Politics Thread 6

[OrangeRKN]

Will the bbc at some point realise that pandering to these banana splits doesn’t even help them.

Tories have already appointed bbc execs to be people who want it to fail

[Carlos]

Whilst it might not be the home of the quality drama is had in the 1990’s (Sharpe, Hornblower ) it has been ITV publishing a lot of stuff against the government in recent weeks. The BBC being privatised might not be the end of the world.

It’s always an interesting thing to see though. Go to the Guardian comments and the BBC is seen as the right wing mouthpiece of the government; go to the Mail and it is seen as the provider of all that is woke.

If you can piss off both sides at the same time you must be doing a balanced job?

[KK]

The trouble is the license fee as it currently stands does need replacing but the whole process isn’t being conducted in good faith or with the best interests of the BBC and public service broadcasting in mind.

BBC, ITV and C4 now all need to stand on their own two feet to an extent, but they can’t compete with the budgets of the American streamers, and certain services and programmes that aren’t exactly commercially viable need safeguarding.

I understand why younger people refuse to pay the license fee as if they’re not interested in the programming, they’re not interested (or Netflix, Amazon Prime etc are now just cheaper) but a viable solution needs to be found.

[Herdanos]

Such as financing it through general taxation, and reinstating the 5% tax for top earners that the Conservatives cut as step one of their "we're all in this together" austerity?

[Oblomov Boblomov]

I know the BBC has its faults but I am overwhelmingly in support of it and I will be devastated if this evil cretin is able to follow through with her ornery threat.

[Cuttooth]

Whilst it might not be the home of the quality drama is had in the 1990’s (Sharpe, Hornblower ) it has been ITV publishing a lot of stuff against the government in recent weeks. The BBC being privatised might not be the end of the world.

It’s always an interesting thing to see though. Go to the Guardian comments and the BBC is seen as the right wing mouthpiece of the government; go to the Mail and it is seen as the provider of all that is woke.

If you can piss off both sides at the same time you must be doing a balanced job?

This has always been a meaningless signifier of the BBC's quality, specifically the news and current affairs element, because it stops short of even asking whether one of these groups might actually have a point.

Balance is worthless if you're unable to actually explain things to an audience. Things line those Ros Atkins videos that go viral on Twitter feel significant mostly because the rest of the news output is so lacking.

[Hexx]

twitter.com/RandomVentures/status/1482705524261109764

[Moggy]

Whilst it might not be the home of the quality drama is had in the 1990’s (Sharpe, Hornblower ) it has been ITV publishing a lot of stuff against the government in recent weeks. The BBC being privatised might not be the end of the world.

It’s always an interesting thing to see though. Go to the Guardian comments and the BBC is seen as the right wing mouthpiece of the government; go to the Mail and it is seen as the provider of all that is woke.

If you can piss off both sides at the same time you must be doing a balanced job?

The balance is the main issue I have with the BBC.

I don't think they are slanted left or right. You're correct that both sides whine about bias.

But the BBC's insistence on balance is a huge problem. Sometimes there isn't an acceptable opposite view. Climate change, covid masks/vaccines, flat Earth etc. It's ridiculous to have some twat like Farage on to offer an alternative viewpoint to a climate scientist.

[Dowbocop]

The trouble is the license fee as it currently stands does need replacing but the whole process isn’t being conducted in good faith or with the best interests of the BBC and public service broadcasting in mind.

BBC, ITV and C4 now all need to stand on their own two feet to an extent, but they can’t compete with the budgets of the American streamers, and certain services and programmes that aren’t exactly commercially viable need safeguarding.

I understand why younger people refuse to pay the license fee as if they’re not interested in the programming, they’re not interested (or Netflix, Amazon Prime etc are now just cheaper) but a viable solution needs to be found.

Compare CBeebies with the output of Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Milkshake, Pop, CITV, etc. There is nothing for disabled or neurodivergent children on there. Absolutely nothing. CBeebies had a strawberry floating episode of My Family recently where the dad was remarrying after the mum died of cancer. That gooseberry fool needs to be on TV and the commercial kids' channels won't touch it.

[Moggy]

The trouble is the license fee as it currently stands does need replacing but the whole process isn’t being conducted in good faith or with the best interests of the BBC and public service broadcasting in mind.

BBC, ITV and C4 now all need to stand on their own two feet to an extent, but they can’t compete with the budgets of the American streamers, and certain services and programmes that aren’t exactly commercially viable need safeguarding.

I understand why younger people refuse to pay the license fee as if they’re not interested in the programming, they’re not interested (or Netflix, Amazon Prime etc are now just cheaper) but a viable solution needs to be found.

Compare CBeebies with the output of Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Milkshake, Pop, CITV, etc. There is nothing for disabled or neurodivergent children on there. Absolutely nothing. CBeebies had a strawberry floating episode of My Family recently where the dad was remarrying after the mum died of cancer. That gooseberry fool needs to be on TV and the commercial kids' channels won't touch it.

I know Sesame Street will do things like that. And that Sesame Street is made for PBS, America's public funded TV.

It's almost like capitalism is terrible.

[Dowbocop]

The trouble is the license fee as it currently stands does need replacing but the whole process isn’t being conducted in good faith or with the best interests of the BBC and public service broadcasting in mind.

