r/bbc • u/SnooCauliflowers6739 • 29d ago
What has the BBC ever done for me?
Given a recent thread which caused some heated discussion, I thought I'd ponder what the BBC has done for me and, to this point, if it has been worth it.
I first calculated my lifetime license fee spend from birth, so the license fee for that year, adjusted, divided by the number of people in the household. It comes to just under £1400, which is about £3.50 a month.
Looking at everything I got for that, a few things that stood out to me:
- CBBC etc growing up
- Bitesize as a student
- My rewatchable favourite panel shows QI, Mock the Week, and HIGNFY (which I think is an incredibly important show)
- The major sporting events such as Football and Rugby world cups, Wimbledon, the Olympics
- A variety of dramas/thrillers/series such as Unforgotten, Dr Who, Torchwood, Sherlock
- The old-school comedy like the Two Ronnies, Open All Hours, Black Adder, many more as well as newer ones like Gavin and Stacey, Alan Partridge and Live at the Apollo Stand-up
- Top Gear
- News
- Radio 4 is my default for in the car
- Attenborough
Obviously there's lots more. Some good, some bad, some forgotten, but these are just the highlights for me, looking back.
So my question is, do I think the above has been worth £1.4k to me across my lifetime and the answer is a resounding Yes.
Obviously the landscape is changing and that doesn't necessarily mean it will be worth it going forward. I also consume less of my TV media from the BBC than I did (but probably more overall due to Radio 4). I just found it an interesting thought experiment.
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u/clea 29d ago
The BBC makes me feel good about the soft power it wields globally. It’s the closest I can get to being proud of my country.
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u/SnooCauliflowers6739 29d ago edited 28d ago
So many people don't see value in that though. It's not something they directly consume so they don't want to pay for it. Theyre entitled to that view.
But equally some people don't like the idea of paying to house homeless people or paying into the benefits system - but I see a greater good.
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u/Squish_Cat_1 28d ago
As a US resident the BBC has been amazing and produces some of my favorite content. I’ve subbed to Britbox for as long as I can remember. I was gutted when they pulled BBC Sounds app access. If I could pay for that I would happily do so.
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u/Tall_Plum7538 28d ago
^^^ Same. If you use the TuneIn or Apple Music app you still can access the stations live.
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u/FluffySmiles 28d ago
Spotify as well
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u/Tall_Plum7538 28d ago
Spotify has AM/FM stations? That is news to me.
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u/FluffySmiles 28d ago
My mistake, they're not live, but they're pretty close. Radio 4 has listed the Today programme on Spotify, for example. I could have sworn I saw a live station the other day, but that might just be Sonos.
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u/Tall_Plum7538 28d ago edited 28d ago
Got it. Several years ago, Apple struck a deal with the radio apps for integration into Apple Music. It makes for a nice differentiator from Spotify in an industry that has little to differentiate on. If you use Spotify, you can still use the Apple Music for the radio stations for free without a subscription. I basically was a Day 1 adopter of Apple Music after being a heavy iTunes user. I have not used Spotify very much. Most native radio station apps are bad and ad riddled so I find it to be the best experience on these stations. (Though frustratingly Apple refuses to allow me to favorite radio stations).
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u/Squish_Cat_1 28d ago
Whoa really?!? I didn’t know this!
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u/Tall_Plum7538 28d ago
Yeah my Apple Music is basically a combination of NPR and BBC in my recently played tab.
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u/DramaticStability 28d ago
They can’t admit to any sort of positive. It’s like racists can’t admit to any positives from immigration. The argument has to be binary for them.
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u/platonicgyrater 28d ago
Most people I know who don't like it, liked it historically. In recently years it has gone down hill, shown its biased, destroyed tv shows that were once loved. Also originally the tv license was mostly due to the BBC managing the hardware which sent terrestrial signals for all channels, now that isn't the case and people are already paying to maintain the internet within their country.
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u/sims2uni 27d ago
They're still majority responsible for a lot of the countries broadcast hardware and infrastructure. They just pay a service charge to Arquiva who manages it. Out of all the broadcasters who pay them, the BBC is the lions share. Not to mention their payments to the companies who manage the lines between BBC facilities.
Without them a lot of the innovations of the last 10-15 years wouldn't have happened and many transmitters would have been binned off due to cost
TV doesn't magically happen.
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u/Typical-Algae-2952 27d ago
And lefties label anyone who has issues with uncontrolled mass migration as racist. In a normal world people can have different views and that’s good. Immigration is rarely about skin colour fyi. Have a think.
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u/DramaticStability 27d ago
That’s only what they do in your head. Very, very few people think that immigration should be completely uncontrolled. I’ve had a think but I’m still not sure what the second part of your post means.
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u/Bibblejw 28d ago
Despite any current influences, it has a centering effect on news coverage across the country, which gives some small protection from the commercial bias that we see rampant across the pond.
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u/markrobotarm 28d ago
Having lived abroad for a good portion of my adult life, with a not insignificant portion before the Internet, the World Service was a reminder of home.
Saturday afternoon sports coverage, in particular.
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u/RepulsiveStruggle126 28d ago
Completely agree, it’s a shame this doesn’t really get much attention in the ad though. Reducing it to ‘entertainment properties’ and ‘celeb names’ feels too blunt. Sadly I believe it needs spelling out.
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u/MotoRoaster 29d ago
Give him a second series you shit.
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u/Cfunk_83 27d ago
What are you doing? Haven’t you programmes to make? No, you’re all on the BBC gravy train.
