Amazon prime sign 'top gear' trio

[gowmonster]

I too thought it was getting a bit boring in the last few years, I only really watched live TV for Top Gear and F1, i can't think of a good reason to have a TV license these days.

I suspect my cable subscription may be getting swapped for a netflix/prime membership.

TV license £145.50 a year £12.13 a month.

Netflix £71.88 a year £5.99 a month
Amazon Prime £79 a year £6.58 a month
Now TV £83.88 a year, £6.99 a month (sky channels)

Plus broadband costs (mines free )

[fatboy18]

I ordered a product on Amazon Prime and did not realise they then took £79.00 from my account without telling me! I get so much spam emails I could not work out why i kept getting emails from Amazon saying I was not using my free movie benefits?
I have since checked bank statements and Amazon have refunded me the prime membership i was not using.

I have zero interest in paying out another membership fee just to watch these guys

[SR06]

bakerstreet said:

Why don't you google it??

I was hoping for Netflix as I wanted that anyway for 'Better Call Saul'. I'm tempted to sign up to Prime now before Amazon up the price at the end of the year for CHM show

Arent you helpful. It's called a discussion mate. I'm guessing you're from that modern breed of digital-only kidz that don't know how to structure a conversation.

[robinessex]

DonkeyApple said:

CaptainSlow said:

DonkeyApple said:

Re read that. It confirms exactly what I was saying. In Britain today absolutely no one needs a TV license and it is completely voluntary. There is absolutely no need to watch any tv as it is broadcast any longer. It is a personal choice to do so. So don't whing about paying for it.

Yeah, I always prefer watching ITV news the day after, especially the weather.

Then pay for it. Or read a paper online or check the weather online.

Like I said, the TV license is paid by two types of people. People who actually want to pay it for what it gives them and idiots.

Surely the license is payable if you HAVE any device(s) in the house that can receieve a live broadcast. Not wether you actually use it for such ?

[loudlashadjuster]

robinessex said:

Surely the license is payable if you HAVE any device(s) in the house that can receieve a live broadcast. Not wether you actually use it for such ?

Nope.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one

[bakerstreet]

SR06 said:

Arent you helpful. It's called a discussion mate. I'm guessing you're from that modern breed of digital-only kidz that don't know how to structure a conversation.

9 pages later. Well done.

I'm sorry, but the person was just being plain lazy. The Pistonheads 'new topic' button is not a Google search bar.

I'm pro BBC and I'll happily pay the license fee Their iPlayer app is far better than Ch5, ITV and Ch4s equivalent. I use it every day on the train

Our Samsung Smart TV doesn't have the Amazon Prime app. I'm hoping I can download it somewhere. Don't really want to watch TG on laptop or phone. However, I'd welcome any excuse for a new 50in TV

Saw someone mention $250 budget for three seasons of Drive to Prime (Terrible name). That is a lot for TV.

[DonkeyApple]

robinessex said:

DonkeyApple said:

CaptainSlow said:

DonkeyApple said:

Re read that. It confirms exactly what I was saying. In Britain today absolutely no one needs a TV license and it is completely voluntary. There is absolutely no need to watch any tv as it is broadcast any longer. It is a personal choice to do so. So don't whing about paying for it.

Yeah, I always prefer watching ITV news the day after, especially the weather.

Then pay for it. Or read a paper online or check the weather online.

Like I said, the TV license is paid by two types of people. People who actually want to pay it for what it gives them and idiots.

Surely the license is payable if you HAVE any device(s) in the house that can receieve a live broadcast. Not wether you actually use it for such ?

Nope. It has nothing at all to do with devices. It is a license to watch or record TV as it is broadcast. Nothing more, nothing less. If you only watch 'on demand' like more and more people in the UK then the license is of no relevance.

Sure, if you got a certain demographic then you may have Capita descending on your door step to ask some questions such as 'Are you a Freeman of the Land or other such type of fking idiot or 3.14 quay' but the whole reason they are looking to change the license is because it is becoming more and more redundant for more and more households.

And let's also not forget that for all those people ranting and raving about the TV License they are completely or deliberately missing the true issue is the number of pensioners who are not paying. It is yet another freebie that was logical a decade or so ago but with the arrival of the issue of the Baby Boomers it is another cost that they are absolved from and that those younger than them are being forced to carry the cost.

[technodup]

DonkeyApple said:

with the arrival of the issue of the Baby Boomers it is another cost that they are absolved from and that those younger than them are being forced to carry the cost.

The younger ones will be quickest to move away from the BBC/licence fee. No fusty memories of wartime, coronations etc so less romantic buy-in, plus much more au fait with the new options and less scared of the big bad Capita men.

