Scrap TV license or public support for BBC will ‘fall off a cliff’ warns ex-Crimewatch host…

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 15:09 EST, 3 February 2014 | Matt Chorley

[Olog-hai]

The BBC license fee should be scrapped and replaced with a voluntary subscription service, TV presenter Nick Ross has claimed.

The former host of Crimewatch warned support for the BBC would “fall off a cliff” if the mandatory charge for all owners of a television set is not axed, but the Corporation hit back saying the change would mean fewer people paying much more each year to maintain a quality service.

Viewers must buy a TV license for £145.50 if they want to watch live broadcasts, but they can legally avoid paying by waiting until their favorite show is available on BBC iPlayer instead. …

[Olog-hai]

Full Daily Mail title:

Scrap the TV license or public support for the BBC will ‘fall off a cliff’, warns ex-Crimewatch host Nick Ross

Public ownership ought to be done away with too.

[familyop]

Yep. The BBC is state-owned.

[Defiant]

In Britain, can you get an AppleTV and not have to pay the TV tax? Don’t know why anyone would pay the tax.

[cripplecreek]

It would almost be worth it for more of this.

Top gear - Set fire to Piers Morgan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onjPdHUa13w

[BfloGuy]

In Britain, can you get an AppleTV and not have to pay the TV tax? Don’t know why anyone would pay the tax.

The tax only applies to over-the-air broadcasts. You pay it because the British government has a huge bureaucracy including roaming vans checking for TV reception and matching hits against the roll of taxpayers.

We can laugh but ...

[GunsareOK]

Is the tax 145 pounds every year?

[wally_bert]

All three of the petrol-heads are the best on TV anywhere!

[Myrddin]

I stayed at a B&B in Cardiff, Wales that advertised a "fully licensed TV & bar". That's a big draw. I don't drink alcoholic beverages or watch TV. Perhaps there is another B&B without that nonsense and a lower rate...yup! Worth the effort to offset the ghastly price of gasoline.

[JSDude1]

Don’t you mean Labour Party owned?

[leapfrog0202]

Yes. Every year. We lived there 11 years and witnessed those vans looking for people with unpaid TV tax frequently. You keep your tax receipt from one year to the next just in case. Ours was always taped to our TV.

[cripplecreek]

I’d fix the American version by getting rid of Rutlidge and the comedian and replacing them with Jay Leno and Kenny Wallace. I’m not thrilled with Tanner Foust but he at least knows cars.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

In Canada, CBC is supported by general tax revenue, and commercial advertising; rather than a tax on TV viewing. A few decades ago, the British funding model was probably fairer, because not everyone watched TV. Also, you could only receive stations within broadcasting range. The license fee was a form of user-pay. A lot has changed since then, and the British model no longer makes sense.

[mikey_hates_everything]

I thought those were cat detector vans from the Ministry of Ousinge. I never seen so many bleeding aerials. The man said that their equipment could pinpoint a purr at four hundred yards!

[wally_bert]

I tried watching an episode but after a couple of minutes I couldn’t stand the coy, vance, and vance show that someone on here called it.

Jay Leno would be a good choice or Adam Corolla.

[Olog-hai]

Yes, and ironically that’s just for color TV. They still have a cheaper black & white TV license for £49 per year; they may get rid of it in 2016 once they do their charter review.

[MarkL]

Reading about the vans, I thought the exact same thing, getting a license for "Eric, the Fish!" "Eric, the Cat" was very happy, they'd get Eric in an instant!

Mark

[dfwgator]

"Hello. It’s just gone 8 o’clock and time for the penguin on top of your television set to explode."

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

When I lived in Northern Ireland about 40 years ago the fee was 50 quid a year. 50 or 145 quid a year...we all pay a hell of a lot more than that for satellite or cable...and we get less...

[dfwgator]

We pay for PBS whether we watch it or not.

[leapfrog0202]

That’s great!