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@Crucial said in British Politics:
TV broadcasting in the UK is primarily DTT (Digital Terrestrial Transmission) through an aerial. That would require distribution of an encoded transmission and a decoder box to every subscriber.
That's built into the network, though not used much, and many, if not most, TV's have a subscription card slot for Pay TV channels. My new Panasonic has one.
Possibly not needed as viewing is increasingly done online and broadband speeds increase. DTT has difficulty delivering UHD which could become the norm in the next few years same way as HD did.
The Beeb does need a shake up and cull though and some of the salaries paid to 'stars' is stupid.
Yep. The BBC has become far too complacent and backward in its thinking - iPlayer was years ahead of Netflix, Sky Now etc, yet they only recently discovered box-sets..... I can see the BBC becoming a bare-bones service with a lot of its content on a subscription model.
At the end of the day, its business model is jailing people who don't pay for their service - even if they don't want it. That's pretty untenable when people are increasingly not watching any of your output
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@Crucial said in British Politics:
What the licence (or forced subscription) service does bring to broadcasting is a range and type of programme that would not be made otherwise whether that is quality drama or ground breaking comedy.
Or a management who think they are fire-proof and can turn out dross.
I've lost count of the number of BBC shows we've starting watching and stopped halfway thru the episode as they were utter crap. I used to be a ardent listener to R4's Today programme. Tuned in last last year after a year or two's absence and was struck by how poor it was. Really saddened me.
Hopefully, the fear of having change forced on them might shock them out their complacent "we're world class" world-view and get the Beeb back on track. Hope so.
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@No-Quarter said in British Politics:
Fun fact - from what I understand, according to Gender Theory if you are a man and you don't identify with all of the stereotypical masculine traits, that makes you non-binary. And as being non-binary is a subset of trans, it makes you trans as well.
I like the story of a local Labour Party selecting a woman-only short-list one Wednesday
One bloke applied saying that, in line with Labour policy, he was eligible as he identified as female - but only on Wednesdays...
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Biggest problem for the BBC is that HBO now do TV Drama better than anyone else: Game of Thrones, Chernobyl, Succession, Big Little Lies etc.
Killing Eve got lots of praise but left me cold. Luther, Happy Valley, Peaky Blinders and Years & Years were okay, last big production BBC dramas that blew me away were Wallender and Wolf Hall.
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@sparky said in British Politics:
Biggest problem for the BBC is that HBO now do TV Drama better than anyone else: Game of Thrones, Chernobyl, Succession, Big Little Lies etc.
Killing Eve got lots of praise but left me cold, Luther, Happy Valley, Peaky Blinders and Years & Years were okay, last big production BBC dramas that blew me away were Wallender and Wolf Hall.
In a two horse race, then second is death.
In a multitude of offerings, second is viable.
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Dawn Butler seems interesting, apparently Obama endorsed her
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2020/02/dawn-butlers-transgender-madness/
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@Victor-Meldrew said in British Politics:
@Crucial said in British Politics:
TV broadcasting in the UK is primarily DTT (Digital Terrestrial Transmission) through an aerial. That would require distribution of an encoded transmission and a decoder box to every subscriber.
That's built into the network, though not used much, and many, if not most, TV's have a subscription card slot for Pay TV channels. My new Panasonic has one.
Possibly not needed as viewing is increasingly done online and broadband speeds increase. DTT has difficulty delivering UHD which could become the norm in the next few years same way as HD did.
DTT is the platform that the UK has invested in (and continues to). Yes, it has limitations around UHD but the current thinking is that demand for UHD is met by the likes of Sky.
As for thinking that people already have the tech, you seem to forget that the UK only went digital a few years back and that involved a lot of work upgrading viewers tech or providing them boxes to collect and transfer the “new” service. As for online viewing, it still makes up a very small portion of the total and if you think broadband is improving to the levels needed you are dreaming. The infrastructure outlay to change from old copper carrying the last mile is prohibitive. Very few FTTP households and the lucky ones are where Virgin have run coax to the house.The Beeb does need a shake up and cull though and some of the salaries paid to 'stars' is stupid.
Yep. The BBC has become far too complacent and backward in its thinking - iPlayer was years ahead of Netflix, Sky Now etc, yet they only recently discovered box-sets..... I can see the BBC becoming a bare-bones service with a lot of its content on a subscription model.
Not quite. BBC sell their box sets to these other providers already.
At the end of the day, its business model is jailing people who don't pay for their service - even if they don't want it. That's pretty untenable when people are increasingly not watching any of your output
BBC don’t jail people who don’t pay for their service. That is a misinterpretation of the broadcast system. You are required to have a licence to receive ANY broadcast TV in the UK. If you have a TV but not a licence you get fined. If you still insist on flouting the law you run the risk of being treated as a criminal.
I agree that criminality is extreme, but that is not down to the Beeb. -
@Bones said in British Politics:
Sooo.....speaking English is only worth 10 points.
Good to see they are following through here. Would like to the see the point breakdowns and how they compare to what they were when I went through the process. It was a bit of a nightmare at the time with rules changing every year, from memory the squeeze went on commonwealth applicants due to the influx of european migrants at the time.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in British Politics:
@No-Quarter said in British Politics:
Fun fact - from what I understand, according to Gender Theory if you are a man and you don't identify with all of the stereotypical masculine traits, that makes you non-binary. And as being non-binary is a subset of trans, it makes you trans as well.
