The television world has changed so much in just my lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We’ve gone from two black and white TV stations on 405 lines, that began broadcasting at 4pm, barely gave an hour of children’s programming a day, and shut down at 11pm every night, and now have access to several hundred 24\/7 broadcast TV stations (several in HD), and a handful of full-time streaming services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether the quality of the programming is better or not… well, that’s a point based largely on public taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps we were less choosy in past days? And now, with so much multiple choice we’ve come to demand more high quality<\/s> of what we like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And because we have so much choice, we also choose from where we want to consume our high quality<\/s> what we like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that’s the point: fro where we consume our television entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a family, we don’t watch BBC TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, we don’t listen to BBC Radio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And yet opting out of the BBC tax (aka licence fee) is more difficult than a very difficult thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about whether the BBC should be funded by subscription.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Certainly the technology exists to make BBC TV a pay-per-view service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But would that be a good move?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What about my comment above, about the viewer demanding more high quality<\/s> of what they like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I mean, if Mrs Brown’s Boys can be voted Best Comedy at the NTAs, would a BBC TV subscription service be a fast journey to the bottom of the Sea of Taste?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Does having a BBC tax<\/s> licence fee protect the quality of BBCs programming?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has strongly been argued that the quality of BBC News needs improving – a view with which I would agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, the very poor quality of the BBCs news and current affairs output is yet another reason why I no longer use the BBCs services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But aside from its dire output in news and current affairs, what has the BBC ever done for us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, in years gone by BBC Comedy gave us Dave Allen – a show which would be unlikely to make it to air in these sensitive times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Monty Python of course – a show which would definitely not make it to air these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Flowery Twats<\/s> Fawlty Towers – see above about not making it to air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I could go on, but the qualitative examples of past BBC comedy have been set here, and the bar is very, very high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These days BBC Comedy gives us Miranda (not a comedy), and Frankie Boyle’s New World Order (not a comedy), and Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Car Crash<\/s> Roadshow (not a comedy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe I’ve got that wrong, perhaps I’m being a bit down on the BBCs comedic output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps, in thirty years, consumers will look back fondly on episodes of Miranda and chuckle with mirth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alright, I concede that’s an unlikely event, but just for the sake of balance let’s leave that view in there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And under the current affairs banner, the BBC used to have Panorama when it was a crusading firebrand of investigative journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These days we have (and I can’t quite believe I’m saying this) Question Time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In short, I don’t know whether a shift to subscription would be a good thing or a bad thing – either for the BBC or for the BBCs viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only posterity can judge that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I do know that our household could save \u00a3154.50\/year, and we wouldn’t miss the products or services that not paying that tax would take away from us, not miss them one bit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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