It's a dead duck.

[DonkeyApple]

technodup said:

DonkeyApple said:

with the arrival of the issue of the Baby Boomers it is another cost that they are absolved from and that those younger than them are being forced to carry the cost.

The younger ones will be quickest to move away from the BBC/licence fee. No fusty memories of wartime, coronations etc so less romantic buy-in, plus much more au fait with the new options and less scared of the big bad Capita men.

It's a dead duck.

Definitely. There is already a huge cultural shift that can be seen by new households legitimately not taking up a license.

And that is why the Govt are seeking to follow quite a few Western countries and convert the archaic TV License into a 'technology' license so that anyone who consumes any form of media or owns a device capable of such will require a license.

[gowmonster]

of which the young will not pay it, much like not declaring mods on insurance and fronting etc etc.

[HRL]

They'd have to if that included smart phones, no?

[gowmonster]

HRL said:

They'd have to if that included smart phones, no?

It depends on how the payment method is, ie bundled with ISPs or mobile providers.

[DonkeyApple]

gowmonster said:

HRL said:

They'd have to if that included smart phones, no?

It depends on how the payment method is, ie bundled with ISPs or mobile providers.

It would be implemented in such a way that a consumer could not avoid it. IE it will collected from the service providers just like a sales tax.

Like the TV License it will be possible to illegally evade it but for example, how many consumers will go and sit in hotspots at night to watch a box set, or sit in Starbucks for 8 hours watching porn?

[marcosgt]

Some interesting comments.

I guess Amazon figure they'll get their money's worth.

a) It's a great publicity coup, even if they never make a programme, Amazon Prime has been on mainstream TV news and newspaper front pages for days!

b) The trio have a great appeal. Companies will queue up to have their cars, etc (don't bet against more 'lifestyle' tests like the Breitling Emergency one creeping in) reviewed, no matter what the team say and, far from worrying about it being pirated, the more eyes that see it, the more Amazon can charge those companies. It'll be a commercialised TG, it'll be very different...

c) The idea that no-one will ever watch a series on TV week after week is often stated as fact, but the reality is that we've had VCRs to let us 'time-slip' TV for decades and yet MOST people still watch TV live. A lot of people JUST watch whatever is on and, whilst I can't pretend to be 12 or whatever age is cool this week, just because I'm over 30 (and the rest!) doesn't mean I don't count any more.

When the tweenagers have kids, a career, a mortgage (or a horrendous rent bill with no hope of ever owning the roof over their head), the need to watch a box set at 3AM after getting in from a third midweek clubbing session will decline and they'll end up watching TV like everyone else does.

Sure some (with decent bandwidth Internet) will choose to stream, rather than watch Satellite, Terrestial or Cable TV (and some will do both when it suits them), but the idea that soon everything will be on Amazon is as daft an idea as the one that only stuff on Sky 1 is proper drama!

Prime's never appealed to me. Top Gear's format was starting to feel a bit tired anyway (Was I alone in thinking Clarkson looked and sounded bored to death with the whole thing before the kerfuffle?), so paying to watch more of the same, with adverts and blatant product placements, isn't going to convince me of the deals on Prime.

I buy a lot off Amazon, but I hardly ever pay postage - I can nearly always wait for the free delivery.

I don't stream music, I buy cheap used CDs from Amazon market place. I don't want to watch 300 episodes of one TV series back to back, and I don't NEED to see Top Gear again, that badly that I want to pay for it on top of what I already pay for TV.

If it turns up on Dave in a couple of years, I'll watch it there!

M

PS Oh, I'm not interested in football either, so I don't pay Sky for the privilege of watching over-privileges oiks doing that either

Edited by marcosgt on Monday 3rd August 17:14

[DonkeyApple]

marcosgt said:

Some interesting comments.

I guess Amazon figure they'll get their money's worth.

a) It's a great publicity coup, even if they never make a programme, Amazon Prime has been on mainstream TV news and newspaper front pages for days!

b) The trio have a great appeal. Companies will queue up to have their cars, etc (don't bet against more 'lifestyle' tests like the Breitling Emergency one creeping in) reviewed, no matter what the team say and, far from worrying about it being pirated, the more eyes that see it, the more Amazon can charge those companies. It'll be a commercialised TG, it'll be very different...

c) The idea that no-one will ever watch a series on TV week after week is often stated as fact, but the reality is that we've had VCRs to let us 'time-slip' TV for decades and yet MOST people still watch TV live. A lot of people JUST watch whatever is on and, whilst I can't pretend to be 12 or whatever age is cool this week, just because I'm over 30 (and the rest!) doesn't mean I don't count any more.

