Do we care about TV anymore?

I think it depends what sort of show you are entertained by.  I like

• Waterloo Road
• Celebrity Masterchef
• Dragons Den
• Who do you think you are

And I'm sure some people love Strictly Come Dancing.

Did you know that the BBC funding for 2010/2011 was an absolutely staggering £3,596,000, the vast majority of which comes directly or indirectly from the £145.50 extorted from UK households each year in the form of the TV License.

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/annualreport/pdf/bbc_ar_online_2010_11.pdf

I can't vote out the Director General of the BBC, or the BBC Board or the BBC Trust as these are appointed, primarily by government.

Attempting to refuse payment to the BBC by having the temerity to not watch television as it is broadcast (a minority of about 2 to 3% of UK households), leads me to being threatened by letter and continual visits by a body called the "TV Licensing Authority" (a trading name for the BBC and its agents Capita Business Services Ltd).

The only way I could cease this continual harassment and intrusion was to serve a notice withdrawing "Implied Right of Access" to the BBC and its agents and sending a "Cease and Desist" letter to BBC Director General threatening legal action for harassment if it didn't stop.

It soon stopped after that I can tell you.

Much prefer my library of books, my Kindle and Google to the BBC's Gogglebox.

A new series is starting soon ... does anyone know when, please???

I find that there are good & bad things about TV & like all things, it should be taken in moderation.

Whether the BBC is value for money is up to the individual. At times, I certainly find myself thinking that the licence fee is too much for the number of programmes I watch (avoiding all soaps & phone vote shows).

I then come across a little gem, sometimes hidden in amongst the schedules & not advertised very well, & think that maybe it is worth it for that little bit of escapism & for the chat about it at work the next day.

This weeks find was last nights 'Hidden'. I'm not a big fan of Philip Glenister but I thought this story had promise & I can't wait to see what happens next. Always the sign of a good TV show/book/film*. *Delete as appropriate.

Frustrated - not sure I want to know why you are so angry but I feel the term extorted is a bit strong. The BBC offer a service which they expect payment for, like most of us. If you do not wish to use the service then you need not pay.

Come On - There's a lot of tosh on the BBC that really should be done by the independent sector, including unfortunatly for Thisistibi all on his/her list.

Soaps, any programme requiring a telephone vote or dependant on "celebrities", should be done by ITV, Five etc.

I find that i mostly watch BBC 4, some of BBC 2 and that's about it plus the nature programmes.

I can understand complaining about the licence fee if you don't watch TV; I can't understand those who complain about it but happily subscribe to satellite or cable.

Yes the BBC has it's faults but the alternative would be little or no Arts or Science programmes, and US based Children's TV.

My feelings of anger arose from the fact that as soon as I discontinued using their service I became someone who (in their barely disguised view) was clearly still receiving TV broadcasts, but was just lying about it.

The only way they would accept that I was possibly not lying about it was to allow my home to become subject to periodic inspections and possible surveillance to confirm that I was not obviously lying.

What is this Orwell's 1984?

Equally, before anyone says, "well you should have just phoned them / written to them and it would have been sorted...", there was a lot of correspondence both ways, but ultimately the intimidating and threatening letters still kept coming and the unwanted visitors still kept trampling to my door on periodic weekday afternoons (when I was never there, as I work for a living) and leaving their "we called and you weren't in, but don't worry - we'll be back" threat-o-grams.

In the end I got angry because I have a right to do what I like in my own home (provided I obey the law) and I felt like I was being continually harassed by these people who had absolutely no right to harass me in my own home.

It was only when I wrote directly to the DG of the BBC threatening him with personal legal action that these jackals backed off.

As you can't watch the other channels without one, if as I you refuse to contract with Antipodean sharks.

For me Dr Who. Merlin, MoTD, Outnumbered, Country File and six nations rugby are well worth the cost, not to mention they also make a wealth of radio programmes and I'm Sorry I haven't a Clue and Just a Minute have got to be worth a tenner an episode of anyones money, not to mention Clare in the Community, Milton Jones, The Now Show etc etc

The two series I can find coming up are Frozen planet and Attenborough's First Animals.

The first is supposed to be Autumn 2011 with the next a year later but I can't see it in the scheduling

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mfl7n 

I just caught it being mentioned on TV but missed the start date. I've been looking for more information but haven't found it, as yet!

I have cable + sports channels - something like 80 channels to choose from, and half the time I STILL can't find a thing worth watching.

My favourite feature is the record and playback - all the progammes I like - and there aren't that many of them - tend to be on at the same time. I record them as that is never when I actually want to watch and the fast forward means that I hardly ever have to listen to an advert!!

It's the weekend so you have ac choice of watching a bunch of talentless wannabees make Simon Cowell rich, or, a bunch of so called "celebrities", half of whom you've never heard of, doing their best to cripple professional dancers.

Still, the weekend isnt a complete wash out, at least I got to watch Wales get through to the World Cup semi finals, and then I got to watch England fail miserably when they attempted to join them :)

 my Humax PVR does that, what it doesn't do is the record all of a series thingy, that could be useful!

My digital is just in the tv and I don't think I can do that, although the dvd recorder could. It has a hard drive, video slot and dvd but annoyingly enough, the thing I wanted to do which was move video tapes onto something else I don't seem to be able to manage.

Plus although sold as a rewriter if you want to watch the dvd's on another player you have to finalise it - which means you can't record over it again.

Decided not to try and be too clever again

Recording whole series is good - I have saved the latest Dexter series for Christmas when there will be nothing on!!