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The death of the BBC???

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MEMBER ♂

Dec 1, 08, 02:54 #1

After 19th Dec 2009 they will have to make their broadcasts available to the EU for free under the "Television without Frontiers" (TVWF) EU Directive LINK, which they are keeping very quiet about just in case it inflames the license payers.

This will make all European TV available to all and be the death-knell of the TV license and make a more competitive system.

If effect, this will make it possible to obtain British TV throughout Europe for free as well as obtaining other nationalities broadcasts, including Polish broadcasts in the UK.

sledzThreads: 29 Posts: 3,202 Joined: Sep 19, 06 ♂	Dec 1, 08, 03:03 #2
Benny Hill Was the best that British comedy ever had to offer:) Monty Python blows Dr.who`s chuj

DecoratorThreads: 5 Posts: 412 Joined: Aug 26, 06 ♂	Dec 1, 08, 03:13 #3
sledz: Was the best that British comedy ever had to offer:) sledz my good man did you drink a lot on sunday?

sledzThreads: 29 Posts: 3,202 Joined: Sep 19, 06 ♂	Dec 1, 08, 03:18 #4
yes, Ive been watching football and my team lost.... I`m just having a go at you guys:) just messing..bed ways is right ways..good nite:)

spierettiThreads: 5 Posts: 177 Joined: Sep 25, 08 ♂	Dec 1, 08, 03:55 #5
The death of BBC? Great, long overdue that anachronism was put to sleep. Cheers!

DaisyThreads: 16 Posts: 2,172 Joined: Apr 28, 07 ♀	Dec 1, 08, 07:05 #6
spieretti: The death of BBC? Great, long overdue that anachronism was put to sleep. Cheers! yes and we're going to be £140 a year better off in the UK, without that frikkin license to have to pay for. I'm trying to feel sorry for the people in the license detector vans who will lose their jobs. I'm trying really hard, it's just not coming.

WarsawNoobThreads: 16 Posts: 25 Joined: Jun 12, 08 ♂	Dec 1, 08, 08:07 #7
Daisy: we're going to be £140 a year better off in the UK Just wait until you have American style TV, with tons and tons of commercials and almost every program aimed at the lowest common denominator. You'll reconsider the value of your tv license.

noimmigration

Dec 1, 08, 08:14 #8

Daisy:

yes and we're going to be £140 a year better off in the UK, without that frikkin license to have to pay for. I'm trying to feel sorry for the people in the license detector vans who will lose their jobs. I'm trying really hard, it's just not coming

I know people who have worked for the TVL and I can tell you for a fact that TV licence detection vans have never existed.

MI5 and the armed forces couldnt pinpoint tv transmissions from one single house in street full of tvs.

TV licence enforcers rely on information passed to them from shops that sell tv equipment to find out if yuo own a tv.

Tv detection consists of officers looking for flickers of light or listening through letter flaps.

I have never and will never pay for a TV licence

MEMBER ♂

Dec 1, 08, 08:16 #9

I love sites like this LINK and this LINK
And my fav site is this TVCatchup.com which sticks two fingers up at the BBC and rebroadcasts 18 channels of freeveiw TV over the net and the best thing about it is that the BBC can do nothing about it as it's legal.

Wikipedia link

Shame that's its only available over in the UK but from December next year it will be able to broadcast it's streams all over Europe.

♂

Dec 1, 08, 09:10 #10

As I understand the situation, the BBC is actually not covered by this directive as it is paid for by the residents of the UK. Therefore they are not obliged to make all their content available to people who do not pay for it. ITV, however are in a different boat.

There's also the small point that in order to legally watch BBC over the internet, you need to have a valid UK TV licence. Were the BBC to restrict internet access only to UK IP addresses which match an address where a valid UK TV licence is held, it'd be impossible to watch BBC anywhere else.

