“I disagree. At £145.50 per household per year it is very good value for what it provides. It's a lot cheaper than its rivals and I would be happy to pay more.

There's more to the BBC than telly you know.”

“The BBC should stick to public service broadcasting such as news and current affairs, leaving other programming to commercial stations. The licence fee is an anachronism is this day and age and should be abolished forthwith. What on earth is the BBC doing paying massive fees to so called celebrities at taxpayers' expense?”

“I disagree i pay £288 a year for sky that gives me every single channel all the sport channels,24 hour news,discovery,movies,radio stations,ect if i pay for sky why should i pay for a tv licence? Should'nt it be our choice who we choose to have,oh and every single disney channel for my kids bbc pay them for what?”

“You may be one of the goggle eyed morons who lapses into a coma while the adverts hold up the programmes, but thankfully many other people driven up the wall by the repetitive nonsense that permeates advertising, prefer the excellent quality and value of the the non commercial stations.”

“I don't mind paying a TV licence as the BBC does produce some excellent products. However the above inflation raises before the freeze were unacceptable. Many stories have come out over recent years of budgets being used to do such things as "entertaining suppliers" which flys in the face of normal business practice where one is entertained by suppliers. Add to this the expenditure on consultancy and certain high profile salaries and it is a joke to claim "poverty" and reduce service levels in certain areas. One spiteful thing they did was to close sports 606 chat rooms in response to frozen budgets. Now I can't believe they were such a great expense that it was necessary to do this. In short a bit more professionalism and the BBC can carry on giving quality service at a reasonable price.”

“Here is me agreeing with Hashimoto, as, although a cable customer because of bad reception and the need for reliable broadband, most of my viewing is BBC because I hate 5 mins of adverts every 10 mins. It pays to remember that BBC also transmit radio output, both local and national, that provide a very useful advert free service. And before anyone jumps on me I admit that, at 80 I no longer pay for a license but always did right from the old days of a radio license. When serving abroad I found the BBC formed a vital contact with what was happening at home.

As regards the BBC expenditure I agree with "trivium" that they should stop paying such obscene amounts to senior staff and "star" performers and get back to producing good, unbiased, professional material that the viewers and listeners cannot get on commercial channels. Stop dumbing down and get back to good practice.”

“'ve lived at my current address for 15 years, and I've always had a TV, but I've never had a license. It's a total rip off. It's not a subscription, it's a sweeping, across the board backdoor tax. And you've already paid the Tax on your TV. All the license fee does, is subsidises the BBC. And they can totally afford to operate in the same way that other broadcasters do. I get letters telling me there's no license registered at my address, and threatening to send their people around every three months or so, I don't even bother opening them. When their chap comes around, as they do eventually, I'll open the door, and tell him I don't need a license, and when he asks why, I say that I don't own a TV. Yes, it's a bare faced lie, but I don't suffer any twangs of guilt over it.

They write down that I haven't got one, all really polite, then say that they just need to come inside to check. And I'm like, What? He'll repeat himself. "I just have to come in and check what you've told me is true, for my records" Again, I refuse. I've just seen him fill in his records I'll say. And they get really persistent. "Why can't I come in"? I say that I've already given him all the information he needs for his records. And that he can't come in, because it's not convenient.

Now, I know that I've just lied to him, but he doesn't know that, and he's standing on my doorstep, having already been given all the information he's entitled to, and he's there, calling me a liar to my face. I repeat, firmly, that no, he is not coming in. He threatens to come back with an "Enforcement Team" and I say, "OK , go and do that then. You still won't be coming in". I know they have no right of entry whatsoever, even if they can hear a TV in the background. Now he's just trying to Bully his way in, and I don't respond well to Bullies. If I was a little old Lady, or a single mum, I would be feeling really intimidated by now, and would probably have capitulated and let the little twot in.

That is how they get away with charging this ridiculous Tax on people. It's demanding money with menaces. They can only take you to court, if they have been inside and seen you with a TV on. If you just ignore the letters, and don't let them in, there's nothing they can do. Better still, don't answer the door to them. Just because they knock, doesn't obligate you to answer. There's no arrestable offense being committed, so there's no Police action applicable. They can't apply to a Court for a warrant, and they can't make you pay, if you really don't want to pay. That's how I deal with them anyway.”

“Something you should all be thinking when paying for the BBC "I am more concerned and angry that my money has been used to support the employment of certian people (Jimmy Saville etc) who we now know to have committed the most terrible crimes against frightened, vunerable children. I doubt we will ever know just how high and wide the knowledge of this (or even suspicions) reached but I no longer trust the BBC. And I strongly object to them receiving any more money from TV Licences.

