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A comment on The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying. Parent comment

Re:The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying by wyager on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @03:15PM (#28461741)
You’re being downvoted but I think this is a fair question. I don’t accept this assertion as true at face value. Presumably the BBC, as with any other government-controlled revenue source, acts as some sort of patronage mechanism, and a lot of these roles exist as a jobs program rather than something the taxpayers actually extract a benefit from.
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Re:The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying by SideburnsOfDoom on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @03:40PM (#28462012)
> The BBC, as with any other government-controlled revenue source

Point of fact, the BBC was not intended to be "government-controlled", and it is not a "revenue source" for the UK government.

https://www.quora.com/Is-the-BBC-the-state-owned-and-state-c...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC#

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Re:The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying by wyager on Friday September 10, 2021 @02:48PM (#28485598)
“Revenue source” meaning “source of revenue for patronage programs”, not that it makes money for the UK Govt.
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Re:The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying by msla on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @04:24PM (#28462570)
The BBC is government-controlled in that its money is collected by the government, which can punish people for not paying, and organizations know where their funds are coming from and attempt to prevent those funds from being stopped.
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Re:The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying by M2Ys4U on Thursday September 09, 2021 @07:06AM (#28468408)
>The BBC is government-controlled in that its money is collected by the government

No, the licence fee is collected by the BBC, by law.

Section 365(2) of the Communications Act 2003:

>Sums which a person is liable to pay by virtue of regulations under subsection (1) must be paid to the BBC and are to be recoverable by them accordingly.

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Re:The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying by msla on Friday September 10, 2021 @02:35PM (#28485460)
> No, the licence fee is collected by the BBC, by law.

And the government punishes you if you don't pay.

I declined to make a distinction without a difference.

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Re:The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying by SideburnsOfDoom on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @04:45PM (#28462820)
Reread. I used the word "intended" deliberately. There are many indirect mechanisms, that are open to abuse. You described one. It's not the same though as direct control.
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