There’s been rumblings again over the cost of the TV License fee, whenever that particular debate rears its noggin I have the same thought. How many of the dissenters could list the areas the BBC covers? This is followed by a second question, how much to the same dissenters pay for other entertainment streams?
Currently the TV Licence fee is £157.50 per annum, which is about £13.13 per month, for thousands of hours of international, national, local news and radio stations, there is sports and nature coverage, funding into natural history and films, commissioning of documentaries, comedy, drama, quiz shows, music shows, buying-in of internationally renowned programmes, some niche series. All the online content on the website, I-player and BBC Sounds. And a heck of a lot more that I’ve forgotten or not found yet.
Back in the dark ages (I think that’s the 1970’s nowadays) we had three channels and none were broadcasting 24/7 (I know, utter deprivation), yet there always seemed to be something worthy of watching. The 1980’s brought a couple more channels and while one was thought to be a tad ‘alternative’ slightly ‘avant- guard’ this expansion still didn’t diminish viewing choice. There have been many changes since then……
So what’s available to us now to broaden our viewing options.
- Sky
- Virgin
- BT Vision
- Netflix
- Amazon Prime
- Apple tv
- Now tv
- Brit Box (how to get people to pay again to watch repeats, classic)
These additional services are not as far reaching, or offer the same degree of entertainment, yet in comparison seem to cost more than the BBC. I guess what the dear old Beeb needs to do, as discussed in W1A, is to “find out what we do best and do less of it, better“!
All the same …. as I scroll up and down the Freeview TV guide and cannot find a thing to watch (that’s a fib, I’m watching Apollo 13, again), I wonder if all this availability has done anything to improve our entertainment access.
menhir1
December 7, 2020 at 3:49 pm
We don’t subscribe to anything else. We are thinking about it. The uninteresting cheap in-fills and programme repeats are becoming a nonsense. This applies to radio too. Radio is sooo bad with the third rate sound, and TV is awful too. There’s a lot to be said for interviews being conducted under a duvet or in a cupboard.it would be kinder to people with auditory difficulties.
As for your last question, I do not know the answer. There are too many variables and how would anyone safely design a qualitative methodology that would suit all our differing tastes.
Xxx
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snowbird
December 8, 2020 at 8:55 pm
We are spoilt for choice, I often wish we had less options. I used to love watching things like Heartbeat at weekends.xxx
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AnneMarie
December 8, 2020 at 9:25 pm
Choice, hmmm, I think the choice has dwindled, there’s just more to not watch. Lol.
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Fitnessgirl
December 9, 2020 at 5:24 am
I don’t watch the BBC for 48 weeks out of 52… and those four weeks that I do watch it I’m at yours! Being originally from the US I’m still aghast at having to pay for owning a television set to begin with. But, hey ho, it’s a drop in the bucket I suppose as entertainment fees go. 🤷♀️
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