Abolish The TV Licence Fee

Guest Blogger – Robert Winter – London

In 1996 I was employed by BBC News. At that time I was asked to help build the contracts between BBC News and Current Affairs and the BBC Corporate centre and BBC Worldwide, the sales arm. This involved how much money was paid in advance by BBC Worldwide to each of the programme makers as an advance. For Panorama for example, BBC Worldwide would offer x thousand pounds for all rights in all media in perpetuity for the forthcoming season of Panorama. My job was to gauge exactly what the commercial value of that would be to a commercial distributor. Without question or exception the true value of this programme series, and most others across all genre of the BBC at that time, would be ten times in excess of the value placed on it by the BBC’s own internal selling division, BBC Worldwide.
Not only that, when Panorama was sold across the world, the revenues were not returned to the series programme makers, but just put into the general pot. So the following year Panorama again had to fight for decent funding. Niot only were the programme makers deprived of good value and valuable programme making funds, the licence fee payer was deprived of true value by getting a true financial return for the programmes they were watching and paying for via the licence fee.
The core of the problem is that BBC Worldwide was one of the most inefficient programme sales companies at that time, and not only squandered much of the programme sales revenues, most of the money it did bring in, simply did not go back to the programme makers that our licence fees were paying. Had this been more efficient and at true commercial value, then the BBC would simply not need the huge hikes in licence fees that it has been demanding.

I hate this stereotype of students having silly amounts of money, being able to go out and get ratarsed every day of the week, then sitting down, watching TV and never doing anything. I actually find it offensive.

I go out once, maybe twice a week, once down the SU where I spend not more than a tenner.

There are maybe 2 show I watch on TV, which I can watch just as easily on iPlayer or 4oD. And contrary to popular belief, students do actually have work to do. Whether they bother to do it or not is their business but while we’re not out with a drill or bricks and mortarfor 12 hours every day, nor are we bored out of our mind flipping burgers or boxing teacakes (not fruitcakes, breadcakes or fruit teacakes, the regular bread rolls you eat a chip butty in) or buns or whatever, but the average student does actually get the books out and does their essays. And you call centre jocks can bugger off anall, 50% of you assheads do less work than the least conscientious student! If you did, I wouldn’t be sat in a 3-hour queue on an 0845 number just to get through to your sorry ass to tell me that your company screwed up my gas bill AGAIN (which I already knew, or else I wouldn’t have called), but that there’s nothing you can do about it. And I know for a fact the student bar-workers will love getting some bugger else to pour THEIR drinks for them, while showing the barkeep the same contempt as they themselves are shown by every Tom, Dick and Harry who loves to badmouth students’ drinking habits.

We’re paying through the nose to try and better ourselves. And we go out a damn sight less than your average factory/call centre jock, and probably drink a lot less too, contrary to the crap the Daily Mail or the Mirror or the Sun (the ‘old favourites’) will tell you. Your average town centre on a Friday and Saturday night is NOT filled with students. Indeed, your average Wednesday night isn’t either in most places.

It’s all a pile of crap that those who have never been to uni like to spew. Like those who work at the TVLC/BBC. They’ve never been to uni. Oh wait, they studied Extortion at Oxford.

I agree, students shouldn’t have to pay TV license. Mostly because I think NOBODY should have to pay one. And yes, to bring it back to the ORIGINAL point, that ‘crappy excuses’ and the ‘ways to pay’ patronising bullshit is utterly offensive to students. I consider it an insult to my intelligence and I know many other students feel the same.

Guest Blogger – Stephie Dixon – Teesside Uni

In the SU bar we have been bombarded with adverts of bad excuses given to dodge out of paying the licence, done by the tv licencing. I just a few weeks ago was asked to record an excuse for them, which was not why i didn’t pay but when someone from the department came round asked why was my sheep wearing a tiara. I did this for free and hope it will never be aired. stupid thing for me to do i know but i’m going off track.
They are always harping on about excuses we give them of not paying well to be frank i’m tired of their excuses they give to make us pay.
“We realise that £139.50 is a lot of money on a student budget. So we’ve made sure there are lots of different ways you can pay.” …. oh how nice of them…how about if they introduce a discount scheme. i mean we get discount when we go to the cinema, in clothes shops, food outlets… we don’t pay council tax (thank god) so give us a discount at the very least. if they know that it is a lot of money then do something about it!!

then their next excuse is..
“The good news is you can apply for a refund if you find that you don’t need your TV Licence for any full three-month period of cover remaining on it” what if you haven’t got a full 3 months? why can’t they do a 9 month student package? saves so much hassel for the both parties, because whoever is wanting to cancel it has to write in and lord knows i’m terrible at getting down to the post office and im sure they know that many people are and it suits them fine. why can’t we call up and cancel? a simple student offer of a 9 month deal at a reduced price would make them more popular! i mean them stopping it would make them even more popular but lets get a reality check, they won’t so they should do a student offer. what do you think?

Guest Blogger – Sabrina Purchasse – London

Unfortunately I stopped paying by direct debit- was then told i’d actually paid for a year in advance and had to fill out a form for a refund. It took over a month to recieve the payment of 79 pounds.

The desision came after sky wanted us to pay 100 pounds to get a new sky plus box along with the 40 quid a month so that we could watch cbeebies all day with the kids! In milton keynes there is some freeview there is also a virgin (was ntl) cable service which u pay 1.75 a month for and recieve 4 channels.

As our last sky boxes lasted less than a month each time we decided we wouldnt renew our contract or buy a new box just to recieve freeview. As freeview isnt guarenteed for the area we couldnt see the point in buying an aerial (milton keynes dont allow them) and a box and a tv licence the grant total of whihc amounts to the same as buying a sky box and a years subscription.

Absolute insanity How do they expect people to swap over to digital if they arn’t going to help the poorest of us to afford it– bring back analog!!!!

Why did everyone else stop was it purely cos the bbc air rubbish or was it cos you stopped watching all tv?