Thread: [UK] TV Licenses
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Unread 29 Feb 2004, 17:04   #28
Dante Hicks
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Re: [UK] TV Licenses
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deepflow
so if you disagree with the licence in principal dante... do you believe the bbc should become commercial?
I'm not really sure what you mean by "commercial". They are commercial - they are a company which works like any other - only difference is that their income is quasi-guaranteed by the state.

My opinion is that the licence fee is unfair. It's a flat rate tax on anyone who owns a television (which is most people, especially families). Aside from pensioners, everyone pays the same, irrespective of their ability to pay (thus making it regressive). The fact it is compulsary means that it's not just unfair, it's absolutley indefensible.

How the BBC would fund themselves if the licence fee was abolished is of course up to them. They might have to introduce ad breaks, cut back certain services, or move to a subscription model. As I understand it, HBO in the United States doesn't have ad-breaks in their programmes, so there is a market for ad-free TV (also Sky Movies ofc). If their programming is of such a high quality they should be able to get people to pay for it.

How about a model where their TV stations are essentially free-to-view, with DVD/Video sales making up most of their revenue? Or, in the future, having episodes (of Eastenders say) available to download from their site for 50p an episode or something. Or you could order a DVD with custom episodes (of whichever shows from their archives) for a tenner. There are numerous options - I'm not really interested which they'd choose. I don't watch the BBC much anymore (although I did when growing up).

The whole broadcast/content distribution model (for everyone, not just the BBC) seems to be on highly shakey grounds anyway. The advert-supported model is bound to crash sooner or later (probably when everyone realises TV ads don't work very well, there's better more direct advertising methods, and that advances in technology will make skipping them easier and easier). I'm not particularly bothered either way. Dinosaurs will die and all that.
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