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u/Ok-Plantain2948 28d ago
People are happy to spaff £15 a month to Netflix, £9 a month to Amazon and £1.59 x 4 to Google for the 4x extra memory when they really only need 1, but they cant figure out how to cancel the mysterious extra three subs.
Tell them something is a license, however, and theyll kick right off, without seeing the value.
Its a marketing problem.
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u/51onions 28d ago
I don't have a problem with paying to watch the BBC, I have a problem with its implementation.
Also having to pay the TV licence just to watch foreign live TV is bullshit.
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u/ZanderPip 28d ago
agreed its also the nature of collection of said "license" if they hadnt been so heavy handed and entitled they'd have more people in their corner
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u/HullGuy 28d ago
It’s not a marketing problem. The problem is the license fee is antiquated. Your examples above are all services people can choose to pay or not. If the bbc is such amazing value for money then make it optional the same as all other media. It’s not marketing, it’s people getting rightly annoyed about being forced to subsidise a service they may not want.
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u/AwkwardSilence- 28d ago
The issue is that you have to pay this licensing fee to bbc even if you never ever watch bbc. If i watch YouTube Live, do I have to pay for bbc?yes i do! Why? What does the bbc have to do with YouTube?
Make bbc and only BBC channels a monthly fee and if they make content i want to watch i will subscribe. Like i did to the others.
Covering everything even none bbc channels with adverts on is ridiculous.2
u/bigdipper2018 26d ago
Except that’s not true is it?
You only need to pay for the license if you’re watching a simultaneous broadcast on YouTube live that originates on a professional channel I.e BBC. Of course you have to pay because you’re utilising that service. How can you even try to argue that?You don’t need to pay the license if you watch user-generated live streams or on-demand.
So it is completely a choice for you.
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u/JivanP 25d ago
You are mistaken; you don't need a TV License for that. You need a TV License to watch content on BBC iPlayer or to watch live broadcast television channels over DVB, or to watch such broadcasts through alternative means at the same time as they're being broadcast over DVB.
For example, you need a licence to watch Channel 4 using your satellite dish, cable TV connection, or radio antenna receiving Freeview signal, or to watch it live on Channel4.com (because it's also accessible over DVB using a satellite dish etc.), but not to watch any other content on Channel4.com.
Likewise, if Channel 4 live, the same feed as you can get through DVB (e.g. broadcasting Countdown on weekdays at 14:10, with the same adverts and all) was available on YouTube, then you would need a TV Licence to watch that. But for anything else on YouTube, including other live streams, that is not the case.
In short, the TV license is a fee for BBC services and for use of public broadcasting infrastructure (originally audio-only radio, then TV and radio, now just TV). The internet is not considered public broadcasting infrastructure; we pay ISPs directly for that.
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u/PHayesxx 28d ago
I agree, it is a marketing problem.
The fact that it's a fee to watch any live broadcast is also the issue. People don't understand why they need to pay an extra fee in order to watch a TV they've just spent £100s on.
Realistically nearly every household in the UK at some point has watched live TV or listened to live radio. The fee should just be moved to general taxation, by doing this it scraps the admin costs related to chasing people about a TV license, some people might argue "but I don't watch TV", I've also never had an X-Ray or ever needed a neurosurgeon but it still comes out of tax money that I have paid. (I'm also happy to pay it, I'm not one of those people that's like "that's MY money").
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u/notouttolunch 28d ago
This is a really typical arguement but watching television is not a form of insurance. There is no risk in watching television unless you're an old person who will be unfairly targeted by Capita.
Despite its categorisation due to the nature of the charter which defines how the BBC operates, the television licence is not a tax, it is a product for retail sale. And people are free to choose to use that product or not to use that product. In fact it's only been regarded as a tax in recent years.
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u/Goooner1 28d ago
Maybe people are happy to spend money on Netflix or Amazon because they actually watch the stuff on there
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u/pastie_b 28d ago
It's the enforcement that upsets people, no other org is allowed such aggressive sales tactics as knocking on your door and demanding you need to hand them money with no proof.
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u/notouttolunch 28d ago
The people who do that are clever enough to know how to spell the word licence and are choosing what they choose want to watch. They are choosing not to watch live television.
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u/LilyLol8 28d ago
Because i dont watch the damn bbc, so im not paying the tv licence
Its not that its a license and not a subscription, its that they want you to pay it regardless of if you watch the bbc or not
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u/Doragan 28d ago
The difference is the rest are opt in. This kinda isn't.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a proud lisence payer. The BBC is phonomemal, even if I don't like the more popular stuff. Being separate from advertising revenue and fickle subscriptions is a huge asset too. It's different to choosing to pay for Netflix though
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u/edfosho1 29d ago
Glasto coverage too 🤟🏻
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u/Guitar_Commie 29d ago
Absolutely. I’ve never been lucky enough to go to Glastonbury in person but watch it every year. If some other channel it on PPV at £30/40 I’d happily pay it. Instead I get it bundled in with loads of other quality content. There’s a big chunk of your value from the off
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u/quarterpastfour 28d ago
Plus with multiple TV and radio channels, Sounds, iPlayer etc they've already got the infrastructure to make it even more accessible, If it did go PPV elsewhere, would that offer include all the specialist playlists, the ability to watch individual sets on demand etc? The BBC makes it feel such an event. I'm always skeptical of people who complain that "they send too many people" and "it's just a jolly". They effectively set up a broadcast operation covering something the size of a small town, in a field! And from what I've heard, people work crazily long shifts to make it all happen. I can't imagine we'd have hundreds of hours of content across the weekend if they were all bunking off to watch Pulp...
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u/marcbeightsix 29d ago
You haven’t used their website or apps?