I like the story of a local Labour Party selecting a woman-only short-list one Wednesday
One bloke applied saying that, in line with Labour policy, he was eligible as he identified as female - but only on Wednesdays...
When you dig into it, it's all just gobbledygook. It does amaze me that anyone buys into it at all, though I'd say pure narcissism is the key driver for people like the bloke in that video.
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@Rembrandt said in British Politics:
How on earth did they manage to prosecute kids?
If you read the article you will see that they probably didn’t.
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The Ministry of Justice figures from magistrate court appearances also state that in the past children as young as 10 were prosecuted along with a handful of those aged between 12 and 14.
Between 2008 and 2016, the figures state that more than 400 teenagers were proceeded against for TV licence evasion.
However, a TV Licensing spokesperson said that the official figures must be wrong as they “don’t prosecute people that young”.
“Our policy is to prosecute people aged 18 or over. We have reviewed this issue before and found around 10 cases where someone aged 17 – but no younger - had been prosecuted
They admitted that they had not contacted the department about the alleged error and the MoJ stood by its figures.
So they admit to prosecuting 10 under the age of 18 however they claim that the Ministry of Justice figures must be wrong because they don't prosecute people under the age of 18 (although have in the past to 17 year olds). MOJ stand by their figures.
Would be interesting to get to the bottom of it.
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@Rembrandt said in British Politics:
The Ministry of Justice figures from magistrate court appearances also state that in the past children as young as 10 were prosecuted along with a handful of those aged between 12 and 14.
Between 2008 and 2016, the figures state that more than 400 teenagers were proceeded against for TV licence evasion.
However, a TV Licensing spokesperson said that the official figures must be wrong as they “don’t prosecute people that young”.
“Our policy is to prosecute people aged 18 or over. We have reviewed this issue before and found around 10 cases where someone aged 17 – but no younger - had been prosecuted
They admitted that they had not contacted the department about the alleged error and the MoJ stood by its figures.
So they admit to prosecuting 10 under the age of 18 however they claim that the Ministry of Justice figures must be wrong because they don't prosecute people under the age of 18 (although have in the past to 17 year olds). MOJ stand by their figures.
Would be interesting to get to the bottom of it.
You never will. Its public servant bureaucracy.
There is a culture of arse-covering and never questioning superiors.
Believe me, when you are used to operating in a more open culture where you admit mistakes and aim to fix them, dealing with the public service in the UK is frustrating. The individuals you deal with can be OK but one mention of 'the Minister' and everyone plays pass the parcel.
You learn quickly that you can get a lot done if you frame stuff as solving an issue before the minister ever hears of it. -
DTT paid subscription shouldn't be difficult - they were around when DTT launched 23 years ago.. You could use a physical or software security token tied to an IP Address and/or MAC address (the BBC already logs these with iPlayer)
UHD via DTT or satellite is limited as it's very spectrum-hungry - and the available spectrum is getting getting used up quite quickly. Streaming gives more choice and is easier and cheaper to run.
The infrastructure outlay to change from old copper carrying the last mile is prohibitive. Very few FTTP households and the lucky ones are where Virgin have run coax to the house.
Openreach is aiming for 500mb to all homes by 2025 (IIRC) using a mix of Fibre & Gfast tech (gives speeds of 500-1000mb on the copper loop from the cabinet). Currently 10% of UK premises have FTTP access- expected to be 50% by 2025. Cost per premises for fibre delivery is now down to about £300 per premises and falling. Coax is. ancient tech and limited (and expensive) compared to fibre.
BBC don’t jail people who don’t pay for their service. That is a misinterpretation of the broadcast system
Actually they do - the BBC is responsible for prosecutions and contracts that to Capita to enforce it - including search warrants. Even if you never watch the BBC, the BBC still gets your money.
It's simply untenable in it's current form
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@Crucial said in British Politics:
There is a culture of arse-covering and never questioning superiors.
Agree 110%
You are being too polite - you missed out incompetence & treating the public with indifference and/or disdain.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in British Politics:
@Crucial said in British Politics:
There is a culture of arse-covering and never questioning superiors.
Agree 110%
You are being too polite - you missed out incompetence & treating the public with indifference and/or disdain.
I worked with some pretty competent and switched on stakeholders from govt departments. Everything worked well with good direction until a problem came up. Then they change.
As far as broadcasting went the public effect was actually the forefront of decision making, again except when the was a problem on the horizon and the focus became looking good for the minister.Par for the course with most govt departments in NZ too. Full of people titled “advisors” but never responsible.
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@Victor-Meldrew the spectrum isn’t just getting full, it is shrinking. All the work I was on was to do with clearing a whole band by cramming and shuffling stuff around.
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@Victor-Meldrew DTT subscription services are definitely possible. My point was that they require a set top box.
TVs May have inbuilt capabilities but not all are the same and getting manufacturers to agree to firmware protocols is a nightmare. Samsung still won’t even have inbuilt Freeview.
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