Maybe the BBC should give the money made from licences over the last 30 years to the victims and their families? But the BBC should not benefit any further from the fees paid by the public. They should be ashamed”

“For those who say is rubbish lets enlighten you,sky provides me bbc england,bbc scotland and bbc wales,am i paying twice? as i would have it on normal tv and then if i have sky i have it on there as well,for those who dont like adverts there is a thing called pre record,pause fast forward and rewind,also bbc claim they are the only ones who dont have adverts they are lying because they advertise £1000 fines for not having a tv licence,if you watch sky premier movies they dont have adverts,sky brings cinema movies to our homes,so you must think going to the cinema is rubbish as well.Some of you must be right because they provide the bbc to”

“Sorry but 30 years of our kids clapping to jim will fix it (jimmy savile)
there is your disgrace like i said before i dont watch the bbc so why should i pay for it?I pay to watch sky,so what part of that do u not understand?If im only watching what i want to watch witch is not the bbc why should i pay?For the comment about jimmy savile he was reported on numerous times but they still chose to employ him not once not twice but one two three four five six seven time,i dont pay for my kids to clap to pedos,for those who disagree here is a blue peter badge”

“The BBC don't need licence fees to remain impartial. That just needs integrity. Integrity is free.
Aside from The Thick of It, which is brilliant, I don't think I have watched a single BBC programme all year. Quality TV is debatable and all comes down to personal taste. The BBC also caters for the lowest common denominator as much as many other channels. As their output deteriorates, other channels are raising their own standards with home produced programming, and also showing the cream of US television, which for about ten years or so, has been producing fine quality, thought provoking shows that have equalled and in some cases surpassed anything we have produced.
The licence fee should be phased out. There is a lot of choice out there and paying for the BBC should be just that; a choice. For all those who dont mind paying, a subscription fee could be implemented. £6-8 per month for access to all BBC services. Those who object would no longer have to pay and in turn would not have access. Commercialism would no doubt soon follow, but there is no rule stating that the BBC have to adhere to other channels trends of having so many commercial breaks. In fact, the BBC could quite easily run a premium service with no commercial interuptions at all for an extra fee. None of this is unrealstic with the way digital services are in place. It is outdated and clearly divides opinion.”

“That would all be well and good DB if we were treated as shareholders and not forced subscribers.

The license is a BBC protection racket tax. You can't watch any other channel without paying it legally. It's like picking up a copy of the Times only to be told you can't read that unless you purchase the Guardian as well!”

“How else can it raise funds?”

“Do your maths the population 62,641,000 times that by a £145.50 and see how great the bbc empire is!funds what they must have a hole in there pocket because the amount of money they have forced on people to pay they should be running more then the bbc.”

“Your sums aren't v good though Burningworms - there's 2 adults at my house but we only pay one licence fee.

When you access your sky channels do you never watch a BBC channel? Come on....be honest”

“@Oldfallopian It was just an estimate of what the bbc are expecting us to pay as children grow up they will be expected to pay,when ones child becomes a student in his one room with a laptop he will be expected to pay because his laptop can pick up a bbc channel,every household in this country are expected to pay.
Must i buy the evening post befor im allowed to read the daily mail? anyway thats how big the empire is.How many billions have already been paid?
Even prisioners pay a fee to have a tv in there cell,thats how far the empire stretches.
The next time you watch the lottery and you see the rollover thats what the Tv licence makes now dont be fooled"
.”

“No i dont i usually get in late from a hard day and all i like to do is sit down and watch a good movie or the discovery channel and i can say i had my children today and they so enjoyed watching the whole series of harry potter movies witch i pre recorded before hand and a wide selection of disney and great comedy”

“The BBC is good value for money and the envy of many countries throughout the world.”

“BGF you are a disgrace”

“BRING BACK HANGING FOR PEDOFILES AND HOLD THE JUDGES AND POLITCIANS FOR LIGHT SENTANCES OR DO WE HAVE TO LIVE IN SOCIETY WHERE WE LOCK AWAY OUR CHILDREN BECAUSE THEY DONT KEEP THE PEDOFILES LOCKED UP,
IF HANGING THEM CANT BE ACHIVED NAME AND SHAME THEM AS WE WILL NO WHERE THEY ARE.
REMEMBER PEDOFILES ARE ALLWAYS REPEAT OFFENDERS SO IT
TIME WE TREAT THEM AS REPEAT OFFENDERS.
LETS HERE WHAT THE PUBLICS POINT OF VIEW REALLY IS!”

“Burning words, do try a spell check and work out how to release the caps lock. Are you going to copy that outburst onto the Derby Telegraph site ? If you are try correcting the errors first.”

“Blackguyfawke had it right above - just don't pay. Simples.”

“We don't have tv licences in Canada, but you'll get very little on the tv if you don't subscribe to a cable company. We actually pay a small extra fee each month just to get Canadian BBC, but we're thinking of cancelling it - it's nothing like what you get in Britain. We watch lots of excellent BBC programs on other channels, but on the BBC channel here the range of programs is very limited. On holidays, when you might be looking forward to some good special programming, what do we get? A whole afternoon and evening of Top Gear, or hour after hour of Property Virgins. We'd love to have BBC more like you get it in England.”

“We think our Tenants should pay a TV Licence if they are watching terristrial TV (such as BBC, or on the internet etc). If one is merely using a TV for DVDs or foreign satellites they shouldn't be subjected to paying a license.

Cavendish Lettings”

“There is a serious lack of logic here. You don't mind paying greedy commercial companies like Sky, who earn a fortune from advertising.
But you don't like paying for many other channels provided by companies who keep advertising off your screen.

I understand that the licence is to receive radio and TV signals. It has nothing to do with what you watch. If you choose to pay again to watch commercial channels, then that is your prerogative. It is not supposed to be instead !
There are a lot of FREE radio and TV channels on Freeview: including the old ITV and channel 4
I get an awful lot of TV and radio for what I pay for receiving the signals.
I see it other way: Why should I have to pay again to watch SKY or whoever have greedily taken many of the old BBC and ITV programs that we loved to watch, when I am alreasdy paying a licence to receive the signals.”