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# tomorrow's edition today
(I helped save b3ta! raver, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:14, archived)
# If only it was
Licence Fee: RIP

(Is it true that we're the only country in the world where you need a licence to own a television?)
(I helped save b3ta! watashi-wa Evenin'!, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:15, archived)
# nope
Ireland
(I helped save b3ta! WhoElse I'm what Willis was talking about, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:15, archived)
# he
hehe
(I helped save b3ta! Steerable_forehead Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration,don't fail me now, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:18, archived)
# might be
but we're one of the only countries in the world where you don't have adverts
(I helped save b3ta! butchbint, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:15, archived)
# Except for the
incessant adverts for their own programs and their digital programming.
(I helped save b3ta! watashi-wa Evenin'!, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:18, archived)
# better that
than ads for Currys or other such shit.

the license fee is the same as about 3 months cable, and most of the good stuff on cable is on the BBc channels anyway. it's a fantastic thing
(I helped save b3ta! atomboy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:21, archived)
# It just irritated me
that the licence fee went up to fund their digital 'line-up' which contains maybe three decent programs (none of which I've seen because I don't HAVE digital - so, again, why should I have to pay for it?) amongst the whole lot.
(I helped save b3ta! watashi-wa Evenin'!, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:25, archived)
# they make
pooloads selling the news to other countries.
(I helped save b3ta! Steerable_forehead Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration,don't fail me now, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:30, archived)
# Get a freeview box.
And I didn't notice the fee going up, when did that happen?
(tomsk, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:30, archived)
# Either last year
or the year before. I can't remember exactly.
(I helped save b3ta! watashi-wa Evenin'!, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:31, archived)
# it wasn't just for that
it goes up every year.
anyway, the digital services are fantastic. bbc4 is wonderful and bbc3 has some wonderful stuff on it - has anyone seen nighty night yet? it roxxors my soxxors
(I helped save b3ta! atomboy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:35, archived)
# what bugs me
is I don't watch TV, the TV's not even set up for it, we use it to watch DVD's yet we still apparently need a licence...
(I helped save b3ta! NomDePlume fo shizzle my nizzle old bean, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 16:20, archived)
# Oh.
Well, you could always not pay it and see what happens.
(tomsk, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:35, archived)
# what pisses me off even more
is that WE pay the licence fee for all the programmes that are broadcast to the rest of the world.

visit the BBC website & you can listen to the radio for free, wherever you are in the world. courtesy of UK licence payers
/rant
(I helped save b3ta! Duncan Disorderly, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:55, archived)
# Aren't the BBC under some remit
by the government to get everyone onto digital TV so they can switch off the old signals? If so they have to promote digital TV in order to get people to want to watch it
(I helped save b3ta! butchbint, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:28, archived)
# Also
digital transmission uses loads less power so it's cheaper for broadcasters.
(I helped save b3ta! Bingowings 2011 Businessman of the Year (Watford Branch), Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:35, archived)
# too right
(I helped save b3ta! chobb ,ø¤ºGREATº¤ø,¸¸,ø¤ºRAPISTº¤ø,¸¸,ø¤ºRECOMMENDEDº¤ø, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:24, archived)
# My girlfriend is from Australia
Apparently ABC has no adverts yet THEY don't pay a license fee...
(Nefarious Tim, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:29, archived)
# how
does it survive?
(I helped save b3ta! corington, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:31, archived)
# Jamaica.
(I helped save b3ta! Baz Fuck off, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:33, archived)
# no
but I said if she didn't go, I'd burn her best cookin dishes
(I helped save b3ta! SarahRatt, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:59, archived)
# It
eats its young
(I helped save b3ta! CarlosTheJackal, protector of innocence, taker of liberties, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:34, archived)
# 2c a day
from every Australian... or something
(I helped save b3ta! Manic can teach you the secret of fire, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:38, archived)
# Gosh,
it almost sounds like some kind of system whereby people pay to support their national broadcaster. What a revolutionary concept.
(tomsk, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:42, archived)
# yes
i think so. but todays events aside, it generally is good value for money.
(I helped save b3ta! raver, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:15, archived)
# but it pays for David Attenborough,
so I don't care.
Or have a television, for that matter
(I helped save b3ta! MissPrism, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:17, archived)
# But it also pays for martian
the fuckass.
(I helped save b3ta! Baz Fuck off, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:29, archived)
# Nope
France you need one too, I believe.
(I helped save b3ta! Pope Shax XIII uses Visio for picture editing, does it show?, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:18, archived)
# naah
or at least not in my experience. mitterand privatised the telly in the 80s (yes, all by hiself)
(I helped save b3ta! atomboy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:22, archived)
# Ireland
and quite a bit of Europe.... Denmark for example, Australia, New Zealand
NRK in Japan is also funded by a license, the NRK man comes round and threatens you if you haven't paid it
(Scary, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:19, archived)
# What about the station that domo-kun is on?
If they used the threat of domo, i would make damn sure my liscencencencenceee (HowTF do you spell that anyway?) was paid
(I helped save b3ta! VampireMonkeyOnSpeed a super sexy sexual sex terrorist sex, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:24, archived)
# yes, but you dont have to pay the NRK man
because they cant prosecute

