I have watched a bit.... I think even the Australian A-League is better.... and that is of very questionable standard, dispite them trying to hype it up!
It is typical that the BBC have gone overboard on this tournament and yet they cannot wait to offload the pen Golf and are trying to give over the 2016 event to Sky to save £7m! A bit like a fiver to you and me! I really am getting so p*ssed off with them and seriously now resent the licence fee. I never thought I would say that.
That's over £12 per month, now compare that with what you can get from BT including all the BTSport Channels £10 month AND in HD it certainly is a rip off !
Fact is Women's football is ****e, I know that sounds sexist and perhaps it is, but its fecking ****e, women should stick to what they do best, cooking, cleaning and pleasuring their men in the bedroom
Except you actually get quality TV that doesn't revolve around sport on the BBC. They are not the same.
Where else do you get intelligent programming. I'd be surprised if BBC science programmes are not the best in the World. Music of all kinds, History, documentarys, absolutely superb quality in comparison with virtually all commercial channels. Sky Atlantic, Sky Arts and mostly Channel 4 (although its getting worse) are also very good. ITV is just dogshit for ******ed Northern folk, Channel 5 for ******ed Southern folk and the rest show constant repeats.
I think the issue here Carrabuh is that you should have a CHOICE as to whether or not you pay the BBC subscription because in reality that's what it is. The fact that you have to pay this 'subscription' regardless of whether you watch the BBC or not is tantamount to theft. With the likes of BBC4 having such low audience figures, why should everyone have to pay for those expensive high brow programmes that appeal to so few.
Harsh but probably fair. I may be a bit old fashioned but I love the BBC - not so much BBC1 but the quality of comedy/documentary and current affairs programmes you get on BBC 2/3 and especially 4 you just don't seem to get elsewhere. I love Radio 4 and I listen to the sport on 5Live. I think their website is one of the best on the net and for all people complaining about it being too left or right wing it is generally pretty even handed and is one of the few institutions we have which is respected both in the UK and worldwide. I know we have to pay the license fee but to me it seems a pretty small price to pay for something utterly worthwhile. In terms of quality tv I think that Sky are starting to do a pretty decent job in parts supplying decent original drama/comedy and docs but at a cost higher than the BBC. Some tv is worth making even if its not commercially viable and that is what the BBC can give us. I can't be the only one who enjoys seeing a Horizon about string theory or the current 3-parter about Napoleon on BBC 2 or the current re-run of Dirk Gently on BBC 3. I honestly don't think any of these would gain funding commercially due to a lack of perceived mainstream appeal. I don't consider myself particularly high brow but I couldn't tell you anything I've watched on ITV since the end of Lewis. There has to be more to tv than light entertainment, and reality tv.
Because the BBCs role is to accomodate for all and make sure it is a public service to the country, much like a library. To say we do not pay for commercial TV is nonsense. If i buy a product do i get it discounted because i dont watch the adverts on ITV.
And don't get me started on commercial kids TV. Wall to wall American cartoons based on snot, farts and violence.
Seeing the BBC as a public service is important. If you've barely used the NHS, should you have to keep funding it? If you don't think you'll ever be robbed should you fund the police? The relatively even-handed coverage from the BBC plays an important role in allowing people to make their own minds up about things. If tabloids were the only source of news, I bet public opinion would sway towards extremes much more easily. Things like BBC documentaries play a surprising role in developing the nations next generation of scientists, doctors, etc. I've worked at uni open days a fair amount, and "what made you want to study science" is a fairly common icebreaker. I was surprised at the number of 18 year olds who responded with "I saw xyz on tv, and wanted to know more".
I wish I had more faith in your reply DH because the BBC you describe is that one that I want to believe in and supported for many years. I do fully agree that it would be a darn sight worse if the media became a version of the tabloid press but for me the Beeb is a sad shadow of what it used to be. There is so little quality, the schedules are full of soaps, reality things, doing up houses, bloody antiques (where you can play along at home as well for God's sake!), banale cookery stuff, celebrity b*llocks, stuff with dogs and so it goes on. I would keep the licence fee for the radio (say about a tenner) and then have possibly one channel that reflected proper quality and ditch BBC 3 and the overpaid clowns that are on the rest of the time on BBC1.
You are mostly talking about cheap daytime TV when most people with more than half a brain are at work or busy not watching TV. Go back in time and daytime TV was still cheap and dull. I dont doubt dumbing down is occurring (apparently whales only break the surface of water now in slow motion with a full orchestra playing, much like any sporting event with accompanying melodramatic poem) but it is firmly led by commercial TV. In comparison the beeb has little fascination with reality celebrity, it prefers them presenting or performing. To top it all we all still pay for commercial TV. Its driven to produce the biggest numbers at the cheapest price. low brow dross I honestly have no time for arguments to get rid of the BBC, look at the truly rubbish TV abroad. We would be the same without the BBC pulling up standards. It is so important to the country.
Mostly yes but by no means total. The antiques do appear when the working population are very much at home and so for Masterchef in all its various guises, soaps as I have said and reality in terms of The Voice, Strictly (which virtually takes over the Beeb when a series is on), none of these can be defended in the argument about quality, it is dross. I do not defend the other channels but we do not pay for their content and because they are more audience driven, if people pressed the off button then the formula would change. The BBC has precious few documentaries and the ones that they run are so lightweight compared to 15 or 20 years ago, Panaroma is almost laughable, it used to be the market leader. Question Time has been infiltrated by the celebs and non-politicians and so has also become diluted and poor. I really do struggle to defend them Carrubah and to compare them to overseas channels is not really relevant to the UK viewer. We all know how bad American TV is, if we have to comapre the Beeb to that then we might as well give up completely.
Strictly and the Voice are not reality shows. I agree strictly has gone downhill badly with all the unfunny clips and faked storyline between dances, its why i stopped watching it. I dont watch the voice because i dont like talent shows. The BBC is full of documentaries nowadays so i do not know what you are watching. Bbc 2 tonight: Athletics, ocean queens the story of the Cunard reflecting on 175 of transatlantic travel, gardeners world, Edwardian Farm (kind of reality i would guess but at least higher brow), Japan Earths Enchanted Islands (wildlife doc), dads army, documentary about the scandal of opera in Victorian London, Mock the week, Hamlet 2 (steve coogan comedy), documentary about Robbie Coltrane. Where in the world will you find such a mix of subjects and material on TV on one channel. Only one, the Beeb.
