5 ms·

I like much of what the BBC do and produce, especially BBC news, but the licence fee has always felt like a relic from the past with a bad strategy of enforceme

I like much of what the BBC do and produce, especially BBC news, but the licence fee has always felt like a relic from the past with a bad strategy of enforcement (With their threatening letters and misguiding terminology as to when a license is required). Their actual broadcast service is lacking in some areas too. On BBC One HD I still get a blank place-holder screen for local news, advising to switch to the non-HD channel, which is just bizarre at this point, 10 years after support for HD viewing. I hope the BBC continues to survive, just with a more modern funding approach.

ssddanbrown 5y ago
For those interested, this website provides a great listing of TV licensing letters: http://www.bbctvlicence.com/ http://www.bbctvlicence.com/
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  It is insane that this kind of bullshit is tolerated. I don't believe any other company would get away with frequent, regular threats and misrepresentation of their level of authority.
iso1210 5y ago
I think a lot of the problem is the aged technology where the regional news is routed via each region. Even just upscaling the local output requires massive changes, and any money for Engineering is rarely invested in old fashioned technology like over the air broadcasting, There's then the spectrum costs, especially on satellite, to broadcast an extra 13 HD channels.
- ssddanbrown 5y ago
  I'd be happy with upscaling but sure, can understand that may be difficult. I haven't renewed my license in a while but every-time I visit my parents they're watching the non-HD channels due to not getting the local news on HD.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
mschuster91 5y ago
> I hope the BBC continues to survive, just with a more modern funding approach Difficult. There are not many ways to fund a public TV/radio program, and all of the non-per-household-license free-OTA variants have issues: - anything tax-based is just asking for trouble aka a populist government extorting the public stations after critical coverage - ad-funded... well that's just ordinary private TV, with the threat here being mega-corporations buying positive coverage / suppressing negative coverage (just look at the current scandal in Austria with former chancellor Kurz) - household license but encrypted (to enforce said license), which is often enough brought up by the far-right has the downside that the viewership and with it the funding will collapse, and the government will lose a critical way of disseminating information in a crisis event (e.g. floods, earthquakes, terrorist attacks)
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  To your last point: isn't it sort-of dangerous to rely on a TV news channel in case of serious events? Power to households may be off; people may not realize that they need to turn on their TV set. Something like a network of alarm sirens that can also speak would be more resilient. We have such a system in Prague. Every 1st Wednesday of each month at noon, it is shortly tested. If Prague can afford it, most of the UK could surely as well.
  - mschuster91 5y ago
    The key is multi-modal communication. People may not have a standalone radio in a home any more these days, but they may have a TV set. Basically, the initial warning via sirens, firefighter trucks or Cell Broadcast tells the people to find one of the four networks (tv, radio, internet on a PC, internet on a smartphone) and inform themselves what to do. The more avenues the authorities have to distribute both the initial warning and the followup information, the better.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  > - anything tax-based is just asking for trouble aka a populist government extorting the public stations after critical coverage Why a populist government? It seems that it's consistently Tory governments that do this, or even threaten it. If Tory politicians are populist, than the word has no meaning.
madeofpalk 5y ago
> I hope the BBC continues to survive, just with a more modern funding approach. "The Problem" with the ABC in Australia is that it's funded by the government, so the government can cut/freeze (and raise, one could imagine!) funding.
rvieira 5y ago
I feel the complete opposite way about BBC news. BBC shows, documentaries and radio programmes are some of the best worldwide. But BBC news is often either notoriously pro-government (especially since 2016, when Cameron dictated that government appoints the BBC board) or with a ridiculous view on impartiality for anything else (the infamous "if we discuss earth's curvature we have to invite a flat earther for balance" approach).
M2Ys4U 5y ago
>On BBC One HD I still get a blank place-holder screen for local news, advising to switch to the non-HD channel, which is just bizarre at this point, 10 years after support for HD viewing. That is changing this year!

ssddanbrown 5y ago

For those interested, this website provides a great listing of TV licensing letters: http://www.bbctvlicence.com/ http://www.bbctvlicence.com/

Nextgrid 5y ago
It is insane that this kind of bullshit is tolerated. I don't believe any other company would get away with frequent, regular threats and misrepresentation of their level of authority.

iso1210 5y ago

I think a lot of the problem is the aged technology where the regional news is routed via each region. Even just upscaling the local output requires massive changes, and any money for Engineering is rarely invested in old fashioned technology like over the air broadcasting, There's then the spectrum costs, especially on satellite, to broadcast an extra 13 HD channels.

ssddanbrown 5y ago
I'd be happy with upscaling but sure, can understand that may be difficult. I haven't renewed my license in a while but every-time I visit my parents they're watching the non-HD channels due to not getting the local news on HD.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

mschuster91 5y ago

> I hope the BBC continues to survive, just with a more modern funding approach Difficult. There are not many ways to fund a public TV/radio program, and all of the non-per-household-license free-OTA variants have issues: - anything tax-based is just asking for trouble aka a populist government extorting the public stations after critical coverage - ad-funded... well that's just ordinary private TV, with the threat here being mega-corporations buying positive coverage / suppressing negative coverage (just look at the current scandal in Austria with former chancellor Kurz) - household license but encrypted (to enforce said license), which is often enough brought up by the far-right has the downside that the viewership and with it the funding will collapse, and the government will lose a critical way of disseminating information in a crisis event (e.g. floods, earthquakes, terrorist attacks)

inglor_cz 5y ago
To your last point: isn't it sort-of dangerous to rely on a TV news channel in case of serious events? Power to households may be off; people may not realize that they need to turn on their TV set. Something like a network of alarm sirens that can also speak would be more resilient. We have such a system in Prague. Every 1st Wednesday of each month at noon, it is shortly tested. If Prague can afford it, most of the UK could surely as well.
- mschuster91 5y ago
  The key is multi-modal communication. People may not have a standalone radio in a home any more these days, but they may have a TV set. Basically, the initial warning via sirens, firefighter trucks or Cell Broadcast tells the people to find one of the four networks (tv, radio, internet on a PC, internet on a smartphone) and inform themselves what to do. The more avenues the authorities have to distribute both the initial warning and the followup information, the better.
pessimizer 5y ago
> - anything tax-based is just asking for trouble aka a populist government extorting the public stations after critical coverage Why a populist government? It seems that it's consistently Tory governments that do this, or even threaten it. If Tory politicians are populist, than the word has no meaning.

madeofpalk 5y ago

> I hope the BBC continues to survive, just with a more modern funding approach. "The Problem" with the ABC in Australia is that it's funded by the government, so the government can cut/freeze (and raise, one could imagine!) funding.

rvieira 5y ago

I feel the complete opposite way about BBC news. BBC shows, documentaries and radio programmes are some of the best worldwide. But BBC news is often either notoriously pro-government (especially since 2016, when Cameron dictated that government appoints the BBC board) or with a ridiculous view on impartiality for anything else (the infamous "if we discuss earth's curvature we have to invite a flat earther for balance" approach).

M2Ys4U 5y ago

>On BBC One HD I still get a blank place-holder screen for local news, advising to switch to the non-HD channel, which is just bizarre at this point, 10 years after support for HD viewing. That is changing this year!