Comments on: The BBC in freefall http://www.bookwormroom.com/2007/07/18/the-bbc-in-freefall/ She escaped from the belly of the liberal beast Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:09:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Chris http://www.bookwormroom.com/2007/07/18/the-bbc-in-freefall/#comment-13110 Chris Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:09:41 +0000 http://proto2.webloggin.com/?p=1587#comment-13110 I wonder if anyone ever asked the Britons if the BBC's famous programming was what they actually wanted to watch? I wonder if anyone ever asked the Britons if the BBC’s famous programming was what they actually wanted to watch?

]]> By: Webloggin - Blog Archive » The BBC in Freefall http://www.bookwormroom.com/2007/07/18/the-bbc-in-freefall/#comment-13109 Webloggin - Blog Archive » The BBC in Freefall Thu, 19 Jul 2007 23:08:57 +0000 http://proto2.webloggin.com/?p=1587#comment-13109 [...] [Discuss this article with Bookworm over at Bookworm Room…] Share Article BBC, WWII, Monty Python, Israel, anti-Semitic, anti-American, Fairness Doctrine, Left    Sphere: Related Content | Trackback URL [...] [...] [Discuss this article with Bookworm over at Bookworm Room…] Share Article BBC, WWII, Monty Python, Israel, anti-Semitic, anti-American, Fairness Doctrine, Left    Sphere: Related Content | Trackback URL [...]

]]> By: CDR Salamander http://www.bookwormroom.com/2007/07/18/the-bbc-in-freefall/#comment-13108 CDR Salamander Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:20:48 +0000 http://proto2.webloggin.com/?p=1587#comment-13108 Bookie, I actually listen and read the BBC on a regular basis. It is almost a religious institution - Global Warming is its religion. Gets old after awhile - that and <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3001126.stm" rel="nofollow">this</a> Bookie,
I actually listen and read the BBC on a regular basis. It is almost a religious institution - Global Warming is its religion. Gets old after awhile - that and this

]]> By: ymarsakar http://www.bookwormroom.com/2007/07/18/the-bbc-in-freefall/#comment-13107 ymarsakar Thu, 19 Jul 2007 19:11:15 +0000 http://proto2.webloggin.com/?p=1587#comment-13107 It is always harder to brainwash people via the radio. It is always harder to brainwash people via the radio.

]]> By: JJ http://www.bookwormroom.com/2007/07/18/the-bbc-in-freefall/#comment-13106 JJ Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:02:01 +0000 http://proto2.webloggin.com/?p=1587#comment-13106 Actually the BBC has had competition for years - Thames came along in the 1960s - but it's a peculiar sort of competition, in that it doesn't have an affect on funding. In other words, you still had to pay for a license to own a television, even if you never watched a BBC program (excuse me, "programme") even once during the life of the set. They still got their annual contribution from you whether or not you ever watched or found them relevant. And it's worse these days - there's Thames, ITN, now SKY, etc., plenty of competition - but everyone who owns a tube still gets to contribute to the Beeb. There could, in theory, come a time when not one single set in England is tuned to the BBC, but everybody'll STILL be funding it - now there's bureaucratic nirvana! A very different country when I lived there, though. I knew half a dozen people who didn't even bother to own a TV, they found it all so uninteresting. (I finally broke down and bought one after I'd been there about five months, but it took every minute of five months.) What I always liked about them as a people at that time, though, was that every afternoon at close of business, there was about an hour there when you couldn't move inside any bookstore in central London. They were elbow-to-elbow packed, every day, with people buying books. You didn't go near the big stores - Foyle's, Hatchard's - at that time of day. The British READ omnivorously in those days, and the tube was kind of a silly luxury. Everybody had a radio, of course, but they were all listening to Radio 3 and 4 - not the daily topical programming. Probably all different now - there are probably spiderwebs all over Hatchard's... Actually the BBC has had competition for years - Thames came along in the 1960s - but it’s a peculiar sort of competition, in that it doesn’t have an affect on funding.

In other words, you still had to pay for a license to own a television, even if you never watched a BBC program (excuse me, “programme”) even once during the life of the set. They still got their annual contribution from you whether or not you ever watched or found them relevant.

And it’s worse these days - there’s Thames, ITN, now SKY, etc., plenty of competition - but everyone who owns a tube still gets to contribute to the Beeb. There could, in theory, come a time when not one single set in England is tuned to the BBC, but everybody’ll STILL be funding it - now there’s bureaucratic nirvana!

