Keep spending my TV license fee
26th June 2008 by David North
The BBC Trust has reported that the BBC has spent more than it should on its web portal. Not by a little either, apparently they’ve overspent by 48% of the baseline budget. As TV license payer I’m happy for them to do so!
The BBC (because of the unique way it is funded) has for many decades provided fantastic programming. It’s one of the World’s most trusted brands and I for one use the BBC News website many times daily.
I’ve never quite understood some people’s negative opinion of the BBC expanding online - some seem to think they should be concentrating just on TV. This is a little short sighted as currently all media seems to be migrating to the web and I myself can’t see why this is much different that the BBC expanding from radio to TV. The BBC are as usual pushing into this area with excellent results - just look at iPlayer.
People also seem to forget that the BBC can actually make money from other sources than the license fee and the Internet opens up a lot of revenue streams for them.
So personally I want the BBC to keep spending my TV license fee as they are doing - I’m looking forward to all the innovation they create!
Hey David,
I agree with your views on it - I do like the service that the BBC offers - there are loads of great TV shows, events, films and other stuff for free even aside from the news coverage which is some of the best in the world. TV companies charging more for their service offer a much lower quality of service and that is supplemented heavily by advertising!
There’s a lot to be said for giving an organisation a lump of cash and a non commerical remit to operate under.
Great blog theme btw!
Scott
Cheers Scott.
To be honest it’s a similar argument to people talking about abolishing the license fee. Mostly they don’t understand how it works and the advantages it brings. I’m not so sure FreeView would even have appeared without the BBC.
Yeh - can you imagine us ending up with a US style of TV choice - hundreds of channels with low quality crap! Above the quantifiable value the BBC brings to the country, there’s also that aspect of “raising the bar” for competing networks and channels. Left to their own devices, most businesses would have been a lot more commerical than they are just now - having an independent with a serious budget ensures a level of high(er) quality competition (IMO anyway).
Interestingly running parallel to this there is a post on OJB about how the license fee should be collected in the future.
I’m sure that the abolish the license fee crowd would be outraged at a possibility of being taxed instead. However I’ve got to agree I can’t see the current license fee structure being able to survive forever with the massive shifts in delivery methods.
you’s must work for the BBC or something cause you are all nut’s , the BBC is rubbish and has been for the last 20 year’s , the tv license is unjust and should be abolished right now , how can you possibly trust a government run broadcaster to show you the truth other than what they want to show you!
I assure you Keith I do not and have never worked for the BBC.
I don’t think there is a perfect solution for how the license fee is collected whether a monthly payment or the suggested tax route - people always resent paying for anything that they see as a tax.
However I personal prefer to pay this than having adverts running as regularly during programs as they do in the US or Australia. I believe the commercial channels in the UK don’t run adverts as much purely because of the lack of adverts at all on the BBC. Some programs I’ve seen recorded from Australia are virtually unwatchable because of the regularity of the adverts.
Government run broadcaster? You sound a bit like a conspiracy theorist to me. It’s certainly not Government run but it is tightly regulated to a set of rules that are openly available.
@keith Although regulated by OFCOM, like every other broadcaster in the UK, the BBC are in no way under Governmental control. They were founded as an impartial organisation and, although they don’t always live up to that, that’s simply down to editorial policy rather than the presence of any shadowy figures pulling the strings in the background.
If we lost the BBC 20 years ago when Thatcher became the next one in line to convey your sentiments, we wouldn’t have seen the BBC Micro which is responsible for a generation of British programmers and developers: people like Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web, and a whole host of game developers who cut their teeth playing with the BBC Basic language.
Abolishing the BBC would see a dramatic decline in documentary production, because although people will watch them, a great many more people will prefer to watch X Factor, however the documentary-watching faction still deserve to be given content that stimulates them, even if it goes over your head.
It’s quite long and doesn’t have any pictures I’m afraid, but try having a glance at http://stephenfry.com/blog/?p=44 which features a speech made by Stephen Fry about the BBC and the future of broadcasting, with and without the organisation.
By the way, incase you were wondering, no I’ve never been in the pay of the BBC either.