I feel sorry for the old folk, some of whom won't have a clue what they are supposed to be doing

quote:

Originally posted by Liverpoollass:
I feel sorry for the old folk, some of whom won't have a clue what they are supposed to be doing

So do I LL, I had to help Mrs Hooten over the street to sort hers out a few weeks ago, she was so confused! Bless!

Awww god love her

What happened to freedom of choice, that's what I want to know

How are people supposed to afford it?

quote:

Originally posted by Liverpoollass:
Awww god love her

What happened to freedom of choice, that's what I want to know

How are people supposed to afford it?

Freedom of choice...this Government!!!

Like I say, IMO, it's another way of them keeping tabs on who's paying and who's not paying, with the addded bonus of all the VAT they get from people having to replace/ buy new goods....

I rarely watch the BBC, and could live without it, I don't listen to Radio 1 or 2 etc, so why can't they encrypt the Channels?????

Also, say you've still got analogue TV, (which alot of elderley people have...for now)...that means you can't watch BBC 3 & 4 etc...so why should folks have to pay the full licence fee if they're only getting BBC1 & BBC 2...they're paying for the benefits but not actually using them....

I agree that we should have the choice to opt out of the BBC. With the digital switchover there really is no excuse!

I live in a village where cable tv is not an option... we have to use sky dish. Whenever there is a bit of rain, or the slightest hint of a storm our digital reception completely freezes, so we have to switch back to analogue.

Where is that gonna leave us when they switch it off!!

Tis stupid!

You're missing the point here, I think.

The TV Licence is purely for the "right" to have a Television. Although it funds the BBC it does not confer the right not to pay just because one wants to watch all other channels EXCEPT the BBC.

I don't necessarily agree with this effective tax on television ownership, but that's life. If the BBC took just about 15 mins of advertising (other products, not their own) per night then the licence fee could be unecessary, but that's a fat chance.

quote:

Originally posted by Liverpoollass:
Awww god love her

What happened to freedom of choice, that's what I want to know

How are people supposed to afford it?

Apparently pensioners and people on benefits will get sky equipement for free. They wont have to subscribe to sky they will be able to use the sky box as 'freeview'. It will still cause a lot of confusion for people.

quote:

Originally posted by shar69:

quote:

Originally posted by Liverpoollass:
Awww god love her

What happened to freedom of choice, that's what I want to know

How are people supposed to afford it?

Apparently pensioners and people on benefits will get sky equipement for free. They wont have to subscribe to sky they will be able to use the sky box as 'freeview'. It will still cause a lot of confusion for people.

Well that has confused me! We're pensioners and I am disabled, and we have been told that once analogue has beren switched off our area will only be able to get digital tv via satelite, and we will have to pay for the installation of the dish etc.

quote:

Originally posted by *BB*:

quote:

Originally posted by shar69:

quote:

Originally posted by Liverpoollass:
Awww god love her

What happened to freedom of choice, that's what I want to know

How are people supposed to afford it?

Apparently pensioners and people on benefits will get sky equipement for free. They wont have to subscribe to sky they will be able to use the sky box as 'freeview'. It will still cause a lot of confusion for people.

Well that has confused me! We're pensioners and I am disabled, and we have been told that once analogue has beren switched off our area will only be able to get digital tv via satelite, and we will have to pay for the installation of the dish etc.

You were told wrong.
Freeview.

You can get a freeview box for a tenner so its hardly a huge expense for everyone.

quote:

Originally posted by Dirtyprettygirlthing:
I agree that we should have the choice to opt out of the BBC. With the digital switchover there really is no excuse!

I live in a village where cable tv is not an option... we have to use sky dish. Whenever there is a bit of rain, or the slightest hint of a storm our digital reception completely freezes, so we have to switch back to analogue.

Where is that gonna leave us when they switch it off!!

Tis stupid!

Hmmmm, I have that problem too, if the weather is bad or even when cars drive past it sometimes freezes.....annoying isn't it!!!

I'd be in favour of an opt out of the licence fee if the BBC and ITV were allowed the same leeway to broadcast whatever synidicated US c*** they choose to and the Sky satelite TV network was broken up due to it's hugely favourable and unfair monopoly position. This would provide a level playing field for the BBC, ITV and Sky to make as much money as they liked.

You'd have three rival networks broadcasting from the same satelite but with encryption this shouldn't be a huge problem. Depending on their program output, you might choose to subscribe to all three, or even none of them! Pay per view "Coronation Street" anyone, or perhaps £20 per season?

The BBC could show adverts every 10 minutes and the Simpsons and Star Trek 4 times a day - or all day if they liked! The BBC could drop its radio stations and simply broadcast from a satelite - much cheaper for them!

Regional BBC/ITV programming and news could be dropped for a London based service or perhaps they could just buy one in from ESPN/CBS/CNN etc.

There wouldn't be any need for a terrestrial switchover and if people didn't pay for a dish, well that's just their tough luck!

Of course, the TV would probably be abysmal - and expensive - even compared to how bad it is now, but the market would triumph, and no one would be paying for channels they didn't watch!

Yeah and when it rains or is windy everything goes to pixels anyway

quote:

Originally posted by Cadoxton:
You're missing the point here, I think.

The TV Licence is purely for the "right" to have a Television. Although it funds the BBC it does not confer the right not to pay just because one wants to watch all other channels EXCEPT the BBC.

I don't necessarily agree with this effective tax on television ownership, but that's life. If the BBC took just about 15 mins of advertising (other products, not their own) per night then the licence fee could be unecessary, but that's a fat chance.

Not really. i was reading through my licence renewal last year and there are few concessions, even if you're blind.

basically, even if you have receiving equipment (ariel on the roof etc) you are liable to pay the full fee...so, if i moved into a house and never bought a TV, i should really pay the fee if I have the receiving equiment installed....

...whichever way, it's just another Tax the Government bully us into paying...

It also depends how much you value British culture - except sport.

If you think British culture is not really worth paying for - except maybe for the Premier/Champions League and the British can't really be as good as America, culturally, then let's go for a wholly market driven model model for broadcasting.

If on the other hand, if you're bothered about the country you live in and its culture and want it to have a distinctive voice in the world, then a publicly funded 'free to air' British Broadcasting network is the only way to do it.

Having the funds to make British content that isn't The Premier/Champions League and without having to compete for advertisers revenue also allows another free-to-air broadcaster more advertising revenue to itself to make better funded programs.

quote:

Originally posted by Garage Joe:

quote:

Originally posted by *BB*:

quote:

Originally posted by shar69:

quote:

Originally posted by Liverpoollass:
Awww god love her

What happened to freedom of choice, that's what I want to know

How are people supposed to afford it?

Apparently pensioners and people on benefits will get sky equipement for free. They wont have to subscribe to sky they will be able to use the sky box as 'freeview'. It will still cause a lot of confusion for people.

Well that has confused me! We're pensioners and I am disabled, and we have been told that once analogue has beren switched off our area will only be able to get digital tv via satelite, and we will have to pay for the installation of the dish etc.

You were told wrong.
Freeview.

There may be something valled Free view, but we will still have to buy a satelite dish and pay for it's installation, and also buy a box for the tv to make it work, plus a box to convert our existing tv to digital. It sounds very costly.

quote:

Originally posted by *BB*:

quote:

Originally posted by shar69:

quote:

Originally posted by Liverpoollass:
Awww god love her

What happened to freedom of choice, that's what I want to know

How are people supposed to afford it?

Apparently pensioners and people on benefits will get sky equipement for free. They wont have to subscribe to sky they will be able to use the sky box as 'freeview'. It will still cause a lot of confusion for people.

Well that has confused me! We're pensioners and I am disabled, and we have been told that once analogue has beren switched off our area will only be able to get digital tv via satelite, and we will have to pay for the installation of the dish etc.

My Mums communal analogue signal was switched off about a year ago, she had to pay for the new arial and buy a freeview box as well

quote:

Originally posted by jessejay:

quote:

Originally posted by *BB*:

quote:

Originally posted by shar69:

quote:

Originally posted by Liverpoollass:
Awww god love her

What happened to freedom of choice, that's what I want to know

How are people supposed to afford it?

Apparently pensioners and people on benefits will get sky equipement for free. They wont have to subscribe to sky they will be able to use the sky box as 'freeview'. It will still cause a lot of confusion for people.

Well that has confused me! We're pensioners and I am disabled, and we have been told that once analogue has beren switched off our area will only be able to get digital tv via satelite, and we will have to pay for the installation of the dish etc.

My Mums communal analogue signal was switched off about a year ago, she had to pay for the new arial and buy a freeview box as well

Yes, and we won't even get a choice of switching over to digital reception because there are no plans to give us digital reception here. I don't understand why some people think us pensioners will get everything paid for us. We have always said that come the day our analogue is turned off then that's the end of us bothering with telly.