BBC, ITV and C4 now all need to stand on their own two feet to an extent, but they can’t compete with the budgets of the American streamers, and certain services and programmes that aren’t exactly commercially viable need safeguarding.

I understand why younger people refuse to pay the license fee as if they’re not interested in the programming, they’re not interested (or Netflix, Amazon Prime etc are now just cheaper) but a viable solution needs to be found.

Compare CBeebies with the output of Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Milkshake, Pop, CITV, etc. There is nothing for disabled or neurodivergent children on there. Absolutely nothing. CBeebies had a strawberry floating episode of My Family recently where the dad was remarrying after the mum died of cancer. That gooseberry fool needs to be on TV and the commercial kids' channels won't touch it.

I know Sesame Street will do things like that. And that Sesame Street is made for PBS, America's public funded TV.

It's almost like capitalism is terrible.

And where was Sesame Street when it was on British TV? Oh yeah, C4...

[DML]

The trouble is the license fee as it currently stands does need replacing.

No it doesn't. Thats the problem. People who want a subscription model dont understand they will pay much much more.

[Qikz]

The trouble is the license fee as it currently stands does need replacing.

No it doesn't. Thats the problem. People who want a subscription model dont understand they will pay much much more.

What they need to do is stop capita sending threatening letters and then there's no issue with the TV license at all. People feel strong armed into paying for it even if they don't watch TV as you get constant letters saying people are going to come to your house to investigate. Surprise, they never do. Capita are banana splits and they scare people with shitty letters. Even if they do turn up they have no legal way of entering your home. strawberry float capita.

I haven't paid for a TV license for 3 years since I moved here and every month without fail I get a letter (without my name on, so they don't even know who lives at the address) threatening legal action.

[captain red dog]

It's a tough one. I wouldn't say the licence fee is anywhere near my top 100 issues that need solving, but I really struggle to justify it in this day and age. If I take my household, neither my wife, me or my 8 year old really use BBC services anymore aside from the odd program on Iplayer. That's a huge change compared to 30 years ago.

The way we consume media has massively changed. Take kids TV for example. My son is 8 years old, and I know him and his friends at school watch virtually nothing on TV unless it's films or some Netflix stuff with parents. The days of coming home from school and putting CBBC on are long gone. Or Saturday morning, getting up to watch cartoons or Live and Kicking, kids just aren't watching TV like that anymore.

The BBC can put out genuinely decent diverse kids programs, and no doubt they do, but the audience for it is now so small because they have gone elsewhere.

[Imrahil]

License Fee numbers are falling and will continue to fall, so there are major problems down the line even if they do valiantly try to stick to the License Fee model. A chunk of the public are subbing to certain services and using the internet for news instead. And that's just going to keep growing.

Far better for the BBC themselves to pro-actively tackle this issue I would have thought. There's lots of ideas floated, but whether the BBC are actually analysing those ideas behind closed doors, who knows. You'd hope so.

[Carlos]

License Fee numbers are falling and will continue to fall, so there are major problems down the line even if they do valiantly try to stick to the License Fee model. A chunk of the public are subbing to certain services and using the internet for news instead. And that's just going to keep growing.

Far better for the BBC themselves to pro-actively tackle this issue I would have thought. There's lots of ideas floated, but whether the BBC are actually analysing those ideas behind closed doors, who knows. You'd hope so.

They could fund the BBC through a combination of a ‘streaming tax’ where the government slap £1/m on the sub cost for Netflix, Amazon, Disney etc to pay for the BBC together with a paywall for the iPlayer. They then reduce the F2A content down to one channel (do we need 2?).

The iPlayer would need to seriously pull its finger out getting older shows up on there (need me some Brittas Empire!) to add value.

There is frankly nothing wrong with commercials on the radio so stations can go that way.

[Shadow]

I do think it's lovely having channels, both on TV and Radio, that are free from ads. I would love it if every service offered a premium option where you could pay to have an ad-free experience.

[Dowbocop]

I do think it's lovely having channels, both on TV and Radio, that are free from ads. I would love it if every service offered a premium option where you could pay to have an ad-free experience.

I only have Radio 1 and Five Live on in my car and it's jarring when my wife has Virgin on in hers, even though it doesn't have that many ads (taking a moment for an obligatory strawberry float the Sun as they have a load of crossover ads). I don't know how ad free versions would work though as you'd come back from an advert halfway through a segment.

[Tomous]

I do think it's lovely having channels, both on TV and Radio, that are free from ads. I would love it if every service offered a premium option where you could pay to have an ad-free experience.

I love how I pay £45 for Sky every month and still have to put up with adverts

[Knoyleo]

I do think it's lovely having channels, both on TV and Radio, that are free from ads. I would love it if every service offered a premium option where you could pay to have an ad-free experience.

I only have Radio 1 and Five Live on in my car and it's jarring when my wife has Virgin on in hers, even though it doesn't have that many ads (taking a moment for an obligatory strawberry float the Sun as they have a load of crossover ads). I don't know how ad free versions would work though as you'd come back from an advert halfway through a segment.

I'm sure absolute radio used to do a thing where if you listened through the app, you got fewer adverts, and I think it played an extra song or something instead.