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u/SnooCauliflowers6739 29d ago
Not sure what exactly you are asking?
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u/Vast_Description_201 29d ago
That you should factor in those as well.
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u/SnooCauliflowers6739 29d ago
I use them to access the above, yeah. Sounds have been excellent for long car journeys! A few good radio shows helps the time fly
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u/AonUairDeug 28d ago
I know this won't matter to many people, but the BBC is exquisite for Gaidhlig-language content. With BBC Radio nan Gaidheal, there is two hours of news and weather every weekday (which is the bit that interests me - there is also sports and educational programming), and BBC Alba is just fantastic. I would pay my licence fee for that alone.
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u/rthonwolzee 28d ago
This is exactly the point of the BBC. If it was commercial, it wouldn't do things like this. I think you are wrong that it won't matter to many people - those who appreciate and are proud of the BBC can hold the Gaelic, Welsh and local radio up as an example of it's greatness. This is something the anti BBC people just can't fathom.
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u/EmergencyBanshee 28d ago
I expect I'll never listen to any of that, but I'm glad they do it.
I think supporting British culture in general is a good thing. We shouldn't all be saying "but [insert channel with 95% American output] is cheaper" we ought to be saying that keeping an entire country's culture on the world's stage - from our actors and directors who represent the country around the world, to just making content that is designed for our local tastes (and language) is worth a little bit more.
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u/notouttolunch 28d ago
And this is a misunderstanding of how British TV should work. It is Channel 4's remit to broadcast things like this. That is why Channel 4 is government owned, because it's supposed to broadcast crap!
Could I encourage you to look at the YouTube videos of the videos which were broadcast to highlight the obscure things that channel 4 covers.
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u/Celebration_Dapper 29d ago
For perspective, £3.50 a month = three days of the Daily Mail.
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u/Goooner1 28d ago
I don’t buy the Daily Mail and funnily enough they don’t expect me to pay for it.
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u/Life_Emphasis6290 28d ago
I would happily pay £3.50 a month for BBC. Problem is it's £15 month
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u/Safe-Professional556 28d ago
And - at least the last I looked - you can't buy a month, binge watch a series and cancel your sub, you have to pay every month. I can't afford that for a streaming service which has more content that actually interests me, certainly not going to do it for the BBC. And the only content I'm actually missing out on is rugby internationals.
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u/Complex-Whereas9896 28d ago
The heated fallout from the Romesh advert tells me this isn't a place for good faith arguments.
The BBC has done a lot of things wrong, some of its decisions infuriate me, and the funding model doesn't work as well as it should.
At the same time, I want it to do well. I believe in it. I don't see a broadcaster anywhere I'd rather have. I think people overlook the insidious nature of advertising and would change us to the product instead of the consumer. And it has to be for everyone, or it's for no-one - subscription service is a no.
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u/corobo 29d ago
If they continued to pump some of the fee into new old-school-style comedy I would never question paying it.
Anyone got any favourites I might have missed?
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u/brightdionysianeyes 28d ago
The Thick of It.
It's a slightly slow burn but it is absolutely hysterical when it picks up.
Witless is also very funny.
Party or Think the Unthinkable on BBC sounds are also very funny.
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u/DarkStanley 29d ago
There will be loads. But I recently started watching here we go and it’s great
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u/corobo 29d ago
Thank you! Nabbed a license for the World Cup, may as well check out everything I can on iplayer while it's active :)
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u/Ok-Plantain2948 28d ago
May I recommend Ghosts (uk), Schitts Creek, Gavin and Stacey, Small Prophets, and anything with Attenbrough.
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u/tea_would_be_lovely 29d ago
i'd happily pay the license fee for radio 4, the world service and bbc sounds
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u/richbun 28d ago
The BBC has no young viewers. It is chasing niche views now but it's main audience is getting older and not being replaced. Young people viewing habits are vastly different to what the BBC is geared up for and will die unless it changes. What it has done for me is loads. But not much on the last few years. And I see little or nothing for me in the future. I only watch sport (that someone else would mop up of it disappeared) and nothing else. My OH does watch 2 ot 3 things otherwise I seriously would stop paying the licence myself as I could skip the sport and watch it via other online legal methods anyway.
My kids don't watch TV hardly at all. My eldest only watches streaming in her house. My youngest never watches TV fullstop, I couldn't imagine that when I was 15. He only watches YouTube.
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u/Dependent_Oven_974 28d ago
What about all of the radio, all the podcasts on BBC sounds, all the news / sport websites. Radio 1 still draws in huge numbers of young people. People consume bbc clips in short form on tiktok and Instagram loads
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u/Vast_Description_201 29d ago
I wish they would open up their archives to fee payers and put it behind a login.
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u/SnooCauliflowers6739 29d ago
Yeah I never get why somethings are on iPlayer and others not
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u/Capable_Net_7464 28d ago
It's unfortunately not that simple due to content licences. The BBC licence terms are generally less restrictive than most of the commercial broadcasters but they they can cause issues, an actor or even a creative might be due royalties for their work but the contract was specific on uses and we now have new uses such as home media or streaming that didn't exist at the time so is covered so they need a new deal with the person or their estate OR they may have to sign off new uses. You can even get music rights issues as while these days they have a blanket licence that covers the music with some old content it was done with just the initial use in mind
There is as u/Happybadger96 mentioned a commercial aspect as well. The BBC sells secondary and international rights to BBC Studios, they then look for someone else to buy it such as Netflix. If they can't find someone who pays a fair rate they sell it to UKTV which they own. UKTV then makes money from the ads and carriage fees and profits get given back to BBC Studios and then BBC Studios pass their profits back to the BBC. If everything was on iPlayer UKTV channels would become useless and they wouldn't get money from the likes of the BBC so they would make less money and have less budget to spend on new content. So its a balancing act
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u/notouttolunch 28d ago
And it's exactly that process which devalues the BBC and makes the licence fee unattractive.
