Author Topic: License to watch tv? (Read 1501 times)

Holden McGroin · « **Reply #30 on:** July 16, 2007, 09:11:49 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Furball
Shows also get cut in order to make time for the commercials, so you do not see the full show.

They edit for the time allotted, regardless of the length of the program.

So BBC edits what it has to get it to fit into 30 minutes.

Commercial TV typically allots 22 minutes for a half hour program in commercial TV.

If that is the best 22 minutes of a typical show, I would rather not see the full 30.

If you don’t want to watch commercials, you can always pay a voluntary tax and pay for HBO, or bypass TV tax and commercials entirely and read of surf.

HB555 · « **Reply #31 on:** July 16, 2007, 11:34:14 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by LYNX
PS....No lusting after Sally Traffic there's half a million Brit truckers in line for her.

Zandra? She is a cutie.

Sandman · « **Reply #32 on:** July 16, 2007, 11:44:08 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Dowding
No TV is free; commercials are too high a price for me to pay, so I'll stick with the license fee. It's great to watch a whole show without the adverts.

With commercial television, we aren't consumers. We're product.

With subscriber television, we are truly consumers.

Furball · « **Reply #33 on:** July 17, 2007, 02:15:39 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by McFarland
and the commercials don't bother me. It just adds to the wait for what's going to happen next in the movie, and gives it more suspense.

Furball · « **Reply #34 on:** July 17, 2007, 02:18:54 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Holden McGroin
They edit for the time allotted, regardless of the length of the program.

So BBC edits what it has to get it to fit into 30 minutes.

Commercial TV typically allots 22 minutes for a half hour program in commercial TV.

If that is the best 22 minutes of a typical show, I would rather not see the full 30.

If you don’t want to watch commercials, you can always pay a voluntary tax and pay for HBO, or bypass TV tax and commercials entirely and read of surf.

I was thinking of when i watch Top Gear on the channel UKTV. The original show is filmed for the BBC which has no adverts, it is an hour long.

The UKTV version is also an hour long, but has to lose something like 20 mins of the show i order to get the commercials in - so you lose out on some of the funniest bits of the show, usually the banter between the presenters and the news sections.

Shows filmed for the BBC will have the full 30mins/1hr of quality, whereas when they are screened on US tv, or rebroadcast on UK tv channels, they are not as good.

Excel1 · « **Reply #35 on:** July 17, 2007, 06:28:37 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Furball
Shows also get cut in order to make time for the commercials, so you do not see the full show.

That's done by the NZ TV networks with some shows to the point where the shows actually interrupt the commercial breaks.. no kidding. Some programmes are butchered to the point they are almost unwatchable

But there's one show they have learnt not to mess with too much... that energizer bunny of soap operas- sodding Coronation street heh . There's allready plenty of commercials during it but they edited the crap out of it so they could cram even more in, but an infuriated blue rinse brigade went ape sheet and forced the state run network to change their minds.

lazs2 · « **Reply #36 on:** July 17, 2007, 08:19:07 AM »

so if you want to watch anything other than the government channels how do you do that?

would you pay a seperate fee for say HBO or showtime?

you pay a tax in order to watch what they allow you to watch but what if you want to watch movie channels?

lazs

lazs2 · « **Reply #37 on:** July 17, 2007, 08:22:58 AM »

and rolex.... we do pay a tiny little portion of our tax dollar to fund public radio.. I would rather we didn't but the socialists have had their way.. It is so bad that it needs to be tax funded.. can't make it on it's own.

I believe it amounts to a few cents a year per person and if we don't pay any tax at all we won't have a van full of TV police coming to shut off our tv and put us in jail. You can not pay a cent in taxes and still buy and watch tv.

If you don't like commercial tv and can't work a recorder.. you can order movie channels.

I hate commercials but when I was in england... I would have rather have watched a commercial than the stuff that was on the TV there. some guy talking an almost familiar language or a bunch of grown men wearing shorts in the rain and kicking a ball around or swinging a frat paddle.

lazs

Dowding · « **Reply #38 on:** July 17, 2007, 08:54:31 AM »

HBO generally are in partnership with BBC on the decent programmes - Band of Brothers and Rome for instance.