or so im told...
(I helped save b3ta! lo, the Greebo Warrior - Est. 2002, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:28, archived)
# No
You need one in Finland.
(I helped save b3ta! stup0t, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:46, archived)
# I tried....
I like to think that I may have pissed on the license fee bonfire just a tad. If you recall all those ads they used to show where they have to drill into a thicko that it's just £9 a month. Yes, just £9 a month.
I bought a TV license, paid by DD and it was £22 a month. Yes, £22 a month. (Apparently if it's your first license they make you pay two years at once or some shit) I complained profusely and made like a dog with a bone. Strangely, those particular ads ceased.
(lord nose, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:48, archived)
# How the mighty have fallen.
The BBC was once an honourable organisation, but that was sixty years ago.

Now it lies to promote its own political viewpoints, and soon it will suffer the consequences of its moral decay.
(Indole Ring, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:17, archived)
# Bit like its b3tan employees then?
;)
(I helped save b3ta! Samsonite, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:20, archived)
# 'cept
it wasn't lying to promote a political viewpoint. it was an overexcited journalist extrapolating a bit much from what a source told him. as it turns out, he was substantially corect and the claim he was exposing as bollocks was bollocks - it was only his attempt to string campbell out to dry with it that was the problem

[edit] that was of course intended as a reply to indole ring
(I helped save b3ta! atomboy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:24, archived)
# We shall see that quoted in the S*n then...
'the claim was bollocks'
:)
(I helped save b3ta! Samsonite, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:26, archived)
# my previous comment
was lifted directly from the hutton inquiry website*




*less than 100% FACT
(I helped save b3ta! atomboy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:36, archived)
# I think it was lying.
The BBC has a very definite political agenda, and the story fit into that. It has become intoxicated by its own power. Most B3tans have similar views, so it's not all that apparent.

It's not the place of the BBC to promote political viewpoints, as I have seen it do on many occasions. It should be reporting the facts, and it has failed to do that.

The whole organisation needs a cultural change. Maybe this event will start that - but I don't think the BBC is capable of reforming itself. That pressure has to come from the outside.
(Indole Ring, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:36, archived)
# i disagree entirely
the bbc does not have anything like a single political viewpoint, let alone allowing it to skew the bias of their reports.
every serious political party attacks the bbc as being biased against them, which is indicative of being spiky and investigative, but ultimately unbiased.