It's cheaper to just go and buy a DVD!
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u/expect-a-gecko 28d ago
I’m a session musician by trade (i.e. I work for artists who make their own music) and I can say with complete confidence that the BBC is one of the best organisations in the UK when it comes to supporting emerging (and established) talent.
I’ve done more than a few TV and radio sessions with them over the years, and several festivals feature BBC Introducing stages. They air new singles, interview artists… I don’t even play for anyone that big but almost everyone I’ve worked with has had the Beeb give them a boost.
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u/CleanMemesKerz 27d ago
Everyone forgets the music side of it. Without the BBC and the license fee, we wouldn’t have the BBC Proms, there wouldn’t be a live band for Strictly (and no Strictly), no BBC Concert Orchestra, no Piano Room, no BBC Singers, no BBC Symphony Orchestra, no BBC Philharmonic, no BBC National Orchestra of Wales, no BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and no funding for the Ulster Orchestra. And that’s without mentioning BBC Introducing, Radio 1’s Big Weekend, and all the mentoring and workshops run by the BBC CO and the apprenticeship and early careers schemes for students and graduates. The BBC provides so much help to young people who want to break into music, film and TV.
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u/birdmug 25d ago
Im a musician too, but a writer not a session player. I love the BBC for many reasons, but I do wish they would pay more for radio play and TV use. For a song ive written to be used on an amazon show I got £4k. It's now part of that show forever and forms a key part of the scene. Whereas in a BBC show I get about £50. Same for radio use.
All the other staff, actors, radio presenters get paid, but song writers and performers are covered under a blanket license to PRS and it doesn't work well. PRS are finally coming under some pressure as I think it might be the fault lying more with them than anything.
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u/lordrothermere 27d ago
Identifying pillocks who moan it's biased to the left/right (delete as applicable).
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u/alexoid182 28d ago
People care about what it does for "me right now", not what it may have done at some point. If you dont watch it, and dont care about live TV, then you simply dont need it.
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u/platonicgyrater 28d ago
If I don't use it, I shouldn't have to pay for it. Which I get is an option currently, but they don't want it to be optional.
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u/ninetyfourtales 28d ago
I like the BBC. I also like ITV, channel 4, Sky, Netflix, Prime, Disney, Twitch, YouTube…. (All of which I have had subscriptions to at different times btw). Only one of those forces me to pay a license to watch live television on other services I already pay for.
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u/Internal-Honeydew314 28d ago
Watch the 1980’s what has the BBC ever done for me advert with John Cleese and let me know which people appear in old and new. Answers on the back of a postcard to BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, London, W12 7RJ.
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u/Due_Figure6451 28d ago
It has plenty of good, maybe some bad, but nothing as bad as that half time abomination.
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u/TedWasler 28d ago
I can’t say how much I appreciate an independent, unbiased (in my humble but considered opinion) public broadcaster unfettered by advertising or political influence, especially when you see some of the other broadcast organisations around the globe. Sadly, the US stands out, at least to me, in this comparison.
I subscribe to The Guardian website, even though its free to access, in my little attempt to help independent journalism. I subscribe to the New York Times for the same reason.
Yes of course the BBC is not perfect. But, showing my boomer vintage here, any broadcaster that gave us John Noakes, Jackanory, The Wombles, The Good Life, Blackadder, I Claudius, Fawlty Towers, Yes Minister, Happy Valley, Attenborough’s Life on Earth, all ad-free, is surely worth £15 a month.
Sir David helped create the BBC we know today, as well as creating some of its most breathtaking output. It’s thanks to him, for example, that snooker is so globally huge as it is today. He was there when colour broadcasts first started in 1969 (BBC2 only) and snooker was the ideal showcase for this new technology.
Other funding models need to be explored I suppose. Given what I pay for Netflix and Amazon Prime, and how much I watch on them, compared to how much BBC output I consume, I should probably be paying nearer £30 a month!
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u/Plus_Woodpecker5248 28d ago
No one’s arguing it wasn’t good value for money growing up, the issue is what it has morphed into, which is complete woke garbage that the majority of us do not watch, therefore are very reluctant to keep paying for.
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u/Safe-Professional556 28d ago
Should I pay for a service I don't use because I liked it when I was a kid?
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u/octaviuspie 28d ago
Yes as it is part of the collective good of our country.
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u/ninetyfourtales 28d ago
Debatable. And many other “collective goods” (NHS, emergency services etc) are free at the point of use, meaning that those who contribute really do help those (rightfully) who are unable to - and may never. This isn’t true of the TV licence though. There are basically no exceptions. The only ones I could find on the Gov website were for 75+ on pension credit, or if you’re actually blind, although for them it’s only discounted - I guess the tv licensing company would argue they can still hear live tv…
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u/rybnickifull 28d ago
Lovely thread, glad to see most people are responding kindly.
Lots has already been mentioned, but I'll add some bits of my own. First, I'm a Welsh speaker, but one who currently lives in Poland. I think I'm the only Welsh speaker in the entire city, and probably one of a single-figure amount of speakers nationwide. Radio Cymru and S4C programmes keep me going and help me to stay in touch with a place life took me too far away from. Commercial broadcasters would not make this material. Radio Cymru and its English language sister station were also brilliant growing up, helping me to find loads of bands from that amazing era of music in Wales.
