Apologies if this has been up already.
I like BBC iPlayer but it has got me thinking. As they seem to put up almost the entire week's content, how does that stack up with the licence fee?
Presumeably I can just have free BBC if I wait until post-broadcast and I can get the news etc off News24 without paying for a licence at all.
Am I missing something here?
I have brought this up all ready.
Well you'd have to get rid of your TV, or at very least get special circumstances from the TV Lincensing Authority, or whatever they're called, explaining that you only ever watch DVDs, play games, etc.
Quote: jake how @ February 16, 2008, 5:23 PMI have brought this up all ready.
*Waits for a self-righteous moderator to lock thread*
Quote: frostyboy @ February 16, 2008, 5:24 PM*Waits for a self-righteous moderator to lock thread*
Moderators don't need to be specifically self-righteous. It's kind of in the job description.
Here is a link to it: https://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/thread/4143
Paxman critisised the license fee as something belonging to the 1950's. Even one of the Beeb's top figures is speaking out against it. No corperation should ever be allowed to demand a tax.
When I was at uni, every foreign student I met was shocked to discover they were going to have to pay a (extortionate) fee just for owning a TV set.
Don't see why a thread like this should or would be locked. It's just a simple question really, given that our fee pays for the Beeb (and I think it's good value for money when you consider what we get for it)
I'm just surprised that they seem to be happy to give it all away for free via the iplayer
Well they don't require you to type in your TV Licence number to access BBC News Online, do they? 
Quote: ian_w @ February 16, 2008, 5:29 PMWhen I was at uni, every foreign student I met was shocked to discover they were going to have to pay a (extortionate) fee just for owning a TV set.
They were probably also confused about indoor lavatories.
I think that the Beeb is regarded by many the world over as the best broadcaster there is and when you see American or indeed Sky or ITV you thank God that we still have some top channels that don't bugger up shows every few minutes with mind-numbing ad's
They were too busy thinking about things like how lucky they were not to have prehistoric hospitals where more people get killed than cured.
I could go on.
Quote: ian_w @ February 16, 2008, 5:34 PMThey were too busy thinking about things like how lucky they were not to have prehistoric hospitals where more people get killed than cured.
Where were they from? Sudan?
Quote: Blenkinsop @ February 16, 2008, 5:32 PMI think that the Beeb is regarded by many the world over as the best broadcaster there is and when you see American or indeed Sky or ITV you thank God that we still have some top channels that don't bugger up shows every few minutes with mind-numbing ad's
So where is this quality? Apart from not having adverts, really, what are they producing that's worth all the money they collect from licenses?
Quote: ian_w @ February 16, 2008, 5:38 PMSo where is this quality? Apart from not having adverts, really, what are they producing that's worth all the money they collect from licenses?
Yeah I agree to some extent Ian and the golden crown is a bit more tarnished than it used to be but when the Beeb get it right as they frequently still do then they do it well.
And not forgetting the radio network and all the local radio content. I'm still a fan and I think they're worth the money.
I have Sky too and it costs nearly 5 times what the BBC does and what do I actually get for that? A lot of abosolute unwatchable shite OK, some good stuff here and there and as some of my family are sports fans and like films then we gain there too but it ain't cheap compared to Auntie and it's so advert heavy (non premium channels that it gets bloody tedious watching especially as half the ad's are for the bloody channel you're watching at that time. What the feck's that about?)
But what pisses me off is the fascist way they go about it.
At least with Sky you can choose whether to pay or not depending on how badly you want to watch the stuff they make.
But you have to line the BBC's pockets whether or not you actually watch/listen to any of their output. This just doesn't make any real sense. Baring in mind that they are a corp like all others, it's like saying I like shopping at Tesco's and Asda's but have to pay a fee to Sainsbury's in order to do it.
I hope when they are digitalised they at least give people the choice of paying the fee and scramble the signals of the people who choose not to.