BBC may require licence for iPlayer

[Digital TV News]

Suddenly the BBC has realised that by putting all of its content on the internet and making it available for all to see through the iPlayer, there could be viewers who do not have a TV licence watching BBC programmes.The BBC is suggesting that it need to cover the cost of the freeloaders, and has [...]

More: BBC may require licence for iPlayer

[madrat]

Yet anothe reason the Licence fee needs to be scraped

[redoxide]

Originally Posted by madrat

Yet anothe reason the Licence fee needs to be scraped

And have yet another channel supported by comercial advertising instead ? no thanks !

And if the licence was scrapped how else would you propse to finance the bbc? The present comercial channels are already loosing money hand over fist because income from advertising is dissapeering fast, so where would the extra money come from to fund yet more advertising for yet another comercial channel if this money pot were to be dilluted further still?

The only other model 'subscription tv' ie. sky not only rips me off best part of 50 quid a month for so called premium tv, they then also bombard me with tv adds at every opportunity as well !!

Personally i am quite happy with the licence fee and think its pretty good value.

[Mickha]

I haven't watched any British television for over 3 years yet I'm still expected to pay for it.
I'd prefer a system where I can opt out of the licence fee, either by having satellite broadcasts turned into FTV channels, or by another method, and if so many accept the BBC has being good value for money the few of us that don't can hardly affect the quality, or is it a myth that the vast majority of viewers are happy with the licence fee?

[redoxide]

But virtualy every european country has either a licence fee or support via goverment funding (which comes from taxation paid by the relevent country's tax payer). so even if for instance you spend all the time watching german fta tv you are simply viewing somthing that has been paid for by the german tv licence payer ! so whats the difference your still watching something that has been paid for by someone else.

ok so i am playing devils advocate here....but what i say about most of europe having either a form of tv licence or funding via taxation is true.

[Mickha]

Which is why I have proposed that we should have the right to subscribe to the television service we wish to, the European idea of television without borders, by encrypting television, and adopting a FTV system of subscription, viewers can pay for the television they wish to view.
Of course there would have to be some subsidy and free television for pensioners and the low paid.
I'm sure in the forthcoming digital age some sort of system can be worked out, and this should only affect satellite transmissions, as then you have to prove that you can not receive terrestrial broadcasts before being allowed to opt out of the licence fee.