Excellent value (TV Licence)

Member Name: ben_83

Product:	TV Licence
Date:	25/02/01 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent general-interest and documentary television, radio stations for everyone, the best news website there is, objective news coverage, cheaper than Sky (and you still get the movies and sport)

Disadvantages: It's compulsary

The TV Licence is very unpopular at the moment. It seems that people would rather sit through advert breaks than pay for the privilege of not seeing them. I am not one of these people.

I'd like you to consider a world without a BBC independent of advertisers. None of TV networks would be answerable to the people and, without the BBC as a standard-bearer, the quality of programmes would decline. We'd end up with more and more sensationalist, ratings-grabbing, poor-quality television that already proliferates on ITV and Sky One. Apart from the odd example on Channel 4, where would we find quality documentaries (I'm not talking about things like 'America's Dumbest Criminals' and 'Police! Camera! Action!')? Also, which channel would offer us access to news uncensored by the likes of Rupert Murdoch or Conrad Black?

And what about radio? Speaking as someone who lives in Cornwall, a place that boasts a truly horrendous selection of local radio stations (they're full of whinging Cornish nationalists and 'The Corrs'), the only things worth listening to here are BBC stations. Radio One is still the best music station I can receive, loathe as I am to admit it (it's a sad indictment that there's no station that boasts a better selection of music). Radio Four is nothing less than a national institution, offering excellent news and current affairs coverage mixed with top-quality drama and comedy. Radio Five Live is like a tabloid version of Four but is still excellent, offering a range of quality sports coverage in whose light the terrible Talk Sport pales in insignificance.

Don't forget BBC Online either. As a standalone news website it's the best there is. There is a fantastic range of UK and world stories available in a range of different languages along with forums to leave your opinions on the events of the day. Also, BBC Online is the best companion website for any UK TV or radio channel.
There's a section for pretty much every BBC television programme and radio channel and plenty of information about schemes such as BBC Talent or consultations.

The TV Licence costs about £100 a year. The Sky Digital package with all the channels costs about £400 a year. When you consider that most of the channels in the Sky package are packed with low-budget or repeat programming, the TV Licence is pretty good value. The general-interest channels in the £100 package are undoubtedly better and you can still watch movies (albeit older than the ones on Sky but who said new movies were better than old ones?) and listen to live sport , just like Sky. In fact, when you look at it like that, subscription TV prices seem positively scandalous.

I think the reason why the TV Licence is unpopular is that it's compulsory if you have a television. I can understand this complaint but how many of those anti-TV Licence people enjoy 'EastEnders', 'The Royle Family' or 'The Weakest Link' or subscribe to pay TV?

Summary: