
BBC iPlayer: Viewers now need TV licence to watch catch-up - mafro
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37226030
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intoverflow2
How long till we need one for an internet connection in case we happen to
watch BBC content elsewhere online.

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celticninja
Unlikely to happen but seriously why the fuss over the licence fee, it's
approx 40p per day for a number of radio and TV stations without advertising.
You can pay £50 per month for sky and still get ads or £10 for Spotify with no
ads but only music access. The licence fee is cheap compared to what you get
for it.

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chriswarbo
While I'm a big fan of the BBC, I have absolutely no interest in most of those
radio and TV stations. Their news service is great, and they have some
reasonable factual/documentary programmes, mostly on BBC 4 and Radio 4.

Unfortunately more effort seems to be put into singing, baking, dancing and
fiction :(

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celticninja
The point of the BBC is to not only provide for the lowest common denominator
bit to provide airtime for things that would not otherwise be made. There is
probably little commercial value in playing the music that BBC 6 music plays
or for the Archers on radio 4, but because of the licence fee they can make
these without having to worry about the commercial success of it. Whereas a
radio version of ITV would make it and cancel it after 1 series when the
ratings were too low to bother continuing.

Yes BBC prime time is too concerned with reality type TV but if they were
putting out something that was more niche in these time slots they would also
come in for some flak. At least they can counter it with decent ratings
showing that people are watching what they produce.

In addition BBC World Service is a fantastic service and something that does
not have a commercial comparison, it will never exist without the license fee
and is of huge international value.