When the tweenagers have kids, a career, a mortgage (or a horrendous rent bill with no hope of ever owning the roof over their head), the need to watch a box set at 3AM after getting in from a third midweek clubbing session will decline and they'll end up watching TV like everyone else does.

Sure some (with decent bandwidth Internet) will choose to stream, rather than watch Satellite, Terrestial or Cable TV (and some will do both when it suits them), but the idea that soon everything will be on Amazon is as daft an idea as the one that only stuff on Sky 1 is proper drama!

M

Also, as far as Amazon is concerned they are no different from any other technology or media vendor in that the most essential and important client demographic is the over 50s not the youth market. The under 50s in the West have very little disposable income and it is the over 50s who are not just the largest demographic but also the wealthiest and by far the largest consumers of on demand content and buyers of technology.

Something that happened the other week in the markets was an extremely interesting example of this. The Fed meeting gave a very strong indication that US rates would be increasing soon than expected. In historical terms this would have meant a decline in tech stocks as it would mean less money in the pockets of the under 50s as they are net borrowers not savers. However, tech stocks rallied because rising rates will massively increase the spending power of the over 50s even more and they are the most important buyers.

A program that is basically three old men saying things that many over 50s lament no longer being allowed to say or showing the world that over 50s can still drive to the North Pole etc has huge commercial value. Thinknof it as the Countdown Principle.

And very clearly, as you say, all global media has been promoting Amazon Prime and drowning Netflix et al for the last week. How much was that worth?

[JagLover]

marcosgt said:

with adverts and blatant product placements, isn't going to convince me of the deals on Prime.

There may be product placement buy I don't remember seeing any adverts on Amazon Prime.

Anyway I don't think people should write it off before they have seen it. I actually think the last two seasons of Top Gear were their best for a while and making a new show would be a good opportunity to freshen things up.

[Funk]

loudlashadjuster said:

robinessex said:

Surely the license is payable if you HAVE any device(s) in the house that can receieve a live broadcast. Not wether you actually use it for such ?

Nope.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one

Indeed, one of the biggest misconceptions out there and not one the BBC will hurry to dispel!

[DonkeyApple]

Funk said:

loudlashadjuster said:

robinessex said:

Surely the license is payable if you HAVE any device(s) in the house that can receieve a live broadcast. Not wether you actually use it for such ?

Nope.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one

Indeed, one of the biggest misconceptions out there and not one the BBC will hurry to dispel!

Indeed. It does highlight why being able to read is so important. Afterall, someone would have to be an absolute fking idiot or illiterate not to read the most basic of details about something they are about to buy.

[technodup]

marcosgt said:

When the tweenagers have kids, a career, a mortgage (or a horrendous rent bill with no hope of ever owning the roof over their head), the need to watch a box set at 3AM after getting in from a third midweek clubbing session will decline and they'll end up watching TV like everyone else does.

Agree with most of your points but not this one. People growing up with on demand streaming or catch up are unlikely to switch back to being force fed Bake Off at 9pm just because the BBC thinks that's what we want.

They'll be choosing from the myriad available at whatever time they have. Scheduled TV is dying, and ironically the BBC have hastened that demise with the iPlayer.

[marcosgt]

technodup said:

marcosgt said:

When the tweenagers have kids, a career, a mortgage (or a horrendous rent bill with no hope of ever owning the roof over their head), the need to watch a box set at 3AM after getting in from a third midweek clubbing session will decline and they'll end up watching TV like everyone else does.

Agree with most of your points but not this one. People growing up with on demand streaming or catch up are unlikely to switch back to being force fed Bake Off at 9pm just because the BBC thinks that's what we want.

They'll be choosing from the myriad available at whatever time they have. Scheduled TV is dying, and ironically the BBC have hastened that demise with the iPlayer.

Well, we'll have to see, I suspect people's lifestyle determines their pattern of viewing to a great extent.

Whether we like it or not, as we get more responsibilities, our hedonistic, devil-may-care lifestyle becomes more regulated and static.

I must admit, I watch stuff on iPlayer now and then and stream the odd movie, but I can't see it being the norm (overall) ever, personally, but I could be completely wrong and there may not be a scheduled entertainment broadcast channel in 20 years time (I'm pretty sure regular news, whatever the transmission medium, will continue).

Scheduled TV is declining, for sure, but the assumption that people are watching TV/films through streaming media instead seems to be the flaw. They're not, they're doing LOTS of other things, playing games, reading articles, books, going to the cinema (enjoying a huge renaissance).

M

PS I can't stand competitive cookery shows, so it's possible to manage without a streaming service