| BBC Licence 12:04 - Jun 11 with 5812 views | colinallcars |
Well, bang goes the free TV licence just as I near the age to qualify for it. To be fair, most pensioners can afford to pay, and those on pension credit still get it free. What bugs me is the way the Beeb has become dumbed down to commercial TV level recently. The BBC's integrity has gone by the board supposedly in pursuit of ratings. There should be one channel that retains some dignity and sadly the Beeb is slipping away from that position.
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| BBC Licence on 16:45 - Jun 11 with 1505 views | Northernr |
| BBC Licence on 16:39 - Jun 11 by qprd |
The BBC executives dont award themselves pay increases
it has a board made up of non-executive directors. salaries for executives like these are tied to financial performance (eg profits, revenues, etc), just like executives at most big companies. there's usually an independent compensation committee which determines compensation. and to the extent salaries went up, it may be indexed to financial performance pursuant to contracts that were pre-agreed
also, private companies dont have to disclose executive pay to the same way as does an enterprise like the bbc. for all we know, bbc executives are actually making less than if they were working for other privately-held channels, streaming services, etc
and finally, while executive comp at bbc is relatively high (approx 300k in a lot of cases), a 30% change isnt really going to move the needle that much. its easy to latch on to b/c we can understand an increase from £250k to £300k... but in the scheme of budget thats in the hundreds of millions, its nothing |
"also, private companies dont have to disclose executive pay to the same way as does an enterprise like the bbc. for all we know, bbc executives are actually making less than if they were working for other privately-held channels, streaming services, etc."
You can see this by where there execs come from and go to. So the head of drama there atm is Piers Wenger, who came from Channel 4. BBC from Channel 4 is seen as a step up in prestige, ambition, commissioning power and wage. But he replaced Polly Hill, who left after a very short time with the BBC, to go to ITV, because ITV pay waaaaaaaaaaaaay more. Of course now Netflix, Amazon, Apple are on the scene paying more than all of them - hence former BBC1 and C4 controller Jay Hunt is now at Apple. |  | | |
| BBC Licence on 17:01 - Jun 11 with 1470 views | MelakaRanger |
You just have to watch W1A to see how the BBC works. I was amazed they actually commissioned such a series at the time. Although a comedy it was very close to home.
The BBC for all its bloating is a bargain . But in this new mid to world I think it’s time to loose the license fee and charge like Sky and Netflix. To watch the BBC you have to pay, say, £15 a month via a subscription.
As for the free licenses for over 75s. Yes it should be withdrawn but to be fair to all existing recipients , maybe they should be weaned off it over a decent period , maybe start at £10 a year increasing by £10 a year until you get to the full fee.
And anyway. Why did Gordon Brown draw the arbitrary line at 75 years old? Surely if there is a needy and deserving 75 year old , there are equally as many 74 year olds/73 year olds? |  | | |
| BBC Licence on 17:48 - Jun 11 with 1401 views | PlanetHonneywood |
Last week the Government and BBC were falling over themselves to honour the WW2 veterans; now they want to charge the poor buggers for the privilege of watching increasing repeats of ‘Antiques Roadshow’...oh the irony!! |  |
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| BBC Licence on 17:59 - Jun 11 with 1402 views | daveB |
| BBC Licence on 12:40 - Jun 11 by 1MoreBrightonR |
Having lived in the States which doesnt have a decent public funded TV or radio platform, i can say we are beyond lucky to have it. 90% of american TV and radio is shocking and riddled with advertising and product placement.
I literally never watch ITV. Its dogsh1t. Channel 4 is decent but otherwise, BBC shows way more quality things than the other offline TV options. And between the various BBC radio stations, they pretty much cover all my radio needs.
Its the kind of thing people love to moan about and then will complain about once its gone. |
I always love the anger towards ITV mainly because I work there but find it funny when people say it's dogshit and don't realise how many of the best shows on BBC are actually made by ITV Studios who make more money by selling it to the Beeb than showing it on their own channel. Line of Duty, Poldark, Bodyguard etc
Still as Antti said this all comes from the Government cutting the funding for free tv licences and passing it onto the BBC who can't afford it. I think in the end under 75's will end up paying more to subsidise the free licences |  | | |
| BBC Licence on 19:54 - Jun 11 with 1310 views | colinallcars |
| BBC Licence on 17:59 - Jun 11 by daveB |
I always love the anger towards ITV mainly because I work there but find it funny when people say it's dogshit and don't realise how many of the best shows on BBC are actually made by ITV Studios who make more money by selling it to the Beeb than showing it on their own channel. Line of Duty, Poldark, Bodyguard etc
Still as Antti said this all comes from the Government cutting the funding for free tv licences and passing it onto the BBC who can't afford it. I think in the end under 75's will end up paying more to subsidise the free licences |
I didn't know that ITV made programmes such as Line Of Duty. They should show more productions like that on their own channel.
As for the BBC, whilst standards are maintained in some shows there is an awful lot of drivel that would never have been shown years ago. I watched some adverts for some upcoming programmes the other day and thought I was going insane. | | | |
| BBC Licence on 20:51 - Jun 11 with 1275 views | distortR |
| BBC Licence on 12:48 - Jun 11 by peejaybee |
But do you get Mrs Browns Boys.?????? |
i really, really don't. |  | | |
| BBC Licence on 21:27 - Jun 11 with 1238 views | ozranger |
Interesting. I note mention of US TV. What of CBC in Canada? Do they pay for that and what is its quality?
Here is Oz we don't pay for FTA TV and have never, to my knowledge. We get about 40 channels through, ostensibly, five networks. The BBC equivalent, ABC, is government funded and has four TV channels, endless city and regional radio channels plus iView to watch shows from the past again. Just like the BBC. Like the BBC, it is also hounded by the conservatives for bias and was lately invaded by the federal police for showing something that exposed the government. Also, like the Beeb, its quality is good and much better than the commercial channels.
We have three primary networks, run by mega-media companies plus an international (multicultural) network that used to be run by the government but is now commercialised/privatised. Each have their own radio affiliates and also their own internet methods of replaying shows in the past or even watching them live on your phone or laptop.
Yet, all this is free. So, it is hard for an Aussie to understand this paying malarky. As one of our politicians famously said.. please explain? |  | | |
| BBC Licence on 22:35 - Jun 11 with 1198 views | daveB |
| BBC Licence on 19:54 - Jun 11 by colinallcars |
I didn't know that ITV made programmes such as Line Of Duty. They should show more productions like that on their own channel.
As for the BBC, whilst standards are maintained in some shows there is an awful lot of drivel that would never have been shown years ago. I watched some adverts for some upcoming programmes the other day and thought I was going insane. |
couple of years ago ITV studios bought up loads of production companies so they were not reliant on advertising revenue and were able to sell programmes around the world to Netflix, prime etc. They bought the company who make Line of Duty a few years ago so all comes under the ITV umbrella so BBC basically pay ITV to buy these shows | | | |
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| BBC Licence on 22:53 - Jun 11 with 1185 views | HantsR |
As has been written, it was the Government wot did it by making the BBC pay for the concession. I'm in a similar position to Collinallcars and get very concerned about the dumbing down of many programmes, allegedly to attract a wider (younger?) audience. I would hope that they can use this change to seek to address the TV and Radio tastes of loyal, senior viewers and listeners like me.
I have access to Now, Amazon Prime and Netflix - I'm glad I've managed to get them for free as there is very little I would willingly pay for. |  | | |
| BBC Licence on 23:38 - Jun 11 with 1170 views | Boston |
I’m unaware of any young people who watch a tv. | |
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| BBC Licence on 06:51 - Jun 12 with 1099 views | distortR |
| BBC Licence on 21:27 - Jun 11 by ozranger |
Interesting. I note mention of US TV. What of CBC in Canada? Do they pay for that and what is its quality?
Here is Oz we don't pay for FTA TV and have never, to my knowledge. We get about 40 channels through, ostensibly, five networks. The BBC equivalent, ABC, is government funded and has four TV channels, endless city and regional radio channels plus iView to watch shows from the past again. Just like the BBC. Like the BBC, it is also hounded by the conservatives for bias and was lately invaded by the federal police for showing something that exposed the government. Also, like the Beeb, its quality is good and much better than the commercial channels.
We have three primary networks, run by mega-media companies plus an international (multicultural) network that used to be run by the government but is now commercialised/privatised. Each have their own radio affiliates and also their own internet methods of replaying shows in the past or even watching them live on your phone or laptop.
Yet, all this is free. So, it is hard for an Aussie to understand this paying malarky. As one of our politicians famously said.. please explain? |
You do pay for the ABC services though, through direct taxation, about 12c a day, I believe.
Cheaper then the BBC, but then is it comparable in amount of original material produced, and does the ABC pay massive wages to such worthy causes as gary linekar?
I watched ABC and SBS when I was in Oz, but found the commercial channels with their frequent oh so loud adverts unwatchable. | | | |
| BBC Licence on 07:28 - Jun 12 with 1081 views | jonno |
| BBC Licence on 16:36 - Jun 11 by Northernr |
The BBC was far from happy with that deal. It was forced upon it as the least worst option at the point when Whittingdale was basically out for it all guns blazing. This over 75s thing has been coming down the pipe since then, as a result of it, and people have only noticed it/started covering it this week because they've announced a solution to it. The cost of increases was never going to cover this shortfall, unless they were ridiculous increases, and nor would sacking Gary Linekar. They were put in a no win position by a hostile government.
That's not to say it isn't a ridiculously bloated, dreadfully run, incredibly wasteful, bureaucratic mess of an organisation. Did an interview with the head of factual there as part of my day job covering the TV industry when she first got the job. First question was to run through her department - who commissions what basically - for the benefit of producers reading. It took her 17 minutes to list everybody and what they did, by which time I only had 13 minutes of interview left and we had to schedule a follow up call. Channel 5 meanwhile has a commissioning team, for the entire channel, of seven. |
Lord Hall, Head of the BBC, agreed to the deal. If he wasn't happy with it, why did he agree to it?
They have recouped the cost of the free licences (and more) by increasing the price of the licence. The BBC waste inordinate amounts of money; the most often quoted example is Lineker's almost 2 million quid a year (why do they need him anyway? If MOTD was presented by an unknown bloke on less than a twentieth that Lineker is paid would anybody no longer watch it?) but he is far from the only one. Many of these people are paid massive money for the simple act of reading an autocue. Jeremy Vine, for example, was being paid £800k a year for simply hosting a daily radio phone in show and a daily TV quiz show. It beggars belief that there is nobody that could do that job for a lot less money. Graham Norton is another. John Humphries on the Today programme on radio 4 plus Mastermind also on huge money. Plenty of people quite capable of performing those roles on a lot less money. 30% pay increases for their executives - totally wrong. Their main soap, Eastenders - now attracting 68% fewer viewers than it used to do. Instead of scrapping it and saving more money they are spending 86 million quid on a new set. Time they started running the organisation properly then they could afford to provide those free licences to pensioners. |  | | |
| BBC Licence on 07:48 - Jun 12 with 1062 views | ElHoop |
I'm an old duffer myself these days but surely most of the Beeb's output these days is watched by 'older' people? We don't have much time to fathom what's on where and is worth watching, so we often miss good stuff when it comes out and someone tells us about it often months/years later and we catch up with it. It's not a problem for us but for programme makers and those trying to sell advertising it must be pretty frustrating. I'm not sure how you get the best programmes into some sort of single format but surely some day it has to happen? Why do you need channels as such?
The BBC is unfathomable to me. I've no idea what's on TV on a Saturday night as it's always rubbish and we never ever bother to look at what's on. I could get a ten year old Radio Times or something and it would probably tell me what's on Saturday nights - Strictly come Dancing, X Factor, Casualty etc etc - all stuff way past its sell-by date. Do many young people watch this stuff? At the same time Andrew Neil's This Week is about to bite the dust - a terrific late political show.
I'm not sure why young earners should be expected to subsidise old duffers who want to watch the BBC when they don't want to watch it themselves. They are already saddled with student loans and auto enrolment pensions - neither of which the elderly had to pay for. They also have to pay NIC which the elderly don't pay. The rising cost of care for the elderly is far more important than the cost of them watching telly and nothing is being done about this or even being discussed in our Brexit Leadership Electing Wonderland. It's a complete mess, but asking the young to chip in even more money doesn't strike me as fair right now. |  | | |
| BBC Licence on 07:53 - Jun 12 with 1060 views | PunteR |
Do ITV still have 3 minute adverts in the middle of there programs? How shabby is that?
I think the bbc tv licence should be scrapped and make it a monthly subscription. I cant see why that wouldnt work.
However the goverment will probably put a tax on tv or something instead. |  |
| Occasional providers of half decent House music. |
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| BBC Licence on 08:02 - Jun 12 with 1045 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
| BBC Licence on 07:53 - Jun 12 by PunteR |
Do ITV still have 3 minute adverts in the middle of there programs? How shabby is that?
I think the bbc tv licence should be scrapped and make it a monthly subscription. I cant see why that wouldnt work.
However the goverment will probably put a tax on tv or something instead. |
I pay monthly by DD so is a monthly subscription to me.
