Licence to moan
A reader's query, sent to our Ask the Experts section, has stirred up a hornets' nest over TV Licensing.
We discovered that anyone accessing live television in the UK via a mobile phone or PC will be liable to a fine for not having a TV Licence - even if they don't own a TV or access BBC programmes. And this proved controversial enough for our sister organ Financial Mail to follow up the story - published on our site here.
Now that particular debate is in its infancy and will only reach some maturity as more and more people begin to access TV via the new media. But it's a perfect opportunity for a good old national whinge about the Licence Fee - after all it would be rude to let a week go by without laying into the BBC and its indefensible funding system.
So let's get the purple ink out and get it over with. 'What does the BBC do with all our money!? ... I hardly watch it ... it's full of adverts anyway ... too many repeats ... no sports coverage ... too much sport ... too populist ... not populist enough ... too elitist ... too dumbed-down ... it's run by the government ... it hates the government ... right-wing bias ... left-wing bias ... Alan Titchmarsh ...' (OK, the last one's a fair point.)
It is a bewildering mystery to me how anyone can begrudge paying £126 a year for what we get from the BBC.
1. BBC programming is of consistently higher quality than any other broadcaster in Britain and therefore arguably in the world. The easy response is that this is a matter of subjectivity or taste, but I think some things ARE better than others.
Puccini is better than Lloyd-Webber, Rembrandt is better than Rolf Harris, cricket is better than rounders ... Bleak House IS better than Big Brother. There is surely nothing more appalling and moribund than settling for the lowest common denominator 'because people enjoy it' at the cost of creating and distributing something that inspires or challenges or moves or makes people think (god forbid!).
OK, far from every BBC prog is inspiring, challenging, gripping, enriching, moving, hilarious, democratic, thought-provoking - but even if you think its standards have dropped or changed in recent years, that is only in line the rest of the media's output. It still does a damn-sight better job than any other channel.
2. You can't expect to watch programmes without adverts and not pay for it. Sky: you pay for it AND it's full of adverts. And - except for football - it's not very good really is it?
3. BBC Radio: what, you don't listen to it? Can I suggest a rethink then - and a digital radio too. With Radio's 1 to 7 there is frankly too much great stuff even for a radio addict like me to listen to. At the birth of television programming, the radio old guard at the BBC thought it would never take off because you had to be sat still in front of it - you couldn't do other things while tuning in. It seems they underestimated people's love for gawping from their couches ...
4. BBC World Service: the greatest public service broadcaster in the world, listened to by hundreds of millions, for many their only reliable source of news, a beacon of information and knowledge. For me, 'From Our Own Correspondent' is worth the Licence Fee alone. I once listened to Blackburn Rovers beat Arsenal 2-0 on my shortwave radio (a constant companion during a year's travelling) in the remote village of Bundi in Rajasthan - well, the second half anyway. You don't get that with Channel 5.
5. The new digital TV stations: There's lots of great stuff on these and they're free for pete's sake - unless you count the outrageous expenditure of £40 on a Freeview box.
6. The website: one of the best on the internet. Except for the finance and money section, which is of course rubbish.
I put it to you that when it comes to the BBC we, as a nation of penny-pinching moaners, do not know we are born.
- Adrian Lowery, This is Money
Useful links:
Two words: Vanessa Feltz.
Posted by: Brian Trousers | February 17, 2006 at 07:54 AM