Cable Forum - View Single Post - Will the Tories do Murdoch's bidding and kill off the BBC?

ArronC07 · 14-01-2010, 21:37

I personally think the BBC should be protected, commercial broadcasters continually fail to cater for the tastes that the BBC cater for and public service broadcasters like ITV fail to meet their public service commitments and get away with it. The BBC acts as a quality bar that forces other broadcasters to compete, remember a few years ago before Doctor Who was brought back? All the commercial broadcaster said that the family audience was dead and that it'd fail- 10 million extra people watched TV the night it launched. By that I don't mean 10 million people switched over, I actually mean that 10 million people switched on TV that didn't watch TV the previous Saturday and that kick started the revival of family programming on a Saturday evening. The commercial broadcasters would never have taken that risk and were quite happy to pump out the same old tired menu.

Now while I don't use all the services that the BBC provides I appreciate that some people do and that it's only possible by virtue of the way it's funded and I'm happy to pay for this to continue as it's part of the social contract of living in this country. Frankly I find the attitude that some people resent contributing shortsighted and selfish. Commercial TV costs you more anyway, even free to air channels because the cost of advertising is shifted onto the final cost of the product that is sold toyou. The BBC is fantastic value for money and the envy of the world and any politician worth his salt should be defending it from media families with no interest in the social way of life in this country other than how much money they can wring out it.

I'm of the opinion that if you don't want to pay for the BBC then don't own a TV and don't own a radio.

14-01-2010, 21:37	#24
ArronC07 Inactive Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 30	Re: Will the Tories do Murdoch's bidding and kill off the BBC? I personally think the BBC should be protected, commercial broadcasters continually fail to cater for the tastes that the BBC cater for and public service broadcasters like ITV fail to meet their public service commitments and get away with it. The BBC acts as a quality bar that forces other broadcasters to compete, remember a few years ago before Doctor Who was brought back? All the commercial broadcaster said that the family audience was dead and that it'd fail- 10 million extra people watched TV the night it launched. By that I don't mean 10 million people switched over, I actually mean that 10 million people switched on TV that didn't watch TV the previous Saturday and that kick started the revival of family programming on a Saturday evening. The commercial broadcasters would never have taken that risk and were quite happy to pump out the same old tired menu. Now while I don't use all the services that the BBC provides I appreciate that some people do and that it's only possible by virtue of the way it's funded and I'm happy to pay for this to continue as it's part of the social contract of living in this country. Frankly I find the attitude that some people resent contributing shortsighted and selfish. Commercial TV costs you more anyway, even free to air channels because the cost of advertising is shifted onto the final cost of the product that is sold toyou. The BBC is fantastic value for money and the envy of the world and any politician worth his salt should be defending it from media families with no interest in the social way of life in this country other than how much money they can wring out it. I'm of the opinion that if you don't want to pay for the BBC then don't own a TV and don't own a radio.