Planets (BBC2) was brilliant last night. |  |
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| BBC Licence on 08:10 - Jun 12 with 1038 views | loftboy |
Back in the 90’s I went five years without a licence, when I eventually got the knock on the door I had to fill out a form and was taken to court ( didn’t have to attend) I was fined £100, less than one years fee, I took that as a result. |  |
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| BBC Licence on 08:10 - Jun 12 with 1037 views | jonno |
| BBC Licence on 07:48 - Jun 12 by ElHoop |
I'm an old duffer myself these days but surely most of the Beeb's output these days is watched by 'older' people? We don't have much time to fathom what's on where and is worth watching, so we often miss good stuff when it comes out and someone tells us about it often months/years later and we catch up with it. It's not a problem for us but for programme makers and those trying to sell advertising it must be pretty frustrating. I'm not sure how you get the best programmes into some sort of single format but surely some day it has to happen? Why do you need channels as such?
The BBC is unfathomable to me. I've no idea what's on TV on a Saturday night as it's always rubbish and we never ever bother to look at what's on. I could get a ten year old Radio Times or something and it would probably tell me what's on Saturday nights - Strictly come Dancing, X Factor, Casualty etc etc - all stuff way past its sell-by date. Do many young people watch this stuff? At the same time Andrew Neil's This Week is about to bite the dust - a terrific late political show.
I'm not sure why young earners should be expected to subsidise old duffers who want to watch the BBC when they don't want to watch it themselves. They are already saddled with student loans and auto enrolment pensions - neither of which the elderly had to pay for. They also have to pay NIC which the elderly don't pay. The rising cost of care for the elderly is far more important than the cost of them watching telly and nothing is being done about this or even being discussed in our Brexit Leadership Electing Wonderland. It's a complete mess, but asking the young to chip in even more money doesn't strike me as fair right now. |
But the elderly did pay NICs all their working lives. It was their NI contributions which funded the state pensions of those that retired before them, and it's the NICs being paid by the working population which funds the pensions of current pensioners. That's how the system works. | | | |
| BBC Licence on 08:17 - Jun 12 with 1031 views | Northernr |
| BBC Licence on 07:28 - Jun 12 by jonno |
Lord Hall, Head of the BBC, agreed to the deal. If he wasn't happy with it, why did he agree to it?
They have recouped the cost of the free licences (and more) by increasing the price of the licence. The BBC waste inordinate amounts of money; the most often quoted example is Lineker's almost 2 million quid a year (why do they need him anyway? If MOTD was presented by an unknown bloke on less than a twentieth that Lineker is paid would anybody no longer watch it?) but he is far from the only one. Many of these people are paid massive money for the simple act of reading an autocue. Jeremy Vine, for example, was being paid £800k a year for simply hosting a daily radio phone in show and a daily TV quiz show. It beggars belief that there is nobody that could do that job for a lot less money. Graham Norton is another. John Humphries on the Today programme on radio 4 plus Mastermind also on huge money. Plenty of people quite capable of performing those roles on a lot less money. 30% pay increases for their executives - totally wrong. Their main soap, Eastenders - now attracting 68% fewer viewers than it used to do. Instead of scrapping it and saving more money they are spending 86 million quid on a new set. Time they started running the organisation properly then they could afford to provide those free licences to pensioners. |
He agreed to it as the least worst option. He didn't have a choice mate. Believe me, it's the industry I cover, it was a crap deal that they hated but Whittingdale was absolutely gunning for them.
I don't disagree on the talent figures, or the bloated mess, but it's a different thing. You can't cover the shortfall this created by sacking Gary Linekar. | | | |
| BBC Licence on 08:43 - Jun 12 with 1012 views | BuckR |
| BBC Licence on 08:17 - Jun 12 by Northernr |
He agreed to it as the least worst option. He didn't have a choice mate. Believe me, it's the industry I cover, it was a crap deal that they hated but Whittingdale was absolutely gunning for them.
