Rant against the "You dont pay the fee..."

ozgirl said:
The Director-General of the Beeb was on "Newsnight" the other night. He was discussing the future of the BBC after 2012 (when the whole broadcast system here will finally be digital).
For those who don't know, Murdoch has been shit-stirring, saying the BBC is getting too big and has too much influence, and strangles competition, etc, etc.
Thompson hasn't ruled out the possibility that there will be a "basic" BBc, with news and maybe kids programmes, and a further "subscription" service (apparently like HBO).

How much do you wanna bet me that TG will be subscription? So we'll all pay extra to see it - if it's still around.
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I posted a link about this in the other thread.
I find Murdoch to be a bit of a worry especially now that Murdoch and the Torys are best of friends.
I not sure but has well has sky news i think Sky brought a stake in ITV who i think own a lot of ITN who do the news for ITV and CH4 So i think having the BBC around is becoming more important than ever.
 
Well ITV are moaning that they can not fulfill their obligations under the franchises they bid for, not to mention that they merged in spite of that not being allowed originally.

They want some of the Licence fee to give to their share holders, oops sorry to pay for regional news thus allowing essentiall a legally enforceable tax being given to shareholders, oops sorry - in a private company - one wonders what Murdoch has been promised by Cameron to support him?

Murdoch has a cross holding in newspapers and TV, which was originally illegal. Now - Whapping, pardon me - I wonder how he got that changed? The vultures are circling the licence fee.
 
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iam-nobody said:
I posted a link about this in the other thread.
I find Murdoch to be a bit of a worry especially now that Murdoch and the Torys are best of friends.
I not sure but has well has sky news i think Sky brought a stake in ITV who i think own a lot of ITN who do the news for ITV and CH4 So i think having the BBC around is becoming more important than ever.
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Sidenote : BBC's budget is ?4.3 billion, Sky's is 3.8 billion.

BBC has loads of watchable programmes and is generally good. Sky is always rubbish and holds nothing of interest except the Simpsons.
 
I was curious as to how much is actually downloaded so I looked it up:

http://www.itproportal.com/portal/n...t-most-illegally-downloaded-tv-shows/showall/

"BBC motor show Top Gear was singled out as one of the most popular non US TV show, with around 300,000 downloads for each episode, with more than half coming from the US alone."

Wow. If even half of those were paying people, and they paid on average of $5 per episode..and saying about 10 episodes a year..

Thats at least $7,500,000 a year for the BBC right there. and theres now 14 seasons, so:

$105,000,000!

If they don't want that money..I'll take it!

And that's not looking at what other countries download...or the other DVD's released!
 
BBC is not a commercial organisation and would not be allowed - we had a big row in media circules about the tie up between Lonley Planet and BBC Worldwide, nominally a commercial are of the BBC. And it is runn by trendy, greenie, Islington living, lefties too. Does not bode well for the future.
 
I wish I paid the fee - my annual cable bill to get a content-edited Top Gear two nights a week is around ?720 at current exchange rates. :p
 
teeb said:
Out of curiosity, how much would you be willing to pay for an episode / a season of Top Gear, assuming it was uncut, DRM-free, original music and downloadable?
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Put it on iTunes, or, better, Amazon. I'd be willing to pay up to maybe--emphasis on "up to" and "maybe"--$5/ep, $50/season. I consider it an import, and I'm well used to paying extra for imports.

I can buy the first season of Shameless, which I loved, which aired on BBC4, and which never had anything close to the viewership Top Gear has, for $35. That's brand new from Amazon, not Amazon UK, and it's Region 1. I'd pay that happily, and I'd happily pay more to legally get the Top Gear the UK gets.
 
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I wonder if HULU has tried to get BBC shows; Top Gear would be a huge hit there imo.
 
Jakain said:
I wonder if HULU has tried to get BBC shows; Top Gear would be a huge hit there imo.
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Hulu is US only, the same way iPlayer is UK only, however...
Wikipedia said:
Hulu was planning on launching in the U.K. and Republic of Ireland September 2009 but this has now been delayed to 2010.
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The way Hulu is structured, however, means that the BBC would have to take a stake in the company itself... which would mean the other companies (NBC, Fox, etc.) would have to give up some of their shares. I'm not too sure they're interested in that.
 