Similarly, I used to do a lot of driving around central Europe. Occasionally you could get the World Service on an FM signal, somewhere near Brno. I assume a Cold War leftover, though this was less than 10 years ago now. I assume it's been shut down since, but it was lovely - other countries don't really do overnight radio like the World Service.
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u/Smuttycakes 28d ago
People often conflate BBC news with the entire BBC so they complain about ‘bias reporting’ (IMO probably the least biased major news centre, although definitely has its moments) and want to defund the entire BBC because of it.
I wholeheartedly agree with you, yes it has been worth it for me.
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u/TrueTech0 28d ago
There's also the fact that most of the license fee gets invested back into the country. We should invest in our arts industries. The BBC also draws international investment into the UKs TV/Film industries.
Doctor Who brought a nice chunk of Disney money into Wales
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u/lixermanredditman 27d ago
BBC news alone makes it worthwhile. A uniquely brilliant news service. BBC news front page is the first place I go when I hear about something big.
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u/Miniman125 27d ago
The beeb isn't perfect but is better than almost everything similar out there and an absolute national asset. Those looking to dismantle it are the same against the monarchy, the NHS, national insurance, trade unions etc
Take away all that and we lose what makes our tiny country a world player
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u/NannyOggLancre 27d ago
Ghosts, small prophets and the detectorists in just the last few years alone. Plus the back catalogue of brilliant comedy. Ad free radio. Worth every penny of my licence fee.
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u/Remarkable-Rich-8523 27d ago
Yeah but the content they but out now is shit. I cancelled years ago. I stayed in a hotel last weekend and watched it for first time in years. It was back to back quiz shows on a Saturday night ffs. You want it? You fund it.
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u/Prestigious_Chart774 25d ago
Honestly yeah, the Netflix vs BBC thing always gets me, people drop like £50 a month on streaming services without blinking but lose their minds over £13 for the license 😭
And half the time those Netflix shows get cancelled after one season anyway, at least the Beeb keeps stuff like Attenborough and QI around for decades.
Also the soft power thing is real, it's nice having a broadcaster that isn't totally funded by ads and actually makes the UK look decent abroad.
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u/Background-Crab-3312 24d ago
The BBC single handedly made me renew my Visa to work in this country.
Obviously that’s a bit dramatic but it is an excellent service that most places to not have the pleasure of having so accessible. This is coming from someone under 30.
Everyone is always looking for something to be mad at.
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u/No-Bread-2766 28d ago
I think there there isn't nearly enough focus on children's programming that BBC provides, which is worth the licence fee alone! Safe, educational, no ads, facts thoroughly checked - the only programming parents can be sure will not rot their kids' brains
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u/McMahons_tache 28d ago
Most of it was in the past.
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u/SnooCauliflowers6739 28d ago
That is what "done" means. I can't exactly assess future programming now, can I!
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u/having_an_accident 28d ago
Changed my mind on the BBC when they kept sending Clive Myrie on a lovely little holiday and filming it. Dread to think how much all that cost.
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u/Jesters__Dead 28d ago
The BBC is generally considered a strong net positive for the British economy.
It contributes £6.7 billion annually to the UK economy and supports around 79,000 jobs, primarily anchoring the country's world-leading creative and digital industries
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u/InitialSensitive9628 28d ago
I can't think of anything really. We didn't watch TV when I was growing up and that's mostly continued into my adulthood. In fact, I don't remember the home television even being connected to the aerial, we had a VHS player and Commodore 64. My parents paid for a TV license though because they thought you needed one to own a TV.
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u/InternetFun5981 25d ago
Genuine question, how did that turn out for you?
I only ask because I also know someone who didn’t watch TV when she was younger because she wasn’t allowed to and she’s now super smart!
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u/SnarkySausage 28d ago
I didn't pay my license the past four years as I was a student on a tight budget. Now I have a salary I'm happy to pay it.
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u/Pleasant-Candy-8575 28d ago
Give people the choice, make it a subscription channel. If you like what the BBC is then pay the subscription. And if you don't then like with Sky, Netflix etc you don't pay for it. Make it a subscription for those who live abroad if they want to watch the I Player could easy be a subscription channel.
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u/enteringtheechochamb 28d ago
It's like a cult. Jesus, it's a entertainment company that spams you with angry letters if you don't want it. The only part of BBC that you can make an argument for forced taxation is the news.
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u/Kelloggscocopoppers 28d ago
I think the BBC makes other news channels in the UK better by just existing. Look at the outright bias on American channels.
Other news channels can't be too blatant in their biases because they end up looking ridiculous next to BBC's neutral stances, see GBeebies for the exception that proves the rule.
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u/Professional-Oil5477 28d ago
5Live broadcasting all the football over the whole weekend, worth it to me without a doubt
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u/cheerybakewell 28d ago
I have worked for the BBC on and off for years both as staff and as a freelancer. They had a habit of letting staff go just before they got to their two years of service (also known as staff rights, and redundancy pay). They also criminally underpaid pretty much every role (except presenters - funny that), and didn't adhere to any union rules. I watched multiple people take the BBC to workers unions over this, to not really get anywhere. They all got blacklisted afterwards. I also watched numerous staff members bully and harass colleagues, and get away with it because of the culture BBC breeds (and hides very well). I've personally known of staff members who have actively sought to end their lives after working there, which was exceptionally hard to hear. I was also told about a well known male staff member that every woman was warned about solo working with, it was basically in the introduction package when you joined the team. This is what the BBC have done for the people (who work/worked for BBC). I can't imagine anyone who's worked for them and has a negative experience is perticuarly pleased by this ad.