I don't disagree on the talent figures, or the bloated mess, but it's a different thing. You can't cover the shortfall this created by sacking Gary Linekar. |
Yeah still wouldn't mind the bloke replaced though! [Post edited 12 Jun 2019 8:44]
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| BBC Licence on 09:01 - Jun 12 with 998 views | ElHoop |
| BBC Licence on 08:10 - Jun 12 by jonno |
But the elderly did pay NICs all their working lives. It was their NI contributions which funded the state pensions of those that retired before them, and it's the NICs being paid by the working population which funds the pensions of current pensioners. That's how the system works. |
The NIC contributions might have met the cost of paying pensions to those who preceded them, but i doubt it. Maybe in 1946 or something that was the case. I seriously doubt it now. There's no obvious link between NIC and benefits now. It's effectively just another tax which you stop paying when you get old, regardless of whether you contributed enough as a group. With life expectancy ever increasing there's no way that 'old age' is adequately 'funded' by past contributions as it were and you really cannot saddle the young with all of these debts. It just doesn't add up. Maybe if the North Sea oil boom in the 1980's had funded some actual pension reserves it would be different but it was given away in tax cuts so they had the money back. I think that tax and employee NIC should be merged and everyone pays the same tax but I doubt that anyone will be brave enough to do this, so the can will be kicked down the road forever. Meanwhile issues like free TV licences are somewhat trivial. | | | |
| BBC Licence on 11:36 - Jun 12 with 919 views | ManinBlack |
| BBC Licence on 08:17 - Jun 12 by Northernr |
He agreed to it as the least worst option. He didn't have a choice mate. Believe me, it's the industry I cover, it was a crap deal that they hated but Whittingdale was absolutely gunning for them.
I don't disagree on the talent figures, or the bloated mess, but it's a different thing. You can't cover the shortfall this created by sacking Gary Linekar. |
I would not necessarily want the BBC to sack all of its presenters but I would prefer to see a system where they were paid a lot less than they get and the money saved used on other projects without resorting to asking pensioners to stump up because, accidentally on purpose, their so called stars are grossly overpaid by the BBC.
These protests about the Beeb retaining the best talent and paying them accordingly to keep them loyal and on their books, sound very hollow when these presenters appear on other channels like ITV, Sky Arts, BT Sport etc, not to mention hosting events, after dinner speaking, opening a new facility and stuff like that they get paid handsomely for.
I know it is very simple for me to look on the outside at this and it is probably more complicated than just cutting pay, but it makes me uneasy changing a war veteran whilst the "stars" rake in the money. |  | | |
| BBC Licence on 11:39 - Jun 12 with 915 views | daveB |
| BBC Licence on 07:28 - Jun 12 by jonno |
Lord Hall, Head of the BBC, agreed to the deal. If he wasn't happy with it, why did he agree to it?
They have recouped the cost of the free licences (and more) by increasing the price of the licence. The BBC waste inordinate amounts of money; the most often quoted example is Lineker's almost 2 million quid a year (why do they need him anyway? If MOTD was presented by an unknown bloke on less than a twentieth that Lineker is paid would anybody no longer watch it?) but he is far from the only one. Many of these people are paid massive money for the simple act of reading an autocue. Jeremy Vine, for example, was being paid £800k a year for simply hosting a daily radio phone in show and a daily TV quiz show. It beggars belief that there is nobody that could do that job for a lot less money. Graham Norton is another. John Humphries on the Today programme on radio 4 plus Mastermind also on huge money. Plenty of people quite capable of performing those roles on a lot less money. 30% pay increases for their executives - totally wrong. Their main soap, Eastenders - now attracting 68% fewer viewers than it used to do. Instead of scrapping it and saving more money they are spending 86 million quid on a new set. Time they started running the organisation properly then they could afford to provide those free licences to pensioners. |
so the proper way to run it is to get rid of all the good presenters and hire cheap ones and scrap their most popular programmes so older people can watch it | | | |
| BBC Licence on 12:34 - Jun 12 with 881 views | colinallcars |
| BBC Licence on 11:39 - Jun 12 by daveB |
so the proper way to run it is to get rid of all the good presenters and hire cheap ones and scrap their most popular programmes so older people can watch it |
The BBC call them their “talent” but I'm sure people would still watch Match Of The Day were it presented by a bloke from the pub. I'm no expert but I would have thought the important people are the technical bods and producers. | | | |
| BBC Licence on 12:52 - Jun 12 with 863 views | Metallica_Hoop |
The BBC do still make some good tele' and co-productions (when they pulled out of The Last Kingdom the tit count dropped  ) Versailles etc.
I think over 75's should get it free if anything to piss off the shouty, safe-space using, self-entitled young willows who want anyone over 60 to die because they disagree with them... 
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| Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent |
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| BBC Licence on 13:01 - Jun 12 with 851 views | daveB |
| BBC Licence on 12:34 - Jun 12 by colinallcars |
The BBC call them their “talent” but I'm sure people would still watch Match Of The Day were it presented by a bloke from the pub. I'm no expert but I would have thought the important people are the technical bods and producers. |
true but it is shit when Dan Walker does it | | | |
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