A very different country when I lived there, though. I knew half a dozen people who didn’t even bother to own a TV, they found it all so uninteresting. (I finally broke down and bought one after I’d been there about five months, but it took every minute of five months.) What I always liked about them as a people at that time, though, was that every afternoon at close of business, there was about an hour there when you couldn’t move inside any bookstore in central London. They were elbow-to-elbow packed, every day, with people buying books. You didn’t go near the big stores - Foyle’s, Hatchard’s - at that time of day.

The British READ omnivorously in those days, and the tube was kind of a silly luxury. Everybody had a radio, of course, but they were all listening to Radio 3 and 4 - not the daily topical programming.

Probably all different now - there are probably spiderwebs all over Hatchard’s…

]]> By: expat http://www.bookwormroom.com/2007/07/18/the-bbc-in-freefall/#comment-13103 expat Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:04:08 +0000 http://proto2.webloggin.com/?p=1587#comment-13103 I don't know how much of CNN International programming is shown in the US, but it is the number of exBBCers I see on CNN Int is amazing. Globalization, homogenization, whatever. I don’t know how much of CNN International programming is shown in the US, but it is the number of exBBCers I see on CNN Int is amazing. Globalization, homogenization, whatever.

]]> By: ymarsakar http://www.bookwormroom.com/2007/07/18/the-bbc-in-freefall/#comment-13104 ymarsakar Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:31:39 +0000 http://proto2.webloggin.com/?p=1587#comment-13104 There were some reports that said Cubans said they would miss castro when he was dead and gone. Think about that for a second. Tyranny exists upon the premise that you control the population, but the only way to truly control a group is to make the group think that they are the ones in control of their own destinies. There were some reports that said Cubans said they would miss castro when he was dead and gone.

Think about that for a second. Tyranny exists upon the premise that you control the population, but the only way to truly control a group is to make the group think that they are the ones in control of their own destinies.

]]> By: ymarsakar http://www.bookwormroom.com/2007/07/18/the-bbc-in-freefall/#comment-13102 ymarsakar Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:30:25 +0000 http://proto2.webloggin.com/?p=1587#comment-13102 <B>This is unacceptable for an organization that is funded by mandatory licensing dues from every TV or radio owner in the country, whether they watch/listen to BBC or not.</b> But this is how you keep the peons and volks down. You make them want tyranny and repression, because their very lives and wages have been invested into the system. The thinking goes that if you make people pay for the BBC, then even if they don't like the BBC, they'll want to watch it anyways simply because they can feel entitled to the BBC because of their enforced taxation. And the more they watch the BBC and see it as their own, the more the thought police reigns supreme ideologically. Welfare feeds on itself. Sort of like evil and terrorism. This is unacceptable for an organization that is funded by mandatory licensing dues from every TV or radio owner in the country, whether they watch/listen to BBC or not.
But this is how you keep the peons and volks down. You make them want tyranny and repression, because their very lives and wages have been invested into the system. The thinking goes that if you make people pay for the BBC, then even if they don’t like the BBC, they’ll want to watch it anyways simply because they can feel entitled to the BBC because of their enforced taxation. And the more they watch the BBC and see it as their own, the more the thought police reigns supreme ideologically.

Welfare feeds on itself. Sort of like evil and terrorism.

]]> By: Webloggin - Blog Archive » The BBC in Freefall http://www.bookwormroom.com/2007/07/18/the-bbc-in-freefall/#comment-13101 Webloggin - Blog Archive » The BBC in Freefall Thu, 19 Jul 2007 10:19:04 +0000 http://proto2.webloggin.com/?p=1587#comment-13101 [...] [Discuss This Article With Bookworm at Bookworm Room] Share Article BBC, Monty Python, anti-Semitic, anti-American, news, Britain, the Beeb, PBS, Fairness Doctrine    Sphere: Related Content | Trackback URL [...] [...] [Discuss This Article With Bookworm at Bookworm Room] Share Article BBC, Monty Python, anti-Semitic, anti-American, news, Britain, the Beeb, PBS, Fairness Doctrine    Sphere: Related Content | Trackback URL [...]

]]> By: Jose http://www.bookwormroom.com/2007/07/18/the-bbc-in-freefall/#comment-13098 Jose Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:23:22 +0000 http://proto2.webloggin.com/?p=1587#comment-13098 This is unacceptable for an organization that is funded by mandatory licensing dues from every TV or radio owner in the country, whether they watch/listen to BBC or not. I believe the annual license for a color TV was about L50 ($100) when I left the UK 15 years ago. Interestingly, blind owners of color TVs get a discount, but pay more than owners of B/W TVs. This is unacceptable for an organization that is funded by mandatory licensing dues from every TV or radio owner in the country, whether they watch/listen to BBC or not.

I believe the annual license for a color TV was about L50 ($100) when I left the UK 15 years ago.

Interestingly, blind owners of color TVs get a discount, but pay more than owners of B/W TVs.

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