Re:Response to Google open letter
by throwaway45349 on Monday August 17, 2020 @09:13AM
(#24186882)
Except for the Defund the BBC movement that's going on right now... I'm skeptical any government funded broadcaster is sustainable when it just turns into a propaganda outlet for the establishment.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Response to Google open letter
by asdfasgasdgasdg on Monday August 17, 2020 @09:57AM
(#24187237)
I'm not super familiar with UK politics but it looks like this movement raised something like 45k british pounds on gofundme? Seems pretty fringe. I guess the BBC will remain funded.
Re:Response to Google open letter
by throwaway45349 on Monday August 17, 2020 @10:04AM
(#24187309)
The actual org is small, but it's caused thousands to pull their license fee, which is no small sum of money for the Beeb. It's not like they're rolling in profit.
Re:Response to Google open letter
by asdfasgasdgasdg on Monday August 17, 2020 @10:19AM
(#24187477)
There are around 65 million UK residents. Even if thousands pull their license fee it's not gonna move the needle that much. And if it did move the needle, I suspect the government would address the issue by enforcing the license fee more aggressively, or by doing the sensible thing and funding the BBC via the general fund.
Re:Response to Google open letter
by throwaway45349 on Monday August 17, 2020 @04:41PM
(#24191786)
They can't legally enforce it because the BBC guy has no special power to inspect your telly set and it's not technically a tax (as long as you don't consume BBC content). They also include YouTube/iPlayer consumption of BBC so it's unenforceable on a technical level too.
They've tried to scare people into compliance since the 50s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_detector_van
Re:Response to Google open letter
by rossjudson on Monday August 17, 2020 @07:19PM
(#24193455)
That makes me, as a non-UK resident, rather sad. BBC programming (at least what makes it to North America) is really very good.