keybored
Well done. You remember cat good.
Don't they still let Capita do the dirty work?
BBC license fee ‘to be abolished in 2027’. What will that mean?
- Thread starter bimble
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Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
I'm glad you can have a stab at it when pushed
JimW
支那暗杀团
I sorry you're such a prick.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
What went through my mind is that if they can carry this off against the BBC, then its a warm-up for the NHS next.
It’s great if it’s all the good things you claim for it but ultimately it exists to produce TV and radio, no? That presumably are there to be appreciated, whether by twats or otherwise. If the output isn’t appreciated, the rest is for naught. And I can’t speak for whether other people rate its output, only myself. Thanks for the insult, though. Nice to know what you think
Raheem
Well-Known Member
TBF, I don't expect they've got any clue at this stage what it is they want to carry off against the BBC.
What will it mean? Who knows. But the BBC will always be part of the establishment, it should be abolished along with the government. Genuine people power is required to replace both.
Apparently there were over 6 billion downloads over the iPlayer last year - so some people are clearly appreciating it.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Yeh we're all pricks here. If you want to persuade you should be able to point to the activity of the BBC in recuperating dissent over time, not simply at times of crisis but the way it goes beyond manufacturing consent to showing a certain level of criticism - the young ones and have I got news for you leap to mind - a safety valve if you will The BBC of the 1920s not the BBC of the 2020s, it's a vastly different creature, a commissioning body largely as I say above. But everyone knows surely that it's always going to back the state because it's wedged into the state. Not because of Reith but because it relies on retaining the good will of government to exist - room for a stick when the carrot and their own predilections won't do.
JimW
支那暗杀团
See, you can do better when you're not being a patronising cunt.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Feeble. You can do better. Calling someone a patronising cunt is so dull
And if that’s enough, there will be sufficient desire to keep it in its current form. I’m not out there arguing to get rid of the BBC. I don’t have any burning desire to be rid of it. I just no longer personally perceive it as having a value I’m willing to advocate for. I don’t think it is worth keeping just because it is a public broadcaster. In fact, its existence as an establishment mouthpiece is a negative, not a positive. It is only worth keeping on its own merits and I don’t think those merits are that great.
mauvais
on reddit or something
We don't have to guess what it exists for, as there is a Royal Charter to describe exactly that.
And as for what I think, I think this: who gives a shit about how much return on investment you - anyone, but also, you - very personally extract from a national resource? You're probably the richest person on here, I imagine you can afford whatever mode of light entertainment takes your fancy, shooting peasants or something, but you must have lost sight of that because here you are giving public service a kicking, which only costs us. Is there nothing on Sky?
Lord Camomile
Yipchaa!
Do you think that's feasible in a media landscape controlled solely by private interest? That would then also have a large say in what people consume and the thus the values they hold?
Anyone who controls a media creator or platform is almost by necessity going to be part of the establishment, can't really see anything genuinely left/subversive being able to get a foothold, but it feels like maybe something like the BBC being a major part of the landscape acts as something of an anchor/weight against things going truly right and batshit.
But, again, very little basis to that other than instinct. Just can't see how people power will get enough of a chance if most of the people are consuming private-owned media.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
I've always instinctively felt like this as well, particularly when you look abroad at the state of TV in, say, France, Spain or Italy. Are there any other countries with a state broadcaster that is comparable to the BBC? Do any alternative successful models exist? I don't know.
Doesn't stop me being disappointed by the BBC fairly regularly, but then maybe I'm underplaying the stuff I do genuinely think is brilliant. EG fuck all this shit on TV, I'm going to listen to Iggy Pop on the radio. Ah.
Dom Traynor
Tino Pai
I never paid the licence fee once in 15 years when I lived in the UK, so I would totally support scrapping it. It's a regressive tax on the poor in order to fund centrist news propaganda and Jimmy Saville noncery.
I think this could be a real vote winner for the Tories if Labour get sucked into a pointless argument over it.
I think this could be a real vote winner for the Tories if Labour get sucked into a pointless argument over it.
Humberto
Well-Known Member
At the risk of sounding patronising, the licence fee is a considerable expense for a lot of people. Though the shrill tone of 'culture warriors' like Dorries is patently ridiculous. It would be laughable if it weren't so grotesquely self-important/self-serving on their part.
I find the BBC a solid ediface in certain instances. Its stance on the England Euro 2020 team and the defiance of government attacks and their populist position with regards to the clear and ongoing anti-racism stance. They also stand against clickbait and panic mongering to an extent (imo).
They ARE basically small c conservative. It's less classist than the Guardian though, and more engaging than the default Tory tabloids.
So yeah, keep it, with discounts for the elderly and/or low income households somehow. IF that is what Dorries was ACTUALLY concerned about,
rather than trying to create and enforce a nationalistic monoculture of Toryism to go with a pitiless attitude to everyone who needs a hand here and there i.e. the majority of us to some extent.
The Tories are flailing anyway. hehe
I find the BBC a solid ediface in certain instances. Its stance on the England Euro 2020 team and the defiance of government attacks and their populist position with regards to the clear and ongoing anti-racism stance. They also stand against clickbait and panic mongering to an extent (imo).
They ARE basically small c conservative. It's less classist than the Guardian though, and more engaging than the default Tory tabloids.
So yeah, keep it, with discounts for the elderly and/or low income households somehow. IF that is what Dorries was ACTUALLY concerned about,
rather than trying to create and enforce a nationalistic monoculture of Toryism to go with a pitiless attitude to everyone who needs a hand here and there i.e. the majority of us to some extent.The Tories are flailing anyway. hehe
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
I think they just might have had the demise of the BBC planned for a while and the opportunity to implement it has just presented itself.
