The BBC have come under fire after they announced plans to charge viewers an additional fee to watch TV shows a second time, even though the shows have been funded via the license fee.
BBC Store allows the sale of digital versions of television shows which essentially allows viewers to watch, for a fee, shows on demand, much like Channel 4’s (free) 4oD service.
Truthnewsmedia.com reports:
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On the BBC website Marcus Arthur, MD, BBC Worldwide & ANZ, said:
“We want BBC Store to do for digital ownership what BBC iPlayer did for catch up. BBC Store makes digital ownership really easy for audiences and means that we can begin opening up the incredible BBC television archive.”
However, rival Channel 4 has offered a free service called 4OD for a number of years. When questioned about this, the BBC stated that Channel 4 broadcast commercials while the BBC doesn’t:
“4OD is an SVOD service supported by adverts, BBC Store lets fans buy and keep the shows they love.”
They do not address the fact that instead of broadcasting adverts, the BBC in conjunction with the British Government, effectively run a corporate dictatorship by forcing anyone with a television or device that receives live broadcast to pay for a television licence each year.
As one license fee payer pointed out:
“We aren’t talking about anything physical, it’s a download so your argument doesn’t hold water I’m afraid. We have already paid for these series before via the license fee.”
Another questioned the mandatory nature of the License Fee:
“Why shouldn’t license payers get access to download and keep their shows for free?
Don’t you think people should have the right to opt out of BBC services and opt out of paying the license fee.”
Despite numerous campaigns to abolish the BBC License Fee, the British Government recognise the value of keeping their lapdog broadcaster happy. This week it was announced that not only will the Licence Fee remain, but the BBC will actually receive a pay rise from the government. The Telegraph reports:
Lord Hall, the BBC director-general, received an assurance from the Prime Minister’s office earlier this week that the government does not plan to use the current review of the broadcaster’s Royal Charter to scrap the licence fee or impose further cuts on the corporation, according to a senior figure involved in the ongoing negotiations.
Earlier today the BBC reported that the License Fee will increase from 2017, amounting to a pay rise for the corporation to keep in line with inflation, while for years the backbone of our society, our public sector workers, have not been afforded such luxury.
The BBC will be given a new licence fee from 2017 that rises in line with inflation, senior Corporation sources have assured RadioTimes.com.
Director-general Lord Hall has been personally told by “the highest level of Government” that it will not use its review of the BBC’s Royal Charter to scrap the £142.50 fee or go back on unofficial assurances that it will rise in line with CPI [Consumer Prize Index] inflation.
This demonstrates the Tories commitment to keeping the establishment order running as it always has done, rewarding a subservient media that merely parrots the party line that dares not dig beneath the spin and rhetoric.
