Should the BBC be privatised?

[Eric Mc]

grumbledoak said:

thinfourth2 said:

If the beeb is so terrible then where is the commercial version of Question time?

What makes you think such a thing is wanted or needed?

I think educating the British public is sorely needed.

God help us if ITV was the only diseminator of information to the Great British Public.

Edited by Eric Mc on Tuesday 29th June 10:23

[grumbledoak]

Eric Mc said:

I think educating the British public is sorely needed.

God help us if ITV was the only diseminator of information to the Great British Public.

Loving the contempt for the public lurking beneath the surface there. No wonder you love the BBC.

[Eric Mc]

grumbledoak said:

Eric Mc said:

I think educating the British public is sorely needed.

God help us if ITV was the only diseminator of information to the Great British Public.

Loving the contempt for the public lurking beneath the surface there. No wonder you love the BBC.

I thought it was compulsory for PH membership. I'm sure it was a question on the application form.

[TuxRacer]

The only education Question Time offers is on the merit or otherwise of painstaking audience selection procedures. It's not really the sort of information I want disseminated!

[10 Pence Short]

TuxRacer said:

The only education Question Time offers is on the merit or otherwise of painstaking audience selection procedures. It's not really the sort of information I want disseminated!

Indeed. At least if the BBC was commercial it could be open about its bias, rather than leaving it hidden, lurking under a false veneer of impartiality.

[oyster]

Ah this thread again.

The one where the techie nerds start telling us how their £5k worth of digital kits gets them around paying the £145 a year TV licence.

The one where PH'ers moan about paying for the BBC and then in another thread are quoting a report from the BBC website.

The one where people moan about paying for the TV licence even though they hardly watch TV - err why buy a licence then?

Sky is rubbish. ITV is worse. BBC is OK. That to me is worth 40p a day.

[TuxRacer]

oyster said:

Sky is rubbish. ITV is worse. BBC is OK. That to me is worth 40p a day.

But if I don't watch BBC and you don't watch ITV, why should I have to pay for your channel when you pay nothing for mine?

[Fittster]

thinfourth2 said:

If the beeb is so terrible then where is the commercial version of Question time?

Where is the UK commercials version of the high quality programs produced by the US channel HBO?

They don't exist because the tax that we are forced to pay makes the BBC so dominate in the market it prevents the commercial sector flourishing within the UK. For example does any newspaper stand a chance with it's website if the BBC can lavish huge amounts of taxpayers cash at its own service??

[jmorgan]

10 Pence Short said:

TuxRacer said:

The only education Question Time offers is on the merit or otherwise of painstaking audience selection procedures. It's not really the sort of information I want disseminated!

Indeed. At least if the BBC was commercial it could be open about its bias, rather than leaving it hidden, lurking under a false veneer of impartiality.

Yeah but chaired by an airhead and panel populated by Z list celebs giving their opinion on whether to have the nuke.

Lets see, chaired by Fiona Phillips. Weekly panel members include, oh you get the picture.

[Parrot of Doom]

TuxRacer said:

oyster said:

Sky is rubbish. ITV is worse. BBC is OK. That to me is worth 40p a day.

But if I don't watch BBC and you don't watch ITV, why should I have to pay for your channel when you pay nothing for mine?

Excuse me, but how do you think ITV is funded? With fresh air?

I don't watch ITV but still have to pay for the thing, every single time I visit the supermarket.

[colonel c]

Unless there is someone on here totally anal enough to go out and deliberately not buy any product that is advertised on TV. Therefore we all pay for the commercial stations output by buying the products that are advertised.

[Eric Mc]

Parrot of Doom said:

TuxRacer said:

oyster said:

Sky is rubbish. ITV is worse. BBC is OK. That to me is worth 40p a day.

But if I don't watch BBC and you don't watch ITV, why should I have to pay for your channel when you pay nothing for mine?

Excuse me, but how do you think ITV is funded? With fresh air?

I don't watch ITV but still have to pay for the thing, every single time I visit the supermarket.

I have problems with Channel 4 - which is part commercial and part state funded but which these days produces little of quality. If I wanted some TV "tax" back, I would restructure Channel 4 - or at least make it return to the brief it had when it was set up in 1982.

[TuxRacer]

Parrot of Doom said:

I don't watch ITV but still have to pay for the thing, every single time I visit the supermarket.

Other supermarkets are available. Ones which don't pay for ITV.

[DonkeyApple]

Eric Mc said:

Parrot of Doom said:

TuxRacer said:

oyster said:

Sky is rubbish. ITV is worse. BBC is OK. That to me is worth 40p a day.

But if I don't watch BBC and you don't watch ITV, why should I have to pay for your channel when you pay nothing for mine?

Excuse me, but how do you think ITV is funded? With fresh air?

I don't watch ITV but still have to pay for the thing, every single time I visit the supermarket.

I have problems with Channel 4 - which is part commercial and part state funded but which these days produces little of quality. If I wanted some TV "tax" back, I would restructure Channel 4 - or at least make it return to the brief it had when it was set up in 1982.

ste porn and 3D films? Would certainly be an improvement. Still like C4 news but not a lot else. Can't wait to see the utter low brow crap they dredge from the gutters to replace Big Brother next year.

[DonkeyApple]

oyster said:

The one where the techie nerds start telling us how their £5k worth of digital kits gets them around paying the £145 a year TV licence.

Now. That is clearly aimed at me.

As anyone who as ever met me will happily confirm my state of technoligical advance comes to an early end after the light switch. I am not slightly a techie and yet even I know that the license fee is an optional tax and that using iPlayer etc on a PC with the TV as the monitor is 100% legal.

It is impossible for me to comprehend that if a Luddite such as myself could do this then anyone can so there is no logical complaint against the license fee, that is just a red herring. Any issues must be to do with the BBC. But if you aren't paying for it why worry?

[Eric Mc]

I would take people more seriously if they learned to spell "Licence" correctly

(Cheap shot I know but it does seem that no one can spell the word correctly any more).

[thinfourth2]

grumbledoak said:

thinfourth2 said:

If the beeb is so terrible then where is the commercial version of Question time?

What makes you think such a thing is wanted or needed?

Which i must ask what makes you think a commerical BBC would produce one as none of the other stations bother.

Leave the beeb but remove the slight left lean

Or to keep this place happy have BBC PH channel which will be a externally looped tape of maggie thatcher naked sliding sideways in a supercar shouting kill the poor

[Eric Mc]

Hosted by Andrew Neill and Jeremy Clarkson - and Phil Stott (a very eloquent MMGW sceptic) as scientific adviser.

And guess what channel gives voice to these extremely "off message" personalities?

[Parrot of Doom]

TuxRacer said:

Parrot of Doom said:

I don't watch ITV but still have to pay for the thing, every single time I visit the supermarket.

Other supermarkets are available. Ones which don't pay for ITV.

Really. Around me are Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer. All advertise on television.

And what do those supermarkets sell?

Edited by Parrot of Doom on Tuesday 29th June 13:19

[10 Pence Short]

BBC Licences?