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Originally Posted by RizzyKing
Please don't try and use that argument Maggy because it is not the same and your well aware of that. Taxes are paid because in oneway or another we all benefit by a far greater margin then we all benefit by all paying the licence fee. Times change and things move on but the bbc isn't at anywhere near the same pace and the reason is because they have a nice cocoon called the licence to always gaurantee their revenue.
How about we charge all non sky\vm customers something so they can subsidise that for those of us that have it and yes it is the same thing. I am all for paying for what i use and what i make use of but that argument simply cannot be used in relation to the bbc. I don't want to see the end of the bbc but i do think they can manage on less money then they currently take from every household in the UK.
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If you want to make Virgin and Sky have public service commitments and allow everyone to watch those programmes produced under those commitments then go ahead- that's a great idea.
---------- Post added at 09:57 ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 ----------
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Originally Posted by Sirius
Why should we have to go without a TV because we don't want to watch the BBC. At the moment i have no choice other than pay a tax on the BBC or not pay the tax to the BBC and then be barred from owning or operating a TV for channels that are free of the tax. Bit unfair if you ask me.
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You do have a choice, you either accept that owning a TV in this country has a social contract attached to it and that is contributing to the national cultural well being by paying a licence fee to the BBC so that everyone who owns a TV has their interests catered for regardless of if there's profit to be made from it or not or you don't own a TV.
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Bit like saying everyone must pay for a box of widgets even if you have no intention of using them.
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Do those widgets add to and enrich the cultural life of this country regardless of if profit can be made from it? No? then that's a nonsense argument.
---------- Post added at 10:03 ---------- Previous post was at 09:57 ----------
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Originally Posted by punky
Are you deliberately obtuse?
For some decades now we have had the ability to restrict channels on the basis of payment. It isn't rocket science. Have BBC Free with commercials or BBC commercial free on VM, Sky, Top-up TV for the extra £12 a month extra.
If people had to pay £142 to a state-owned airline before they were allowed to fly anywhere (regardless if they fly or with whom), noone would stand for it. Its a poll tax. If I don't want to watch the BBC I still have to pay for it. It goes against everything that's fair and equitable in a reasonable society.
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I bet you DO watch the BBC though. It's not unfair and inequitable to have a strong BBC that's paid for out of the licence fee, it's what allows this country to punch above it's weight in terms of its TV output, it's what ensures that all tastes and all sectors of society are catered for with their programming.
The BBC is something to be proud off and it's one of the only things left to feel proud to be British. I genuinely feel that the BBC is so much part of our way of life that if you're against the BBC, you're against something that is so fundamental to what it means to be British.