What we think the BBC should be about and what it has been about historically is a polar opposite. Far worse have worked for that awful company. I'd much prefer they just shut the doors and locked up, the News Of The World red top got binned for less than the BBC's employers have done over the years.
Have to say the BBC and the enforcement to pay for something you may not want to watch really pisses me off - someone said to me "at least it's free" - it costs £140ish a year to watch and if you don;t pay it you get a fine!! At least if you don't pay for sky you don't get a fine - they just cut you off! Annoys the hell out of me
They're on about changing it to just another tax so to get round people who say they don't own a television.
Hundreds of thousands of people legitimately avoid paying for a TV licence, in many cases even if they have a TV. Here's how Can you save £145.50 by (legitimately) ditching your television licence? The last time the laws on television licensing were updated was in 2004 and since then avalanches of new technology – iPads and other tablets, high-speed internet, smartphones, and more – have transformed our viewing habits. But the biggest change has been the roll-out of catch-up services such as BBC’s iPlayer and 4oD. These allow us to watch programmes after they’re broadcast, at any time that suits. And they give rise to a loophole that could spare some households the cost of the licence. Although there is talk about changing the regulations (see below) at the moment you do not need a licence to watch catch-up programmes. In other words, that content is licence-free. But the rules are labyrinthine so, before you declare to the authorities you don’t need a licence, read on. [Money-saving advice and loopholes are in included in our free weekly email: click here and enter your email] The two primary rules that you must never break 1. You won’t need a licence if you don’t watch live programmes. If you do watch anything live – be it on your standard set or online via PC, phone, tablet or anything else – you need a licence. That applies even if you’re watching using a mobile 3G connection or your Wi-Fi. 2. You cannot record live broadcasts. As far as the authorities are concerned, recording a live broadcast is the same as watching it. So that’s a no-no. Q. How do you convert older sets to “smart” ones in order that you can use them to watch catch-up? Most British households have one or more sets that predate the internet-enabled “smart” televisions, which connect to the internet and let viewers watch catch-up services as well as log on to Facebook and other sites. Older sets can’t do this, and instead get their programmes through traditional broadcast methods, such as an aerial. The solution is a set-top box which you can buy for a one-off fee – and no subscription – which make sets internet-enabled. Such boxes are made by Apple, Sony, Roku and others and cost between £50-£100. They can be plugged into most sets, and they are then connected to the internet through a cable or Wi-Fi. Most offer only a selection of streaming TV services, though, so check that those you want are included. Roku, for instance, has offered BBC iPlayer and 4oD, the Channel 4 equivalent, for some time, but has only this month added the ITV Player. Once you’ve converted your television into a “smart” set and are streaming your programmes only after they have been broadcast, you can unplug the aerial – and you won’t need the licence, either. Q. What about watching television on my mobile or tablet out of the house? The rules here are old-fashioned, designed more for the era of portable sets on caravan holidays than for an age in which millions of us effectively carry hi-tech televisions in our pockets in the form of smartphones. But the first rule applies overall. So if you’re watching live on a phone anywhere, you need to have a licence. There’s a secondary rule applying to whether your “device” – that’s the TV Licensing lingo for tablet, phone or PC – is “powered by its own batteries” or plugged into the mains supply. If it’s battery-powered – like the portable set taken on a picnic – the licence from your home address covers it. If it’s plugged into the mains, the property needs the licence. Q. Can the licensing authorities really detect whether or not I’m watching live programmes, as opposed to catch-up? No one wants to encourage breaking the rules. But this question crops up time and again and is interesting if only from a technological point of view. Can the licensing enforcers – “TV Licensing” – really tell the difference between your watching a programme live on, say, your phone through your Wi-Fi connection and watching it on iPlayer 40 minutes after broadcast? The first requires a licence and the second doesn’t. “We don’t talk in detail about detection because we do not want to inadvertently aid people deliberately trying to evade the licence,” a TV Licensing spokesman said. “But our processes enable us to identify whether live TV is being watched, regardless of the technology used.” TV Licensing says it is highly successful, claiming to net 1,000 offenders per day. It says that where viewers declare they only watch catch-up, and hence don’t need a licence, they may well receive an inspector’s visit. Q. Will the licensing rules change? Yes, quite possibly. Earlier this month, following a report that 460,000 households now escape the fee with this loophole, Conservative MP Rob Wilson told the Daily Mail: 'These figures demonstrate exactly why the current licence fee model is out of date. It won’t last long with the rapid technological advances of the 21st century.” But any change would require legislation to be passed through Parliament and so is probably some distance away. The BBC told Your Money: “Over its history, the licence fee has been modernised a number of times, from a wireless licence to one that now applies to tablets and computers. It is for Parliament to decide the next stage.” Earlier this year BBC director-general Tony Hall (pictured) indicated imminent change was unlikely. He argued that while some claim the licence fee is “a dinosaur from a pre-digital age, doomed to inevitable extinction in an on-demand world where you don’t watch live TV… the facts just don’t bear this out. Around 90pc of all television viewing is still live. Well under 2pc of households consume only on-demand TV content”. In other words the loophole may be around for a few years yet, for those who want to take advantage.
I haven't paid the license fee since 2011. Had one bloke come round to check in all that time. Stuck his head into the lounge from the hall, said "I can see you haven't got a telly" and buggered off!
Just visiting and I'm delighted by the majority on this thread. Sadly on the Hull board there are plenty who think he can do no wrong. I on the other hand consider him an odious ****.
Clarkson is an arsehole, Top Gear is **** and the BBC is an unneeded tax on the public. If they all disappeared forever Britain would be a better place.
Agree about Clarkson...I believe that Top Gear could be decent with new presenters...I believe the BBC is a national treasure and we would be crazy to abandon it..
Opinions init. I pay £145 quid a year to watch family guy repeats, which they're now moving to online only which means because of my usage limits I won't be able to watch it. That's a rip off by anybodies standards. What you call a treasure I call a disgraceful tax I shouldn't have pay. I'd love it to be sold off, it's drain on my resourses
Clarkson will be back either on the BBC or ITV so all this really does is get people talking about a divisive figure most reasonable people have an issue with. I just find him a bit of a throw back to an earlier age and I don't mean that as a compliment. As for the TV license, I used to not have a TV for 3-4 years and filled in a form to let them know. We kept getting threatening letters and eventually a guy came around and practically forced his way into the house before getting really annoyed with us as we showed him room to room that there wasn't a TV in the house. Then he left in a grump with no apologies. It definitely shouldn't be a tax, half my family don't have TV's and it would piss me right off!!
I'm hoping the producer, he punched, was a caravan owning Black lady The bloke wouldn't last two minutes in our local with his shyte patter and arrogant posturing ......... a middle aged man in a sports jacket & jeans ffs
Apparently Mars have sent Clarkson a box of snickers bars with a note saying "you're not yourself when you are hungry"
Have a read of this marra, see if you still feel the same way : https://thecolemanexperience.wordpress.com/2014/11/29/the-mysterious-death-of-mike-smith/