i listen to radio4 almost non-stop, and i can definitely say that they made every effort to be fair to the govt over the iraq war, it's just that the case for war was so flimsy and so obviously a tissue of lies, half-truths and exaggerations, that no responsible journalist could do anything but expose them.
frankly anything short of a 10-minute john humphreys monolgue ranting against government sending young men overseas to die and to kill thousands of Iraqis in order to prop-up a man who wasn't elected and is the most discredited US president since Nixon would be fair and balanced.
(I helped save b3ta! atomboy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:46, archived)
# Well
said.
(I helped save b3ta! MissPrism, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:50, archived)
# thank you
(I helped save b3ta! atomboy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:56, archived)
# clapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclap
well sayed, sir!
(I helped save b3ta! Manic can teach you the secret of fire, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:52, archived)
# Does it occur to you
that listening to the BBC almost non-stop may result in some bias to your own viewpoint?
(Indole Ring, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:56, archived)
# !
Now IreallyloveWogan you're IreallyloveWogan just IreallyloveWogan reaching.
(I helped save b3ta! Manic can teach you the secret of fire, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:58, archived)
# admittedly
saying almost non-stop was something of an exaggeration, however I do use a number of different news sources, but for english language news, radio 4 is the very best there is.
your point is a fair one, but it's a cause and effect difference here - i mostly listen to it 'cos it's the best, i don't think it's the best 'cos i listen to it all the time, if you see what i mean
(I helped save b3ta! atomboy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:58, archived)
# Nevertheless
people's opinions are influenced by their information sources. Of course, I'm no exception.
(Indole Ring, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 16:00, archived)
# Well said
for that, you deserve a whole packet of biscuits - or half a cake
(The Scone from U.N.C.L.E., Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:57, archived)
# Pffft.
Like a lawlord was ever going to criticise the government. It was a fix from the start.
(tomsk, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:20, archived)
# be glad that you have the BBC
while it lasts.
(I helped save b3ta! Manic can teach you the secret of fire, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:25, archived)
# Amen.
It may not be perfect, but it beats the crap out of the alternatives.
(tomsk, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:28, archived)
# It's so biased
it doesn't have the same political viewpoint as the Murdoch media empire.

Err, cunts.
(I helped save b3ta! Baz Fuck off, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:31, archived)
# Hear hear
if the BBC had to chase advertising revenues, they'd only show a murder drama every night like ITV, or softporn/nazidocumentary stuff like Channel 5.
(I helped save b3ta! Pope Shax XIII uses Visio for picture editing, does it show?, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:28, archived)
# I'm be damned if I'll let that Murdoch fucker sink it
Australian television is - in a word - crap. Very few original and/or quality programs are being made due to the cancer of commercialism. Any new ideas usually come from the poorly-funded ABC (or version of the BBC), and are soon poached and bastardised by one of the commercial networks. It reached a stage a long time ago that a producer wanting to sell a show to a commercial network would not only have to pitch the programme as an audience winner, but also structure it as a money-spinner in its own right (because he knows the going price for a programme is well below what is needed to make a living for all concerned). The result? A glut of lifestyle shows (complete with sponsors, product placement, 'impartial' inclusion of and/or commentary on products etc.) and crap game shows and little else of interest.

Here in the UK we have the BBC - which not only acts as a barrier against this kind of commercial saturation, but is also out-fucking-standing when it comes to talent development. Having the BBC means that (via radio and/or television) more quality writers, performers, producer etc. get a chance to evolve and eventually produce new and exciting forms of entertainment.

Oh, and we get news that isn't poisoned by the agenda of one greedy old right-wing fuck who Just. Won't. Die.
(I helped save b3ta! Manic can teach you the secret of fire, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:36, archived)
# The BBC will sink itself
because its news is dictated by the agenda of elitist left-wing fucks who hate their own people.
(Indole Ring, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:39, archived)
# Bollocks.
(I helped save b3ta! Baz Fuck off, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:41, archived)
# It's happening right now.
Look at the cesspit it's jumped into. Lying and getting caught.
(Indole Ring, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:45, archived)
# Get a grip man.
One reporter fucked up. A few editors didn't have the foresight to see this might happen. It's hardly the downfall of an evil empire is it?
(tomsk, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:50, archived)
# Now, now tomsk
You know what they say about rotten apples.