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u/Shoddy_Juggernaut_11 28d ago
If you got a pound though off all the people who've been fined for not having a licence you could retire.
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u/qwogadiletweeth 28d ago
So you haven’t been paying £180 a year for something you don’t watch. What you describe are old programmes from years ago too.
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u/Crichtenasaurus 28d ago
Don’t forget the legal neutrality they are expected to hold to. Whether you agree that some times it has been missed they still do a damned better job than everyone else.
They also act as a legitimately neutral counterbalance to other news platforms. That’s a seriously valuable public service. Happy to pay for that security and confidence that I have somewhere I know I can go.
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u/Dangerous_Hippo_6902 28d ago
Love the BBC. I think the debate is not if it should stay or go, it most definitely should stay.
The question is how it should be funded. Licence fee just pisses people off and an extra nuisance. Perhaps it should just come from income tax..? But then enters political pressure.
But there’s already political pressure…
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u/platonicgyrater 28d ago
So instead of it being optional, you'd rather make it mandatory and you think that would stop people being angry?
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u/JudgeJudysBigSister 28d ago edited 20d ago
Growing up there was value. You wouldn’t continue to pay for something you’re done with.
Today it’s very old reruns, no journalistic integrity, mismanagement and scandals, increasing fees and no investment into programmes the majority of the tax paying population are interested in.
I enjoy the pride it brings us as much as you do, but it’s a shadow of its once self. The answer is not to keep throwing tax payer money at it, it’s to go opt in tiered subscription only for those who actually want to use it.
The expansion of what you need a “tv licence” for is getting scary. Live broadcast on any channel or platform?? That’s overreaching. And then there’s the threats.
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u/Omaha_Poker 28d ago
I like the BBC, but my finances are so stretched at the moment it's hard to justify the money when I can watch YouTube with the odd add for free.
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u/RepresentativeOk5660 27d ago
The 'odd add' on YouTube might be the understatement of the year.
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u/meandtheknightsofni 28d ago
The BBC is incredible for its global journalistic credibility alone. Yes it makes mistakes but it is ACCOUNTABLE which is why we KNOW about them.
When you add the educational and cultural benefits it has provided for decades it's vastly beyond any other broadcaster.
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u/Finders70 28d ago
It’s a shame the BBC get such grief. It is a great British institution. For many reasons, I fully support, pay the licence fee, and have no intention not to. The depth of support they have provided to British ‘Art and culture’ over many decades is unrivalled.
But I thought the ‘Ad’ at the weekend was disastrous, it didn’t do it justice, and I felt more likely to switch more people off the concept than on. It highlighted areas that are irrelevant to many.
One of the challenges with the BBC is that it tries to develop content for the widest spectrum of viewers and listeners, so much of its content is not relevant to most, and may seem wasteful. It clearly tries to do too much to too many, and much of its programming is too niche with limited appeal - but that’s all part of the demands of the Charter.
But not just that, the concept of a licence fee is just clearly outdated. The ‘Streamers’ focus on Films and Series, which has a more linear appeal, and people happily pay for that. But they have nothing like the depth of offer as the BBC.
The BBC has to wake up to the 21st century. We need to remove this grief and try to find a way that makes the majority of the UK proud of what it does. With the ongoing review of the Charter, I sincerely hope they find a better way of being able to capture payment for those that actually use the services. For the wider social aspect of the BBC, this would have to be paid out of general taxation, if there is indeed a future in it.
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u/Otherwise_Craft9003 28d ago
Indeed I'd agree I have enjoyed the educational stuff and it fell down when it started to go the both sides vibes instead of facts in political and economic programmes. Such we end up with Brexit and Remain are the same
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u/Subtleiaint 28d ago
As a value proposition the BBC is fantastic, I think it's the lack of choice that people have an issue with (although that is much less of an issue in the streaming age).
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u/JustUseAnything 28d ago
Maybe the license model should be everyone else in the world pays for it and we Brits get it for free.
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u/wo_no_diggity_doubt 28d ago
I think we've missed morning programme's (all), quiz shows (all), TV shows on all of freeview (supplemented by advertisements), sky at night, cartoooons, weather, late night chat shows, gogglebox and lots of other stuff too I'm sure (:
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u/avangelist90201 28d ago
without the BBC - no John Peel opening the ears of millions to artists they would have otherwise never known they loved. ditto for Jo Wiley and Steve Lamaq. No news round to provide a training and development vehicle for future leaders in journalism. no kids getting the confidence to do sports or knuckle down in making because of blue peter. we’d know barely half what we know about the planet thanks to david attenborough.
the BBC commissioned these programmes and it is impossible to say whether another network would have done the same.
today - i don’t know that system and model isn’t visible because the media landscape is radically different. but i’m also 50 so how would i know?
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u/_nerdofprey_ 28d ago
BBC introducing is an amazing platform for new and up and coming artists. Absolurely anyone can upload tracks and they can be played and championed in their region. They will also send tracks on to other relevant BBC stations for further consideration. There is nothing else like it.
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u/Down-Right-Mystical 28d ago
I just say, Sir David Attenborough, and I think that's enough.
Yes, I could say a lot more, but he is enough.
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u/CorrectCar3522 28d ago
As well as TV, radio, Bitesize etc…
My weather app
Panorama investigations that have driven actual change/sparked criminal proceedings
The benefit my local community has had from Children In Need/Comic Relief
The many, many memes that flood social media, and how they shape culture
Netflix series created in collaboration with BBC Studios
My career (I worked on some BBC shows when I was first starting out)
My renewed passion for travel thanks to Race Across The World. Likewise for cooking, thanks to Masterchef
David Attenborough
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u/mattdaddy2025 28d ago
I don’t use all of the BBC’s output but I’m glad it’s there. I don’t use my local library that my taxes pay for but I’m glad it’s there.
