FionaK |
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| You don't pay a separate fee to get the BBC: you get a license to watch TV as it is broadcast - any TV. That is because the BBC does not carry adverts and originally there was no other broadcaster so that is how it is funded. Murdoch and his whelps have long argued this is unfair and have lobbied to get rid of the license fee, or to get a share of it. They have persuaded many people, though in the past very few objected and it was just taken for granted. They didn't used to harass you like this either: there was some enforcement, and people did still end up in jail, but there was not this constant harassment. If I didn't know better I would think it was part of the strategy to get rid of the license fee: because it certainly annoys me enough to consider that briefly from time to time. But despite this, and despite the huge scandal about Jimmy Savile etc, I think the BBC is far better than commercial alternatives because I really value the radio output. And I HATE adverts.
Interestingly the BBC, like other public service bodies, is required to be run more like a business: this entails reducing the funding by freezing the license fee for years: but it also seems to entail "pseudo adverts", so now the BBC trails its own output a lot: which is also annoying. But will make it easier to privatise, presumably
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