It's obvious that we have to dismantle the entire BBC because of this.
(I helped save b3ta! Manic can teach you the secret of fire, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:51, archived)
# I suppose the difference is
The Scum, Blair and Campbell never get caught
(I helped save b3ta! Manic can teach you the secret of fire, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:50, archived)
# also
it helps the scum's (and by extension murdoch's) agenda to bash the bbc 'cos they want an end to the license fee so he can take over terrestrial tv and pollute, the shithead.

anyway, i saw you last night in the grand committee room and didn't say hi, so hi. i thought you made a couple of interesting points
(I helped save b3ta! atomboy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:52, archived)
# hi
and thanks

[edit] and I agree completely. Rupert 'fair and balanced' Murdoch is going to be all over this.

www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17035
(I helped save b3ta! Manic can teach you the secret of fire, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:56, archived)
# it wasn't the bbc
it was one over-excited journalist who over-egged the pudding a little, and the governors were a little over-vigorous in their defence of him (it turns out the substantive thrust - that the claim was bollocks - was correct), however they were dealing with campbell, who was so consistently aggressive in his attacks on any reports even vagualey critical of number 10, that they had to be aggressive in return or be shouted down by the biggest bully in the playground
(I helped save b3ta! atomboy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:50, archived)
# It's the whole corporate culture.
This was just the most prominent event in a consistent pattern of behaviour by the BBC.

Now, perhaps, it will become more accountable/
(Indole Ring, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:53, archived)
# Will you please look at the alternatives?
Balance is qualitative, and compared to everyone else, the BBC _is_ balanced. I for one don't want it muzzled by a government that is already scarily powerful in terms of information control.
Who do you trust, Indole? ITV? Sky!?
(tomsk, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 16:03, archived)
# I trust no single source.
Diversity of information is the only way to get anything like a reasonable view.

However, the BBC is a near-monolithic block of left-wing opinion funded by legally enforced compulsory payments. I would like to see it, and its counterparts like the ABC in Australia, made to become more balanced, or lose their government funding.
(Indole Ring, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 16:06, archived)
# Oh yes, agreed
A right wing view, or even a balanced one, or even a wibble one, has never been broadcast on any channel of the BBC
(I helped save b3ta! Manic can teach you the secret of fire, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 16:21, archived)
# no it's not
but if another channel was, I'd watch that.
(I helped save b3ta! MissPrism, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:47, archived)
# Hehehehehe
now that's a rant and a half.
(I helped save b3ta! StickFigureNinja is worried he may be on the list, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:40, archived)
# how about a list of stuff
that just wouldn't exist without something like the BBC? Easier?

:o)

The Office
Have I Got News For You
League of Gentlemen
(feel free to continue under this line)

--------


[edit] Damn, I forgot to lead with Wogan....
(I helped save b3ta! Manic can teach you the secret of fire, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:43, archived)
# Life of Mammals
All of Radio Four
Everything I've ever gone round to a friend's house solely to watch on telly
(I helped save b3ta! MissPrism, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:45, archived)
# all of bbc4
little britain
nighty night
.........
(I helped save b3ta! atomboy, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:47, archived)
# Oooh, i dont need something easier
it's just nice to see someone going off on a rant like that occasionally.
It's even better when they have a very good point.
(I helped save b3ta! StickFigureNinja is worried he may be on the list, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:46, archived)
# What he said.
(I helped save b3ta! Baz Fuck off, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:40, archived)
# yup, well said
Watch TV anywhere else in the world, and you'll see.
(I helped save b3ta! MissPrism, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:30, archived)
# Establishment figure supports the Establishment
What a surprise.
(I helped save b3ta! Scaryduck LIKES EGG, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:31, archived)
# BIAS!
Biassssssssssss!

;o)
(I helped save b3ta! Manic can teach you the secret of fire, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:37, archived)
# Web superstar in pornalike scandal
*cough*
(I helped save b3ta! Scaryduck LIKES EGG, Wed 28 Jan 2004, 15:55, archived)