Everything else can either be seen on free-view channels or through a Sky or cable subscription. I personally have Sky and get hundreds of commercial channels with all manner of imported and homegrown crap on them. I only really have it for sports, the odd documentary, series like Battlestar Galactica and the repeats of classic comedies/series.

Movies are available through Sky and cable too, including pay per view.

I don't think British TV is very different from US in terms of the availability of crap at the touch of a bottom. We probably have the same number of channels, but we have the BBC channels and radio to offer a bit of quality as well (most of the time anyway).

lazs2 · « **Reply #39 on:** July 17, 2007, 09:09:41 AM »

so you pay two fees?

the one the government charges you to even own a tv and to watch what they allow you to and then another fee to watch what you want?

lazs

FBBone · « **Reply #40 on:** July 17, 2007, 09:41:56 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by McFarland
Actually, we had free cable for a while. When me aunt and uncle were living with me papaw, they got cable. Well, when they left, they cancelled the subscription. The cable company never came and cut the line, so we had free cable for aboot 7 years.

Thats theft, shouldn't you go and shoot yourself now? You were after all taking something that you hadn't paid for. I'd think, reading the Good Book like you do, you might have felt bad about that and called the cable company to inform them of their error. Maybe it's only bad when someone steals from you though.

68ROX · « **Reply #41 on:** July 17, 2007, 12:16:17 PM »

17- Threads started devoid of commentary will not be allowed (i.e. links, cut-n-pastes, clicky, read this...)
__________________

Last edited by MP3 on 07-17-2007 at 07:15 AM

YIKES, Mr. MP3...

He DID have commentary on it before you yanked the post.

If I remember right, it said: "Ya gotta be kidding me?"

68ROX

john9001 · « **Reply #42 on:** July 17, 2007, 12:26:47 PM »

turn off the TV, go outside, experience real life.

McFarland · « **Reply #43 on:** July 17, 2007, 01:04:24 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by FBBone
Thats theft, shouldn't you go and shoot yourself now? You were after all taking something that you hadn't paid for. I'd think, reading the Good Book like you do, you might have felt bad about that and called the cable company to inform them of their error. Maybe it's only bad when someone steals from you though.

No, we told them to come cut it off, they were too lazy to do it, so we had free cable. If they don't feel like it, they don't feel like it.

LYNX · « **Reply #44 on:** July 17, 2007, 01:24:10 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by lazs2
so you pay two fees?

the one the government charges you to even own a tv and to watch what they allow you to and then another fee to watch what you want?

lazs

Anything starting with the letters BBC is funded by the License payer and not the Government. The head of the BBC is appointed by, I think, the Arts Minister. The BBC has a charter to the effect of not being biased to a particular political party. You can look it up on the net. I can't be arsed.

The programs "they allow you to watch" aren't constraint to rating although they do compete for rating. The fact that they aren't constraint means, we the viewer, are privy to some talented and controversial shows that no "sponsor" would touch with your hands let alone their own.

Independent Television, an old term, is commercial TV with a crap load of adverts. The sponsors money is used exactly like the BBC but if shows are too risky or demeaned untasteful they have a devil of a job to find "sponsors". So the sponsor rules the roost. These stations can be political biased because the are indeed "Independent". They are free to watch so long as you have a TV license.

Subscription TV is just that. You pay per month for certain packages that they promote. Could be 8 channels could be 30. Up to you what you pay for but here's the bite back. They slam in adverts and with their double revenue (sponsors and your subs) they can buy just about any program or event they feel fit. Wanna watch the FA cup the NFL then you gotta subscribe to them. It's paid monthly but minimum term is a YEAR.
As far as I'm aware I don't think they pay to develop shows. They just buy them. I am open to be proved wrong.

They also can be politic biased and you need a TV license to view.

All isn't as you insinuate. Just this year some BBC dude was fired for bias on a show he developed. Keep ya commercial TV mate 140 quid is cheap to me.