Well, the BBC is making headlines itself today.
“People over 75 may be asked to give up their free TV licence or make a voluntary contribution to it, under plans being considered by the BBC. The corporation must absorb the loss of £650m worth of licences for over-75s from 2020 as part of a funding deal agreed with ministers last year. A report on ways to appeal for voluntary contributions is due in 2016. The BBC has refused to comment on suggestions that older celebrities might front a publicity campaign. The Times reported that such a campaign could be run by personalities such as Sir Michael Parkinson and actress Dame Helen Mirren.”
I was on BBC5Live this morning discussing this with Nicky Campbell. My contention remains the same. The BBC funding model is bankrupt, morally and financially. It’s not just over 75 year olds that should be offered a choice as to whether they should pay the BBC poll tax, we ALL should. Using millionaire oldies to try and flog us the idea is an indication as to how detached from reality the BBC has become.
Still think getting Botney on his Brompton to personally head to a few estates to knock on doors of some where the flickering embers of a fire can be seen through the window as they savour Strictly will be a winner… “Do you know how vital my pension is?”
Once he’s back from Barbados.
David, I avoid all things bbc like the plague so haven’t listened to the programme you were on. Did you actually voice your views over the airwaves and if so what was the reaction by both the bbc presenter and listeners?
Hi DV, heard you this morning, or last 15 minutes as was suffering Marr and a band of pro-immigration fantasists ganging up on the lone voice of reason, Daniel Hannan.
Campbell was hardly impartial from what I heard, though not unexpected of course…liked it when a caller lavished praise upon him and he said he’d be thinking of her words later…well, perhaps it would serve him better to listen to the critics and turn their words over in his mind rather than rest upon his well paid laurels.
His main defence was that the BBC could take risks and provide unique programmes that no other broadcaster could…but that’s so much baloney…look at C4…just recently they have brought us a whole channel of foreign language, subtitled programming…Walter Presents.
Other private broadcasters make enormous, and risky, investments in programming…Sky created the Premier League, love it or loathe it, with a massive investment, other companies such as Amazon (hundreds of millions on the new Top Gear amongst other programmes) and Netflix, and many, many other broadcasters are bringing us incredible programmes….would the BBC have done Breaking Bad or Twin Peaks or Sons of Anarchy or Game of Thrones etc etc etc?
The BBC brings us costume drama, Strictly and cooking shows……cutting edge? Hardly. Even much of its ‘new’ comedy is old hat and well past its sell by date.
You could put up with all that if that’s all that was wrong with tired old Aunty but the incessant, relentless bias and the stubborn refusal to admit it even exists, is the real bone of contention….why should we pay hard earned cash to a smug, superior, condescending, sneering group of people who take that money, pay themselves a huge wedge and use a good portion of the rest to promote beliefs, views and an ideology that is so remote from that of most of those who are forced to stump up that hard earned cash?
As David said, if Campbell and Co are so confident of the appeal of their charms then put that to the test and ask people to pay voluntarily for the pleasure……many will but in doing so may also be more demanding and expectant as to the BBC’s accountability…which I think is the real sticking point and the reason Hall doesn’t want to go down this road.
Well done for putting up with it Alan – I lasted as long as the point they started to “gang up” on Hannan.
OFF button!
4.5 million people over the age of 75? Probably more because some will be couples !
However it’s not just people over 75, families who have granny living with them will no longer need a TV licence. An excellent idea for the scroungers who want more money for drugs/drink/ciggies , they can move their aged parent in with them and never be bothered by TV licensing as long as granny lives !
These “scroungers” wouldn’t bother paying for a licence anyway to be fair!
I’ve said this on another thread but happy to repeat myself here 🙂
Al-Beeb is quite smart to focus the debate on the license fee, rather than its annual budget, as we all have expectation that costs increase annually with inflation. With a rapidly increasing population then the number of license fee payers should be increasing rapidly and with it the Al-Beeb’s annual budget. We really should be expecting a reduction in license fee year on year with Al-Beeb on a fixed budget to encourage efficiency.
Not the case, as the gimmiegrants tend to live in one house with several families in it of differing generations. Only one licence for one house though
Is there a pot where I can put my kids pocket money for them all at Broadcasting House?…or should I just open a vein on Children In Need Day as per?
Think we can now see why the BBC are so keen on euthanasia and assisted dying-probably with a bequest to the BBC Trust Appeal to be offered along with the consent forms for the pentadiol.
Expect alot more now from Falconer and Evan Harris now….the Burke and Hare of British politics.
Maybe the BBC could give us a slogan?…would you prefer our Jimmy to fuck you in the morgue when you can do nothing…or would you prefer a graduated sensual experience that`ll bring pleasure to Graham Norton and Bonnie Greers pension pot-while you are still alive and able to bask in the greatness of Beeboid talent?
Yep-I`m predicting a ” Kill Your Grandad” Series on the BBC very soon-you know-to “inform the debate”.
Think I`d rather give my license fee as a direct debit to Primrose Shipman,,,,which is, after all, the same thing in a real sense.
Brilliant CH.
As a 75 year old grandad living in a multi generational family, I’m feeling a strong urge to self immolate so as to appease the Beeboids.
Would you like to persuade me not to ? And the reasons ?
I suggest the bBBC offers this as a deal: in return for over-75s volunteering to pay the TV-tax, the bBBC will get rid of the hundred of their staff to whom they give more of our money than the Prime Minister’s salary.
I see the BBC have added trailers to other programmes on iPlayer.
WHY????
They are not in competition with any other broadcasters. They are funded with an almost ‘cast iron’ guarantee from taxpayers.
Why are they copying the commercial broadcasters every step of the way? Surely the commercial stations should be adopting BBC practice, as they used to do years ago? The BBC is not fit for purpose any longer!
If the BBC becomes a subscription service in the near future I promise that I will not take out a subscription. This will mean they don’t have to ‘pay’ my license when I’m 75. Seems fair to me.
A simple suggestion for the bBC following the recent revelation that Talent Lineker’s fee is 1.5 MILLION pound sterling!
cut it in half…………and cut in half the salaries of all the middle to executive management……………..and any other talented disc jockeys earning more than the PM……………….oh and retire………..all Dimbelby’s/Humphries and all other lefties over 66.