Saturday, April 5, 2014

You will give us your money

The BBC, that bastion of leftard thinking and waste under pressure due to its costs and a review of its charter has come up with a wizard wheeze to fund itself from our pockets...
Telegraph.
Householders could be required to pay the television licence fee even if they do not own a television, under proposals being discussed by the BBC.
Lord Hall, the BBC’s director-general, wants to extend the £145.50 annual fee in response to the growing popularity of iPlayer, which enables viewers to watch programmes on home computers, mobile phones and tablet devices.
The news came as the BBC announced it will make programmes available to view on iPlayer for 30 days after they are first broadcast, instead of seven, later this year.
Executives at the broadcaster have suggested that reforms, which are due to be agreed with ministers in 2016, could include a new “universal charge” on all households, regardless of whether they own a television.
Such a tax has already been introduced in Germany and Sweden and is being considered in Ireland and Switzerland, the executives said in a report to MPs on the Commons media select committee.
Yep a universal charge whether you watch it or not, rather than the current poll tax whether you watch it or not.
Now the BBC do put out quite a bit of content, and the lack of commercial adverts is nice(ish) even if it is heavily into self advertising of its services. Some of that content is admirable and  entertaining, though its ideas particularly when it comes to news and politics is hardly balanced or unbiased, or rather is what your average leftard thinks is balanced and unbiased in regards to only giving their point of view no criticism.
This is typical of public organisations with regards to other peoples money, they see it as theirs and the service it provides as essential. It's the same with any public service from the NHS to the benefits system, they are often good ideas in principle, yet have a shambolic structure, are inefficiently run for the benefit of their employees (at the top) are not cost efficient and demand ever more of our cash every year, often enough to pay the salaries and pensions of drones they employ over and above what's actually necessary.
The likes of the BBC may have a place in society to produce media that the private sector can't or won't do, but it needs to be gutted of the excess and unnecessary first, starting right at the top...
That's before we pay anything at all...

4 annotations:

Mike Spilligan said...

I really like this idea which could be extended to road tax for households which haven't got cars and VAT charged to people who just don't buy enough "things" to keep HMRC happy.

English Pensioner said...

Yes, a brilliant idea for the government to make money. Lets have a dog licence and a cat licence regardless of whether you own a dog or a cat. Just having done some gardening, what about a bonfire licence (the Greens would love this); or perhaps an internet licence to pay for the cost of pirated videos and music.

Anonymous said...

"the growing popularity of iPlayer"

There are more and more people avoiding the requirement for a tv licence by watching media on the web, instead of in a tv broadcast.
That does not mean iPlayer is popular, it means the BBC tv licence is UNPOPULAR.

It is unpopular because the BBC have been shown:
- to be perverts,
- to politicise News and Science to the BBC agenda,
- to be vastly overpaying themselves,
- to prevent other broadcast sources being watched without paying the lying, political, perverted BBC.

Forcing people to pay for fat thieving perverts and political ideologues to preach at them is a good way to start a riot.

Anonymous said...

even if I could watch the BBC free on my computer I woudnt since I`m sick to death of the unrelenting left wing anti English bias.