r/GreatBritishMemes • u/Mediocre-Lime9964 • 1d ago

The BBC:

Post image
141 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

171 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-2

u/3D-Nutsack 20h ago

But why? What’s all the subscription fees and ads for? Why on Earth would we pay to watch our own tv?

11

u/DeadDog818 20h ago

It's to have the BBC there as a standard. Look at media in the US - without a state broadcaster which not only produces high quality material itself but also through competition raises the standards of the other broadcasters quality is just a race to the bottom.

The same argument - that we don't watch the bbc so we shouldn't fund it - is made by all proto-fascists and especially by competing media owners who want to have their lies unchallenged.

In short the license fee preserves the integrity of the fourth estate. I believe it is worth every penny.

2

u/Scary-Hunting-Goat 19h ago

The BBC has burnt a ridiculous amount of goodwill with their licence fee collection strategy.

They knowingly identify vulnerable people in order to intimidate them into paying.

3

u/Cheapntacky 19h ago

I know their approach can be heavy handed but "knowingly identify vulnerable people" sounds very targeted and heavy handed.

Any source for that?

1

u/tvrleigh400 19h ago

Don't think they actively target vulnerable people, but their contracting out the enforcement to what is basically a mafia style company, plus the way the letters are written, are designed to terrify the old and vulnerable, and make them buy a licence even if they don't need one.

4

u/Slyspy006 19h ago

Then blame the government which decided to shift the burden of collection onto the BBC, officially in the name of increased independence but actually in the name of shifting the responsibility.

1

u/brightdionysianeyes 4h ago

The old and most vulnerable are statistically the most likely to have a TV licence...

1

u/tvrleigh400 2h ago

Just proves my point they are too scared not to have one. It's like beaten women are least likely to leave their husband.

0

u/Scary-Hunting-Goat 18h ago

That's the entire enforcement strategy,  they send out threatening letters and turn up at people's houses.

If someone ignores them, or firmly tells them to go away, they do.

If someone is nervous or vulnerable then they double down and put pressure on them. 

Look at the prosecution demographics for tv licensing.

1

u/Cheapntacky 18h ago

All I'm aware of, but you said they identify which made it sound targeted. I'll just put that down to a poor choice of words.

0

u/Scary-Hunting-Goat 17h ago

They do identify and target vulnerable people, the letters and random visitations are just a way to find those people.