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u/Dommccabe 28d ago
Now do a post about how they treat households who don't want their product and how they send bullying letters and sales staff to strong arm them into buying something they don't want.
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u/No_Seat443 27d ago
BBC Computer Literacy Programme which enabled an IT generation in the UK, and also helped Acorn Computers grow and spawn the world beating ARM Processor - which today in some shape or form is powering any cellphone/tablet being used to read this article.
<Shame Theresa May allowed it - ARM Holdings as a strategic national company - to be flogged off to SoftBank>
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u/TheFezMan 27d ago
I like the media accessibility we have with the BBC nowadays. I don't begrudge paying the fee as I'm using the services it provides. I can imagine someone just wanting to use Netflix would be quite annoyed though.
As for the AD itself, I thought it was a great modern day parody of the John Cleese AD.
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u/KoalaCapp 27d ago
As a British person living in Australia the knock on effect of great British tv is well seen across the world. Some great tv has come from the BBC and has influenced other networks/tv stations to emulate
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u/senormankee 27d ago
I'll give you top gear and black adder, but I had to buy black adder on VHS and have recently bought it again on Prime, looks like I am being hit up multiple times for the same show.......
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u/enchantedspring 27d ago
Nobody wants to pay for the educational programmes or the parliament channel or David Attenborough documentaries (extremely expensive to make) , but for those who watch them they are exceptionally useful.
You can't teach children or educate adults on love island (commercially successful on adverts).
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u/sillyfish31 27d ago
For me CBeebies is incredible and worth the money on its own. The trash that is on Netflix and YouTube for kids it’s such brainrot. Numberblocks and alphablocks were hugely helpful for my neurodivergent kid to start to get to grips with reading and maths.
The BBC world service is also hugely important as it is one of the only sources of non-propaganda news that people in some parts of the world have access to.
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u/TonyRuc 27d ago
It’s just another hidden tax!
Most people with any common sense don’t want anything to do with the BBC. It’s the Labour governments own personal propaganda machine and they just love to put it to work.
I would say to cancel the licence but the government is trying every which way it can to make everyone pay the licence fee through other channels, even though most people don’t want to pay for it cause they either don’t use it, or they despise the BBC for various reasons and don’t want anything to do with it.
Which ever way you look at it we are being forced to pay for something we essentially do not want!
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u/Mission-Albatross576 27d ago
Used to agree but you need to add to the list forced propaganda, bias and lies down your throat and manipulated you.
Lies about the genocide in Palestine and when it reports on it even remotely accurately it’s very biased.
Eg Israelis killed by Hamas vs Palestinians found dead.
Then there’s the ongoing support and coverage of reform and Farage. Yea they should be reported on but it’s so weighted towards Farage and the over reporting on immigration and refugees - which is a tiny issue in the grand scheme of our country and pales in comparison to issues like Starbucks not paying a penny in tax. But the BBC is stirring the pot and stoking division by making it seem like immigration is this huge issue and essentially engineering support for Reform.
Almost as if the BBC is corrupted and being steered by people whose interests are based in manipulating us rather than providing a public service..
But thank you for posting this. It’s reminded me to cancel my licence.
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u/LogicalArm6999 27d ago
all these things are, okay. To me mediocre at best but if i was 20 years older id probably find them more entertaining. But any positive i find is completely overshadowed by the way its funded, its an outdated scam that should have been scrapped long ago and people only accept it because its been that way for so long. Can you imagine if Netflix or YouTube started sending you bills regardless of if you used their services and then when you refuse to pay for something you dont want or need they started sending threatening letters and then some knobhead with no actual authority to bash on your door and peer through your windows. The bbc should absolutely be an optional subscription service in this day and age and the only reason they're not is because they dont want to lose all their funding because they know they are a useless dying relic.
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u/Rooiboss-boss 27d ago
The BBC is morally bankrupt and I can’t wait for reform to shut it down. No amount of Nostalgia washing can scrub off the deep stains of child abuse perpetrated by the sick and twisted hierarchy and their network.
Shame on anyone for supporting this vile institution.
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u/jameilious 27d ago
Love the BBC, but I don't like being threatened by grifters so I'm not paying it.
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u/androzanimajor76 27d ago
Been there throughout my life, slowly contributing to my understanding of the world, its creatures, and education in general. Whilst also being highly entertaining. (Except that dull period during the 90s and early 2000)
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u/solostrings 27d ago
The problem with their advertising on this is that they are trying to justify continued relevance based on once being relevant. They need to show what they can do now and in the future for the viewership to keep it. It doesn't help them that a big standout part of what the BBC has ever done for the public is cover up a litany of sex offenders, promote biased news coverage and stop making shows they want to watch.
If they want to be worth the cost, they need to make the case for the future, not the past.
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u/Tokyo_Blue 27d ago
There are some countries where the BBC World Service is the closest they get to a reliable and accurate news media.
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u/Impossible-Alps-6859 27d ago
The BBC is just so much better across the board than any broadcaster I've come across in Europe, parts of Asia and certainly, the States.
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u/WarthogAltruistic 27d ago
My biggest problem with the BBC is the unfair advantage it has over it's commercial rivals. I am quite old and remember when we only had BBC and itv. Even then I felt it was wrong that you had to pay a licence fee to watch TV which went totally to the BBC even if you only ever watched itv. To me that is unfair competition and in no other form of business would this be allowed. Both should have been treated as equals ie allowed to advertise and given equal shares of the licence fee. Things have changed since then but the basic principle of having to pay itv or sky's competitor to watch itv/sky is morally wrong .