Whether those plans are coherent or offer any real/viable alternative, is of course anyone's guess!
D'wards
IT'S YOUR DECISION DANIEL
100, as the kids say.
The tories really are a bunch of scum-sucking cunts, to put it frankly
scifisam
feck! arse! girls! drink!
At the risk of sounding patronising, the licence fee is a considerable expense for a lot of people. Though the shrill tone of 'culture warriors' like Dorries is patently ridiculous. It would be laughable if it weren't so grotesquely self-important/self-serving on their part.
I find the BBC a solid ediface in certain instances. Its stance on the England Euro 2020 team and the defiance of government attacks and their populist position with regards to the clear and ongoing anti-racism stance. They also stand against clickbait and panic mongering to an extent (imo).
They ARE basically small c conservative. It's less classist than the Guardian though, and more engaging than the default Tory tabloids.
So yeah, keep it, with discounts for the elderly and/or low income households somehow. IF that is what Dorries was ACTUALLY concerned about,
The Tories are flailing anyway. hehe
One of the suggestions I saw was a levy on broadband TV fees. That seems the best way forward to me. And I have broadband TV despite not being a pensioner - it's still pretty common because it's often built in to cheap internet packages, and they'll stay cheap even with a potential BBC fee.
scifisam
feck! arse! girls! drink!
That's also true. They've been softening us up for private healthcare for the past 12 years, the literal granny-killing psychopaths that they are.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Whatever the new funding model is, and I agree that there does need to be a new model, it's going to involve cuts. And that's where I'm not so optimistic. They're not going to cut Strictly, for instance. Don't want to pick on Strictly particularly, but it's an example of a popular 'star'-driven show whose main presenters are paid a lot of money. They are unlikely, in fact, to particularly question their 'talent' payment model of light entertainment, which does involve paying people huge sums. They'll do what they always do when they're making cuts. They'll target the likes of Radio 6 or Radio 3 again, despite the fact that they cost a fraction of the money of the light entertainment TV. They've already gutted BBC4 and made it incredibly uninteresting.
Bottom line is that I don't trust the BBC to figure out that some of the most interesting and most challenging TV isn't expensive to make but does involve a bit of imagination.
ETA: I think the most fundamental principle is that you don't get to opt out of the state broadcaster. How much you should be expected to pay towards it in today's world is a reasonable question, though. Some kind of a general levy set at a relatively low level with access to all radio and most of the tv plus an additional optional subscription on top of that for 'extras'? I've just thought of that. It's probably got big downsides, but if I were asked to pay 4 quid a month for iPlayer, for instance, I would. I watch it more than Netflix, which is six quid a month.
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Raheem
Well-Known Member
Tories collectively have fantasised about the demise of the BBC for a while sure. But there's not an actual plan until there's an actual plan, and I really doubt there is. Think the announcement is nothing, wrapped in a dead cat.
Curiouscarl
Active Member
I wouldn't worry about it. When I told a bunch of trainee nurses that the government doesn't have PPE for their staff during the pandemic. I explained they don't give a shit about you.
They thought I was bitter about something and was telling porkies.
Oh, and half of the class had no experience in any form of regarding the health sector. They thought it looked fun or they watched Holby City and other medical shows.. Plus, when I mentioned a common medical procedure. The class went, "urghhhhhh". Like disgusted children.
These are the people who will look after you. When, potentially you are at your worst .
We were buggered a generation or two ago.
Sit back and enjoy the ride.
YouSir
Retired from Urban
The BBC is ultimately just a cultural funding mechanism, how/whether you pay for that is one side of it but the other is how that funding gets distributed. As it stands the BBC is largely centralised and deeply hierarchical with pretty clear focuses and biases. You can retain a general entity as a focal point for investment and distribution while also doing a lot of other stuff. Decentralise it for example, they still have more local infrastructure than any other cultural body. Democratise commissioning, improve grass roots access to the technical skills and experience they have. You've still got some kind of anchor point for socially funded and non commercial culture but you disperse the output as wide as possible. Harder to attack too. Easy to bang on about Gary Lineker's wages on a national stage, harder to complain about the 10 locally sourced dramas BBC local radio Grimsby commissioned. Also more tied to communities, more representative and more relevant, so easier to defend too.
scifisam
feck! arse! girls! drink!
That's kinda why I suspect R4 will go. Costs virtually nothing, but doesn't get publicity.
People will protest, but what are they going to do, withhold their licence fee? Complain and... what? Be called a Karen if they admit their complaint in public? Nothing else will happen.
And because lots of older people like it it'll be "OK boomers." "Use podcasts." People with privileges they absolutely refuse they to admit that they have will offer useless advice and laugh at anyone who can't follow it.
Sorry. The licence fee is regressive, but the way to change it is not by Tory fiat that makes it clear that the BBC is going to have to lick the govt's boots to get any funding for any services whatsoever. Changes put in place by Tory govts are always only in favour of the rich.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Um, you're criticising trainees for their lack of experience?I wouldn't worry about it. When I told a bunch of trainee nurses that the government doesn't have PPE for their staff during the pandemic. I explained they don't give a shit about you.
They thought I was bitter about something and was telling porkies.
Oh, and half of the class had no experience in any form of regarding the health sector. They thought it looked fun or they watched Holby City and other medical shows.. Plus, when I mentioned a common medical procedure. The class went, "urghhhhhh". Like disgusted children.
These are the people who will look after you. When, potentially you are at your worst .
We were buggered a generation or two ago.
Sit back and enjoy the ride.
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