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BBC wants to have its cake and eat it
by loiswakeman @ 18/01/2007 - 12:16:55

Years ago, I used to be a fan of the BBC and admire much of its programming. However, it is becoming increasingly hard to stomach for all sorts of reasons, only one of which I will bore you with today.

Much harrumphing was heard, over the less generous than hoped for settlement for the Beeb, on the Today programme earlier this morning.

Sir Christopher Bland (currently chairman of BT, but formerly Chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC) was pontificating about the amount they are allowed to borrow (set to rise from £200M to £220-230M). He argued that “on commercial grounds”, the BBC was well able to service borrowing of up to 0.75 billion. That may be true – but what commercial grounds, pray?

Instead of getting paid voluntarily by people who wish to subscribe to their offerings, the BBC is funded through what is effectively a tax on the vast majority of the population. So, it needs to abide by the rules for state organisations.

Like I say in the title, you can’t have your cake and eat it!

Read more:

From the BBC’s viewpoint and the Telegraph’s

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MunzlyMunzly pro
http://poppycock.blog.co.uk/
18/01/07 @ 14:39

Good point.

I do not have a TV nor do I watch it live online, therefore I do not need a licence. I would happily pay a subscription to the BBC website, but they give that away free :)

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loiswakemanloiswakeman [Member]
http://lois.co.uk
18/01/07 @ 15:14

Not for long, boyo! Rumour has it that the next step may be a tax on all new PCs to go to the BBC.

PC tax.

I find that particularly galling, as I never watch TV on my computer, and the only bit of the BBC site I use is the weather, which I could find elsewhere anyway.

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MunzlyMunzly pro
http://poppycock.blog.co.uk/
18/01/07 @ 17:16

If everybody in the world eventually has to pay equally for access to BBC material, I would be happy to pay my share. A PC tax would not do this so it would be equally unfair.

As I say, I would be happy to subscribe to certain BBC services if they got the quality right, but as for anything with advertising on it, forget it, I never watch. My "hermit" life is almost completely advertising free and that's the way I like it.

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loiswakemanloiswakeman [Member]
http://lois.co.uk
18/01/07 @ 18:09

IMO, there is as much advertising on the BBC as commercial TV: it's just all for their programmes/web sites/books/spinoffs, nagging to switch over to digital etc. Drives me mad!

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MunzlyMunzly pro
http://poppycock.blog.co.uk/
18/01/07 @ 18:36

Well, there you have another reason for dumping the box.

I very selectively listen to some Radio 4 online, and buy dvds of any good series or films that I hear about. So, effectively I create my own TV.

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Vort1gernVort1gern [Member]
18/01/07 @ 16:26

They already treat you like a closet paedophile if you don't have a TV license - my friend Ben was hassled for weeks by threats of detector vans, inspection visits, fines, thunbscrews, etc.

"What, you don't willingly lobotomise yourself on 16 hours of Eastenders each week? You freak!!"

If they want my money taxed out of me, then they are going to have to start being accountable and making the sort of programmes I want to watch . . . and I don't think anyone wants that in a hurry.

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MunzlyMunzly pro
http://poppycock.blog.co.uk/
18/01/07 @ 17:10

Yes, I get a threatening letter once a month, but unless they actually have proper legal evidence of an actual illegal watching event, there's nothing they can do. In fact I genuinely don't watch anything that would constitute such an event, so I'm happy to let them waste their resources that way.

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Vort1gernVort1gern [Member]
19/01/07 @ 10:20

Threaten to sue for harassment - for that is essentially what they are doing - and see how quickly they back off. Similalry if they try and get you to to stay home for a visit from an inspector - which they tried to do for Ben, bill them an hourly rate.

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MunzlyMunzly pro
http://poppycock.blog.co.uk/
19/01/07 @ 11:56

Way ahead of you there! I have an invoice ready printed for when they call, offering to allow them to carry out an inspection for a charge of four-hundred pounds, payable in cash in advance.

I've been doing his since 1998 and they have phoned me in the past with the threat of a visit, but backpeddled as soon as I said "Yes please, I could do with the entertainment."

Their harassment has not been continuous. Every so often they give up, but sooner or later something rattles the doors of their cage and they start again.

I refuse to contact them in any way as this will cost me money. However, it's been quite fun tweaking the (almost toothless) lion's tail.

Hermit (the horrible)

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Vort1gernVort1gern [Member]
19/01/07 @ 11:58

Nice one!

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loiswakemanloiswakeman [Member]
http://lois.co.uk
18/01/07 @ 18:13

Yep - my sister recently moved to a new TV-free house and has had threatening letters too. It's pathetic the amount of time and resources 'they' spend persecuting people while serious crimes go uninvestigated.

If the treasury just admitted it was a tax that everyone had to pay (just as council tax funds education even for the childless), they could probably save squillions every year on enforcement/ detectoring and reduce the amount we have to pay.

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MunzlyMunzly pro
http://poppycock.blog.co.uk/
19/01/07 @ 12:08

If it was a tax, then the BBC would be effectively a state controlled entity. At least as it is they can pretend it's held, as it were, at arm's length and therefore has a degree of autonomy.

The only safe answer is to do it by subscription. The state could subscribe on behalf of pensioners and certain of the disabled, prisoners, armed forces and official bodies. This would effectively act as a baseline "subsidy" and ensure the continuance of the BBC with much the same autonomy as at present. Eveybody else could subscribe through the BBC website or via their local PO (thus supporting them as well).

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menhirmenhir [Member]
18/01/07 @ 22:26

Journalists, abide by rules - we wish!

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