doing the weather in the mornings!

 

[kiwi pom]

Stopped paying it years and years ago , hardly ever on ..

You might want to change that to 'never on'.

As far as I can tell if you never watch or record free live TV or watch I player you have nothing to worry about.
If you or someone living at the house does and you're just being a bit naughty, make sure when anyone comes a knockin they don't see any device capable of watching free live TV.
If they do, they may have enough evidence to get a warrant, at which point you will be obliged to help them by unlocking apps etc so they can check your history. If you don't that's a separate offence.
Remember a smart phone, iPad or PC are classed as capable devices.
How hard they try to get evidence, I have no idea.

Could be wrong, just my thoughts.

 

[M-J-G]

Just opt out of it online and you don’t get letters in the post

I like the fact that they waste their money sending me letters, at least I recycle the paper.

 

[melted welly]

Don’t have a tv license but I do have a drivers license and the tv seems t work fine on that.

 

[pellow]

I just paid the TV licence as we have a guest staying for a couple of months, regreted it after I caught a Radio 4 anti meat piece that sounded like an PETA advert this week. Difficult to understand what the BBC wants to be now

 

[Gong Farmer]

Re the OP, we/you pay for a licence if you receive television signals as they are broadcast, so you are licencing your receiver. The fact that all the money goes to the BBC is a Government decision, not the BBC's, and ideally it should be shared out between all broadcasters..

(Haven't had one for 12 years now. Happy with Amazon, Youtube, Dave, ITC.com, etc etc.)

 

[Paddington]

Regret renewing every year, we watch Bargain Hunt and the news headlines, OH watches Eastenders and rest of the time it's repeats on Sky.
When we moved here we had two licence reminders, same address, but one had an incorrect postcode which we ignored, never heard anything.

 

[Nearly]

Don’t have a tv license but I do have a drivers license and the tv seems t work fine on that.

The car works fine on my tv license but it is only a black and white.

 

[BRB John]

Well I'm afraid I'm the only one that likes the BBC...
I've always paid my BBC license.
I think alot of their content is really good. I also think it's important to keep at least one media source out of billionaires greedy little hands. Plus their equally disliked by the government which is always a good sign.
I don't mind the vegan message or the woke agenda everyone is entitled to an opinion and I'm not soft enough yet to get offended by everything....
You guys wouldn't know but there's actually alot of farming shows on the BBC. "This farming life" is a particular favourite of mine.

 

[Guiggs]

Stopped sponsoring their anti countryside, pro vegan, virtual signaling woke rhetoric b***ocks 3 years ago, must be due another letter written in red telling me I'm going to get a visit from a big scary man...
Laughable..
F**k the BBC

 

[daveydiesel1]

We didnt pay, man came round and wife told him we watch netflix and amazone so he asked to check the tv, he went thru it and found we hadnt watched bbc iplayer and it wasnt connected to an aerial so said that was fine

 

[Bootneck]

I stopped paying a few years ago, when I noticed that almost every day there was an anti livestock farming or anti meat message being pushed out by the BBC. It's lies and propaganda. Don't pay!

 

[d williams]

Stopped paying it years and years ago , hardly ever on ..

You was watching the rugby yesterday

 

[Hilly]

You was watching the rugby yesterday

I wasnt i was talking to you on here

 

[honeyend]

We have five streaming services, I hardly watch BBC or ITV, but trying to compare is difficult. I never went to uni, and as a child I was educated by our local library, you are lucky if there is one now, and Radio 4. BBC radio is still amazing and the back catalogue that you can access alone is worth the fee. If you have a basic cheap radio you can access content, in a world that now depends of digital output and high tec devices.
I think our production costs are now so expensive, some governments subsidise their entertainment industry, we want an an amazing service but do not want to pay for it, but I do think it has to be fully independent in content from the government.

 

[David.]

We didnt pay, man came round and wife told him we watch netflix and amazone so he asked to check the tv, he went thru it and found we hadnt watched bbc iplayer and it wasnt connected to an aerial so said that was fine

They have no more rights of access to your home than do the RSPCA, unless accompanied by an officer of the law, with a warrant.

 

[David.]

I have always paid on the basis that the radio alone justifies the fee.
With the loss of all the decent content on R2, that argument is somewhat diminished.
But, free to air channels and radio is not the way for BBC to go, radio's full of adverts, and TV is 15mins of content followed by 5 mins of adverts. It is shite.
BBC World Service is respected as a source of accurately reported news all around the globe, except here it seems.

 

[PSQ]

I have always paid on the basis that the radio alone justifies the fee.
With the loss of all the decent content on R2, that argument is somewhat diminished.
But, free to air channels and radio is not the way for BBC to go, radio's full of adverts, and TV is 15mins of content followed by 5 mins of adverts. It is shite.
BBC World Service is respected as a source of accurately reported news all around the globe, except here it seems.

I kind of agree, apart from you don't need a TV license to listen to radio.

Radio 4 isn't Radio 4 anymore, it's been hijacked by a London set that's guilty for being born. There is no entertainment (unless you find the endless 'Torie bashing comedies' worth laughing at).
Radio 2 is tolerable, but you have to listen elsewhere to find the genuinely good ex R2 presenters, like Virgin Radio.
Radio 1 is the same 8 records on shuffle, show after show, with inane 'bantz'.
Radio 1 Xtra is for "Urban Music", enough said.
And the current best BBC Radio station currently: the BBC Asian Network. The quality of debate is top notch and the presenters are genuinely interesting and usually roaring with laughter. World Service is usually quite good too.

But the TV content is utterly dire. Long gone is the talent of old, and now they're only good for promoting 'vehicles' for 3rd rate actors like Martin Compston, where it's impossible to buy into the dire plot of a submarine crew or a 'mysterious' oil rig. One episode and I'm done with every series.
If they'd concentrate on factual TV, science, technology, sport, proper comedy, stuff that actually matters like the BBC used to be great at, I'd be over the moon.

 

[David.]

I'm watching Around the World in 80 Gardens at the moment on Iplayer; You can pick some good stuff.
But I do agree with your analysis of day to day content.
If you try to watch anything from the thin pickings on ITV Player, it is full with adverts that you cannot skip without paying a subscription for ad free.
Self funding will not neccessatily mean BBC making better quality stuff that people will queue up to watch, it will more likely mean a race to the bottom with "celebrity" shite along with adverts.
We need a funded quality National broadcaster, it's just a shame the Hard Liberal intelligentsia are currently running it.