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You must spread some more epic rants before giving any to That American Girl again.

Epic rant is epic. And awesome. :clap:

Cobol74 said:
Now what I get the hump about is not critisms per se by non UK watchers - that is fine, but a particular one -"We don't know the celib. ...he/she is not American. ..." Well you are not supposed to - it is mainly for a UK audience - so all those posts about SIARPC winging like that ticks us/me off.
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That gets me too...and I live in the States! But then, I understand TG caters to a UK audience first. :nod:

ozgirl said:
The Director-General of the Beeb was on "Newsnight" the other night. He was discussing the future of the BBC after 2012 (when the whole broadcast system here will finally be digital).
For those who don't know, Murdoch has been shit-stirring, saying the BBC is getting too big and has too much influence, and strangles competition, etc, etc.

Thompson hasn't ruled out the possibility that there will be a "basic" BBc, with news and maybe kids programmes, and a further "subscription" service (apparently like HBO).

How much do you wanna bet me that TG will be subscription? So we'll all pay extra to see it - if it's still around.
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Crikey. Anyhoo, that whole "too big/too much influence" thing is pretty damn rich, coming from Murdoch, IMO. Gawd.

To answer teeb's question, I'd be willing to pay up to about $5 US/episode.
 
teeb said:
?142.50 a year for colour televisions, ?48 for black and white.

Interestingly, your $150 a year spend on other shows' seasons is 2/3 of the license fee right there.
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My satellite bill is $75/month. That's $900/year, roughly ?560. And my BBC is full of edited content. Don't whine to us about the cost of your programming.
 
I have to pay ?92 per month on top for TV (1xV+ Box and 2xcable boxes to be fair) phone and Broadband (up to 10 Meg).
 
That American Girl said:
<snippity-do-dah>
You?re right; I don?t pay a license fee to the BBC. Sort of. I do pay extra on my cable bill for the ?Premium Package? to see BBC America.
<snippity-day>
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But you are paying a fee to the BBC. The cable compamy pays the BBC to use the content and passes that cost on to you, the customer.
 
2Billion said:
As for the music license clusterfuck, I mentioned this in the other topic, but I still don't get why record labels wouldn't use their music being on a popular program to their advantage. If the record labels had half a brain, they would use that as advertising and try to partner with the BBC to get the tracks available for purchase on iTunes in some way. Record labels by definition don't have half a brain, so it won't happen, but it's still much smarter than forcing changes and huge issues.
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That is a really good point. Last I heard, TG's viewership was somewhere around 385 million. What other outlet can offer access to 385 million pairs of ears? Then you figure in the fact that lots of people watch episodes repeatedly, that some of us are clamoring to own these episodes on DVD or similar so we can continue watching repeatedly . . . that is a lot of exposure for an artist or a song. It would be foolish of anyone not to grant the BBC international licensing, and more foolish still for them to charge more than a small, nominal sum for the privilege.

'Scuse me for going off the rant topic, please. :D
 
ashspet said:
But you are paying a fee to the BBC. The cable compamy pays the BBC to use the content and passes that cost on to you, the customer.
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That's why I said "sort of".

So, if the BBC does get some of my money...gimme my Top Gear! :p
 
iam-nobody said:
I posted a link about this in the other thread.
I find Murdoch to be a bit of a worry especially now that Murdoch and the Torys are best of friends.
I not sure but has well has sky news i think Sky brought a stake in ITV who i think own a lot of ITN who do the news for ITV and CH4 So i think having the BBC around is becoming more important than ever.
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This weeks Private Eye is quite scary if you care about the BBC. And hate Murdoch.

Archie Norman was appointed head of ITV (Sky has a stake in ITV of 17.9%). He was the Chief Executive of the Conservative Party and a Tory MP for 8 years.

Meanwhile, and going off topic, if you are interested in freedom of the Press, the Eye also details the direct links between News International, the Conservative Party and the Press Complaints Commission (the regulator of newspapers).
 
spicysaurus said:
My satellite bill is $75/month. That's $900/year, roughly ?560. And my BBC is full of edited content. Don't whine to us about the cost of your programming.
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He was just pointing out the numbers, how is that whining?! Jeez... :blink:
 
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