Brits believe in universal access to free TV

[Mickha]

I know more about the BBC, than most, at least up until I stopped viewing any British television, quite a number of years ago, and no amount of recommendations will ever get me to view their programmes, ever again.
As long as you are happy with their programming, their editorial policies, and content it is good value for money, then that is up to you.

 

[Adam792]

I happily pay my £12.12 per month for BBC News (on TV and online), and the BBC radio stations without taking into account all of the other stuff they do. Much better value for money than pay satellite (especially in this country) will ever be!

 

[Lazarus]

Exactly - and that £12.12 also permits you to watch anything else you can find Free to Air, whether BBC output or not.

One of the bargains of a lunchtime.

 

[Captain Jack]

Right but other commercial broadcasters don't get a share of the license fee, do they?

 

[Lazarus]

No, but the Licence is to permit operation of relevant equipment. The destination of the revenue is a separate matter. So that £12.12 per month permits viewing of far more than just the output of the BBC.


Even if one chooses not to watch BBC Channels, a Licence is still required - and regardless of whether what one does actually watch attracts a premium by way of further Subscription.


It's a well-worn path, with some aspects in common with VED/Car Tax (whatever one chooses to call it: Some refer to it as Road Fund Licence), whereby it suits some to retain the idea that paying for your Car Tax Disc gives entitlements to use of the Highway over and above those users who are not obliged to have a Disc. Some of the Debates (Chiefly using specious arguments) that I've witnessed on both these matters extend to what seems like an infinite number of Posts!

 

[Agorima]

I was talking about the Olympic Games some days ago.

RAI acquired the full broadcasting rights for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, while Sky retained the full broadcasting rights for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

There is any alternative to Sky/Cielo for the Winter Olympic Games? I don't want to watch them on that channel.

 

[sonnetpete]

Have a look at this :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Olympic_Games_in_2014#Broadcasting_rights

Looking at the list, I'd say ARD / ZDF are your best bet FTA.

 

[Mickha]

I do so dislike these constant approvals stating that the BBC is great quality, and value, usually from people who seldom do any research, into what is actually going on, with the BBC, and their editorial policies.
Given the option, which I personally believe we should have, I would never finance the BBC, not in its current form, or view any of their programming, especially soap operas, comedies, and dramas.
Other members have quite rightly stated that it is up to each of us what we view, and our tastes are going to vary. I would never deem to tell people what they should view, beyond the obvious, illegal, material, which the law, and watchdogs, prevent from beeing screened, but I do object to being forced to finance a television company that I will never view and whose hidden policies I find objectionable.

 

[skomedal]

Living in norway and receiving all transmitions from 28.2e except astra 2F ( the white elephant ) and loving the fine documentries the beeb make have laid my plans if astra 2E gets into orbit with same fringe reception as 2F.
Proxy uk server and streaming from lappy to tv :-beer

 

[Agorima]

Living in norway and receiving all transmitions from 28.2e except astra 2F ( the white elephant ) and loving the fine documentries the beeb make have laid my plans if astra 2E gets into orbit with same fringe reception as 2F.
Proxy uk server and streaming from lappy to tv :-beer

Sometimes I use a VPN to watch the BBC.
If I want to learn the real English I must watch your public channels.
American English sounds so fake and it' s almost incomprehensible.

 

[Juan69]

I continue to pay my UK TV licence even though I spend a great deal of time abroad. I enjoy BBC programming and I am pleased to be in a panel of programme reviewers for the corporation. I am happy to take some of the blame !. Radio 4 is my radio station of choice and BBC 1 my preferred channel.

 

[Lazarus]

American English sounds so fake and it' s almost incomprehensible.

US English, surely? The US is only a part of North America, and the South American Nations predominantly speak Spanish or Portuguese.

But I agree with the sentiment entirely. Intonation, Spelling and Usage differ markedly from English.

 

[Agorima]

US English, surely? The US is only a part of North America, and the South American Nations predominantly speak Spanish or Portuguese.

Wikipedia, the books and the dictionaries say "American English", it's not my fault
i know that the South American Nations speak Latin Languages

 

[Lazarus]

Not blaming you at all, amico: It's just irksome how one (admittedly large) Nation seems to overshadow many others and fallacies morph into received wisdom.



And as for Wikipaedia (sic) ................ :-crying


"Never let the facts get in the way of a good diatribe" !

But our Free TV is better than theirs by a large margin. FACT.

 

[Agorima]

Not blaming you at all, amico: It's just irksome how one (admittedly large) Nation seems to overshadow many others and fallacies morph into received wisdom.

It's called "American imperialism", but European TV is usually way better than US TV and I don't understand why we should copy them.

 

[2cvbloke]

When it comes to "free" and paid TV, I find that there's few programs from either lot that I like, and I prefer to pick what I want to watch, out of the 70-odd freeview channels, I maybe watch about 10 channels, and on each channel maybe about 4 or 5 programmes, if they're not repeats (unless it's a good show and I want to watch it again), and if I had paid TV I'd probably do the same, watch some channels, with a few programmes off each...

And then, I think to myself that it's not really worth paying for, obviously for the "free" TV we haven't got any choice in the matter, but, that's the joy of the internet, if there's something good on TV, it'll be on the web in minutes to download (legally or otherwise), so I can pick and choose what I watch when I want to watch it...

That and DVDs of course, but that's still a bit pricey when you're trying to build a collection...

 

[Mickha]

At least with downloads, and DVD's, you usually get to see the full version, of a programme, or film.
You'd be amazed at how many programmes are edited, on British television, and how many people still don't realize that they have been edited.
I was fortunate to view the unedited editions of The Sweeney, Minder, Bergerac, the Carry on Films, countless American , and Canadian, series, and I can't believe some of the edits made, mostly for female nudity, and bad language, but some edits seem to have been made just to fit into the broadcasters time slot.
These shows are shown complete, in an unedited format, on most foreign packages, and I find the advertisements, on British television, to be more offensive, than some of the edits made to the television programmes.

 

[2cvbloke]

You'd be amazed at how many programmes are edited, on British television, and how many people still don't realize that they have been edited.

Oh I notice, especially BBC shows repeated on Dave such as Top Gear, they edit bits out to fit the often 63min programme into a 60 minute slot with ad breaks every 10 minutes or so, and you only get like 40-45 minutes of the actual show after they've butchered it and cut out funny bits...

And The Simpsons on C4, they've been editing those (though I hear that's more down to 19th century Fox being a bit of a Mary Whitehouse, deeming real life stuff to be too traumatic for people to see in cartoons), some recent'y aired episodes I expected to hear certain lines or see scenes which were cut out (badly) from the full episode...

But still, that's why the DVD & the download (legal ones that is, unlike unofficial, recorded off the air ones) is handy, cos not only do you get the full, original edit, you also get everything from beginning to end without any voiceovers, adverts, onscreen graphics, and other distractions from the enjoyment of actual show which get on my wick...

 

[rolfw]

This thread has gone way off topic, the original post is about the European Union's apparent plan to further restrict terrestrial UHF frequency allocation for linear TV broadcasts, with particular reference to the UK and the UK public's response to it.

 

[Juan69]

This thread has gone way off topic, the original post is about the European Union's apparent plan to further restrict terrestrial UHF frequency allocation for linear TV broadcasts, with particular reference to the UK and the UK public's response to it.

The European Union !!!....... that will definately get me off topic and off everything else.