youtube.com/watch?v=6_WEZloX2fQ

youtube.com/watch?v=OY4umBmJHjg

Oh and just to prove my point the BBC spent £200,000 of public money to withhold the Balen Report

youtube.com/watch?v=6_WEZloX2fQ

youtube.com/watch?v=OY4umBmJHjg

Oh and just to prove my point the BBC spent £200,000 of public money to without the Balen Report

“Sky do precisely the same thing”

Please keep Sky/VM out of this because they don’t force anyone to subscribe to them and send people round to my house trying to threaten me.

If trying to slate Sky/VM is the best defence for the BBC then you may as well give up

>You can play with figures if you like but they still only have 6 channel slots two of which are split with different things to make it look like theirs 8

I’m not playing with figures - just stating how it is set up. Delivering 8 content streams over 6 slots is an efficient use of resources.

Sky do precisely the same thing, as I’m sure (I haven’t checked) do Virgin.

Matt

Could you clarify before I reply, please:

>I’d prefer paying ZERO for my Humax 9200 PVR channels and the FREE cable box included with the phoneline (& free evenings and weekend calls) from Virgin Media which only costs £11…….

Am I correct that that would be a Freeview box and a paid-for Virgin cable service?

Matt

You can play with figures if you like but they still only have 6 channel slots two of which are split with different things to make it look like theirs 8

I’d prefer paying ZERO for my Humax 9200 PVR channels and the FREE cable box included with the phoneline (& free evenings and weekend calls) from Virgin Media which only costs £11……..Yes that’s right only £11 which is a damn site better value than the BBC because I can’t stand them or the biased people who expect everyone to bend over backwards for them.

You see Matt if the BBC is so great why are the pro BBC people so scared of it going subscription? Could it be that you know you’re only a very small minority and the BBC will crash faster than a space shuttle with a broken tile!

Every single opinion poll I’ve seen shows 65%+ in favour of scrapping the BBC TV licence apart from the Government/BBC one which was done by the Work Foundation that just happens to be run by yep you guessed it a former BBC employee

You have a point on the delivery infrastructure - but they still deliver 8 channels of content.

Looks like efficient use of resources to me.

Matt

Leftie ?? !! You need to read the blog.

This debate should not be a political football. It should be casting in left/right rather than TV quality/value for money terms rather than left/right.

Certainly it is my opinion that the Beeb is better quality than Sky - others may differ.

I’d suggest the only bits of Sky that are currently better in quality terms than the BBC are possibly news (which is free to air) and possibly some of the extra “charged for” services - perhaps sport, perhaps movies - which cost £200 extra a year each.

The Sky Radio, Local Radio and Internet Content services are distinctly inferior to those offered by the BBC.

On the value for money costs, I think the numbers speak for themselves - Sky doesn’t remotely stack up.

So which would you prefer for your £130 - the BBC or 2 repairs to your Sky Box each year?

Thanks again for the comment.

We disagree fundamentally on that one then.

I’d argue that it is the BBC that keeps all the others honest on their News Reporting.

Reforms perhaps. Abolition or privatisation - No.

Thanks again for the debate.

Matt

I’d be quite happy with just the remaining UK broadcasters; and why not a network like Fox News with a freshingly honest outlook to news reporting…yes, I know it’s biased, but it doesn’t claim not to be biased, it’s a bias that I generally support…and it doesn’t want to send me to prison.

However, I’d suggest that the answer there would be a differential price for a TV license, not the abolition of the BBC.

If the BBC went, your television would - in my view, and I think I’ve provided the facts to back it up - eventually cost you more not less, or you would have to accept only the existing “free to air” channels - which means ITV/C4/C5 (assuming that those who cannot afford the license cannot afford a set top box/satellite dish combo).

However £135 a year is a tiny part of our average tax bill - compare it with the £4000 or so spent on Local Government services for each household, or the far greater sums spent on National Government.

Also far greater sums than the £3bn or so that goes to the BBC are being wasted (in the NHS alone for example) within public expenditure with little outcry.

And - if you would like to opt out - there are all sorts of other compulsory taxes that do not benefit the whole population, such as revenue spent on coastal defence.

Many people would regard the Sky payment as compulsory by the exclusivity on e.g., football now.

PS The link back on your name appears to be dead.