If you ignore digital reception, the typical household gets 5 channels. Two of them are BBC, which the license pays for, and the others are ITV, channel 4, and channel five (which is notorious for being dreadful).
The BBC channels are ad-free because of the license fees, and they're quite good. The BBC is a massive too, and produces(ed) some excelent programming (Red dwarf, Monty python, Top gear, Dr. Who etc. click here for a full list) unlike most other public broadcasting services
the Ad-free status gives quite a few advantages:
Films aren't interupted at crucial moments so you appreciate them so much more.
Children's TV has no ads, so you know the kids aren't being bombarded with messages to buy buy buy (I know a couple parents who ban their children from watching non-bbc children's channels).
Then there's the news. BBC news is legendary in the UK, and a big advantage is that is legally must remain impartial! of course whether it is perfectly impartial is always a matter of debate, it's about the closest to unbiased i've seen. especially comparted to the US news stations (i used to live in the US).
All in all i thinks it's a fantastic deal, but i wouldn't mind it if people who didn't pay the fees (ie people outside the UK) got an advert suported version of the website.
CDG |
