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Originally Posted by jfman
It's the percentage of people who don't want/need internet that would suddenly be paying £30+ for full fibre just to get a minimum TV service that's the issue.
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Yup. As long as public service broadcasting is a principle upheld in UK legislation, there will have to be a way of delivering it that’s free to receive.
Far too many people have so far failed to grasp the implications of public service broadcasting, especially on the Tory right where there’s a tendency to make simplistic and wholly false connections between the TV license and Netflix-style subscriptions. The only way the BBC is going to go behind a paywall is if it is relieved of its PSB obligations. And if the BBC is no longer a public service broadcaster, why should ITV, Channel 4 and Five want to continue to be saddled with those obligations?
A public service broadcaster has to be free-to-view, otherwise it’s not providing a public service. It really is that simple.
If the future is in IP delivery then we either abandon public service broadcasting or we put a service obligation on telecoms companies to provide IP-based TV streams for free. That’s a lot to ask.