Personally I reckon this directive is bad news. It'll just make watching over the internet more difficult and make Sky more likely to switch transmission to Astra 2d.

sledzThreads: 29 Posts: 3,202 Joined: Sep 19, 06 ♂	Dec 1, 08, 09:52 #11
maybe better programming would do the trick, na you limeys invented American Idol this is a sin...lol Down the BBC

MEMBER ♂

Edited by: ukpolska Dec 1, 08, 10:03 #12

Unfortunately or fortunately depends which way you look at it, the BBC is covered by this agreement you can see a speech here by Mark Thompson Director-General wriggling and squirming trying to find a way out of the Directive. LINK
You will see the BBC try as much as they can to get out of this Directive and I think in some way they will because they have ignored there quota of providing 10% to open source since 2006.

Harry I am slightly confused on what you mean by saying,

Harry:

It'll just make watching over the internet more difficult and make Sky more likely to switch transmission to Astra 2d.

could explain what you meant please, because I cannot see how it is going to make it harder to watch over the internet, unless you are talking of internet traffic.

As far as I am aware, the BBC have a financial take in all the UK- channels (UK Gold, or rather G.O.L.D. as it's now called, UK Style, UK History, etc). They are run by Flextech, which was a joint venture between the BBC and Telewest.

This was certainly the case a few years ago. Whether this has changed, especially with Virgin buying Telewest and NTL, I'm not sure.

So you can see they are going to fight tooth and nail in order to prevent this from happening.

♀

Dec 1, 08, 11:13 #13

WarsawNoob:

Just wait until you have American style TV, with tons and tons of commercials and almost every program aimed at the lowest common denominator. You'll reconsider the value of your tv license.

Already got that in the UK and millions subscribe to it using either Sky or Virgin. BBC can't compete with them.

The BBC in the UK has lost the plot really. I think their World Service would be the one thing I'd like to save.

sledzThreads: 29 Posts: 3,202 Joined: Sep 19, 06 ♂	Dec 1, 08, 11:21 #14
Free T.V. is still around in America but its all crap, commercials, stupid sitcoms the intelligence factor, if any would make a 5 year old look like Einstein Cable or Sat,,and yes it comes with about a $80 month price tag

osiolThreads: 59 Posts: 4,714 Joined: Jul 25, 07 ♂	Dec 1, 08, 11:21 #15
The BBC has given us: I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue Just a Minute Nebulous The Shipping Forecast and most of all: John Peel. All of these on radio, not TV.

Wahldo	Dec 1, 08, 11:38 #16
sledz: maybe better programming would do the trick, na you limeys invented American Idol this is a sin...lol Well, to be fair they also invented "The Office" and I think "Sanford and Son". Two great shows.

♂

Dec 1, 08, 11:48 #17

Yeah, to hell with paying. This is the information age and we should be encouraging a broader range of access to services. No longer should fatcats cream off the profits. When I hear that pathetic critters like Wogan earn vast sums, it turns my stomach. The man has about as much appeal as watching paint dry or potatoes grow.

So, cast the net wide and promote a fuller enjoyment of this service. To hell with the profiteers, they've had their day.

sledzThreads: 29 Posts: 3,202 Joined: Sep 19, 06 ♂	Dec 1, 08, 11:52 #18
Wahldo: "Sanford and Son". Redd Foxx wasnt British he was from L.A. If im wrong then Ill take back the BBC jokes then:)

dcchrisThreads: 11 Posts: 687 Joined: Oct 29, 07 ♂	Dec 1, 08, 11:57 #19
no you brits can not have sanford and son. a true american classic!! Elizabeth they're coming to get me!!!!!!!!

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,160 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Dec 1, 08, 12:03 #20
We have Steptoe and son instead :(

szarlotkaThreads: 14 Posts: 3,340 Joined: Feb 20, 07 ♂	Dec 1, 08, 15:05 #21
Long may it live. It's World war II Behind Closed Doors on as I type. All about the decisions on Poland tonight between the Allies. It's been a fascinating series.

♂

Dec 1, 08, 17:31 #22

ukpolska:

Where does it say that we won't have to have a TV Licence ?

Please don't say I have to read everything linked to that site, including the bit about "focus groups", which means if they're involved then it's bound to end up being a waste of everyone's time.

I can't see the licence being scrapped myself. I'm sure that the Eurocrats have already worked out a way where the TV is free for everyone in Europe apart from the British.