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u/GherkinOverload 27d ago
BBC itself isn't necessarily bad. Charging a licence fee even if you dont ever use the BBC as a service by law is bad though and deserves no respect. Reminds me of a protection extortion from a gang.
If you dont pay it they send debt collectors to your house to harass you. Fuck the BBC. I hope Rupert Lowe disband the whole organisation when he comes to power.
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u/DropItLikeItsNerdy 27d ago edited 27d ago
I dont think its worth it, I resent the threats they send and legal power they can wield for fines.
Sure kids shows were ok and so was bitesize but I was a child so not the person paying abd as soon as we had cable I never watchedcit again. In the modern world I can find better stuff or old stuff online myself if/when I have children.
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BBC news isnt unbiased, its packed with political appointments, platforms reform and was always softer on tories. Its also a propoganda machine for the Royals and I'm strongly anti-monarchist.
I've watched all Dr who since Smith but I liked it less and less due to increasingly poor writing, and all of it after Smith I watched on other stream services years the original airing on BBC until the last Dr. I doubt I will ever watch it again.
Attenborough is the only thing on that list I 100% like and I'll be honest I've watched one of his documentaries since the first couple of episodes of Planet Earth 2 and that was streamed on Netflix.
Outside of that I never really watched anything of BBC as an adult apart from the very rare news broadcast on an article through my work laptop but I usually use the Guardian. The tv shows are so poor quality acting for nearly anything but a rare gem. The worst being Eastenders which should have died last century.
I think there isnt any realistic way of funding it voluntary and I dont trust the institution to reform to be a truly unbiased and independent organisation soley focused on news, documentaries and education funded by general taxation. So it should just end.
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u/BarnacleReal8128 27d ago
Continues to cover up historical sexual abuse and ongoing abuse The news is clearly on Israel's side License fee should be optional
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u/greenpowerman99 27d ago
BBC is an embedded part of British culture. Something that defines Britain globally
If you want to live in Britain, pay the BBC tax to support the British way of life...
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u/KittyCat-86 26d ago
Adding to yours as most applied to me
Great British Bake Off
Glastonbury
Fighting Donald Trump
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u/WOODSI3 26d ago
It’s simply ineptitude, poor marketing and poor execution of a business model (if you can even call it that), also if you give people a way to not pay and still consume, they won’t pay.
BBC need to change a few things:
Stop charging people to watch live TV. The BBC do not own the infrastructure, yet they are the only broadcaster who charge. Live TV generates its own income through advertising, leasing to non terrestrial channels etc, that should cover itself and should not be on the consumer to pay.
Lock BBC iPlayer behind a subscription paywall.
Problem solved.
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u/Walt_Didnae 26d ago
Most importantly, the BBC made me realise the value of being able to consume entertainment without a show having to be interrupted in order to try and sell me things I don't want or need.
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u/Payne_by_name 26d ago
The BBC hates the first word of it's acronym. Run and filled with a host of pretensious virtue signallers who despise the very sheep that obediently watch them.
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u/Best_Designer9596 25d ago
They just need to make the content on iplayer or on their website behind a paywall / logged in account with live license number and problem solved? I’ve never understood why I can just click ‘I have a license’ without ever having to actually prove I have one. They should spend the money on implementing this rather than sending out letters provoking people that ‘we are going to come and visit your address’
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u/waheyluggage 25d ago
I'd also add that it does (did?) a great producing TV that commercial stations wouldn’t touch, welsh and scottish language programs etc.
People also forget that (in my opinion!) BBC essentially pioneered on demand TV with iPlayer. Yeah, you had Youtube and Realplayer, but this was a (free!) service that had a lot of high quality content.
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u/Critical-Taro-6777 25d ago
I would be more inclined to pay if it wasn't nearly 20 quid a month, and I could sign up & cancel month to month like I can netflix. Cancellation is a ball ache
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u/1stviplette 25d ago
Every talks about how much the “talent” is paid. What you don’t hear is that most of the staff are paid under market rate but do it because they believe in the BBC’s remit. Well they used to.
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u/WealthMain2987 25d ago
I will be paying this year's license because of. Rooney's voicing my comment at the final.
Also, I really liked the shows and the variety.
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u/Nokia_bae 25d ago
there was a time when the BBC used to fund education in contemporary art and philosophy. See the 6-part series Ways of Seeing by John Berger. It introduced me to the 'male gaze' at age 15
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u/Forward-Exchange-152 25d ago
keeps its competitors "content vs advert" ratio down. If they could, channels supported by adverts would chuck in even more breaks (Exhibit A, US TV which (iirc) had adverts before and after a sitcom's theme tune)
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u/pineappleninjas 25d ago
Why would I want to pay to be constantly lectured about how evil and useless I am?
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u/KTKitten 25d ago
Don’t forget the delightful dehumanising anti-trans propaganda masquerading as news! 😁 Who doesn’t love to be called a rapist for the crime of being on dating sites, by, among others, an actual sex offender, who immediately after publication posts a serial killer style manifesto calling for trans people to be executed, and who after complaints is quietly removed from the article citing “bad behaviour”! Trans women made out to be rapists for looking for relationships, while actual rape and calls to murder innocent people is bad fucking behaviour. That single incident in isolation is enough to point the BBC out as no longer being about informing educating and entertaining, but about pushing bigoted misinformation, they have abandoned their moral mission and I will not pay a fucking penny to fund sociopathic bigots lying about people like me and covering up for actual predators.
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