We always end up with the brown end of the stick somehow.

MEMBER ♂

Dec 2, 08, 00:57 #23

Mister H:

Where does it say that we won't have to have a TV Licence ?

It doesn't and you know it doesn't, this is just a personal opinion; however, there is no way that they are going to be able to police the TV Licence if we watch TV on the net...what are they going to do?
Come round and check your history..easy, one press of your mouse and it's deleted.
Go to your ISP and get a record of your browsing history? Even easier, just go through a VPN account and all your traffic history is encrypted and unavailable to your ISP.

What I am saying is that internet TV will make it virtually imposable for the BBC to maintain it's TV Licence in the present form and they know this.

The BBC is in a mess at the moment and has no clear direction towards its management and is in legal deep water with its new joint project called "project kangaroo" as its ex-BBC tech chief Ashley Highfield has quit for a new job at Microsoft UK, after it was challenged in the House of Lords because it will carry advertising, which goes against the BBC's 1927 Royal charter.

♀

Dec 2, 08, 05:51 #24

The fact is, you don't actually have to have a TV licence at the moment as long as when (if) they ask for proof you don't have a TV you are able to give it to them.

Do I need a TV licence?

Also, you don't need it if you're listening to the radio only.

It's interesting that you only really need one if you're watching something that's being broadcast right at that moment.

The TV licence has been a joke in this country for a while. It's only being used to over-pay silly TV and radio presenters to harass old men.

jonniThreads: 26 Posts: 4,189 Joined: Nov 27, 07 ♂	Dec 2, 08, 18:20 #25
noimmigration: I have never and will never pay for a TV licence I never bothered either and nothing happened. Just don't answer the door to strangers!

sledzThreads: 29 Posts: 3,202 Joined: Sep 19, 06 ♂	Edited by: sledz Dec 2, 08, 18:48 #26
What will they do come into your house and take your t.v. away? Free t.v. stinks here in the US Alot of ppl illegally tap into cable here, sometimes the cable co. comes out and will do an inspection and then they cut you off. As soon as they leave you can hook it back up...its really easy

♂

Dec 3, 08, 11:42 #27

ukpolska:

Very little I guess, but the law-abiding like me who always err on the side of caution will pay just like we have done for years and years.

jonni:

I never bothered either and nothing happened. Just don't answer the door to strangers!

That just makes a mockery of the system though. What's the point of having a law if people are allowed to choose which ones they obey ?

♂

Dec 3, 08, 13:25 #28

Mister H:

I can't see the licence being scrapped myself. I'm sure that the Eurocrats have already worked out a way where the TV is free for everyone in Europe apart from the British.

We always end up with the brown end of the stick somehow.

Er, Poles have to buy TV licences too....

ukpolska:

however, there is no way that they are going to be able to police the TV Licence if we watch TV on the net...what are they going to do?

Only accept requests for data from registered IP addresses. And those can only be registered by people who live at physical addresses which hold a valid TV licence.

MEMBER ♂

Dec 3, 08, 14:52 #29

Harry:

Only accept requests for data from registered IP addresses. And those can only be registered by people who live at physical addresses which hold a valid TV licence.

In an ideal world this could work, but did you know for example you can use a portable TV anywhere as long as you own a TV licence at your main home, this is used for example by most University students all over Britain.
And the BBC already experimented with this of having a physical list of all licensed IP holders in a test project in February 2006 and it failed miserable because the data was unreliable and too expensive to maintain.

ukpolska:

The BBC is in a mess at the moment and has no clear direction towards its management and is in legal deep water with its new joint project called "project kangaroo" as its ex-BBC tech chief Ashley Highfield has quit for a new job at Microsoft UK, after it was challenged in the House of Lords because it will carry advertising, which goes against the BBC's 1927 Royal charter.

As a footnote this has died today lol
LINK

lesserThreads: 7 Posts: 2,014 Joined: Oct 19, 07 ♂	Dec 3, 08, 14:58 #30
More TV channels? I'm delighted, people will be smarter and our young democracy will continue to flourish.