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I can watch the for free with the BBC iPlayer? I think this is aimed at non UK users.

You can't watch them on your iPod, appletv or watch them after the 7 days - people will buy them in the same way they buy bbc dvds - to watch them after the event.
 
Presumably you are instulted therefore by DVD sales by the BBC? Or CD sales? There's no difference - if you want to watch the programes on your computer for free - i.e. what your license fee allows you (and anyone else in the uk who DOESN'T pay the fee) to do - then go to the iPlayer.

As for the whole license fee debate in general - I can see how you'd get annoyed by it if you never watch bbc things - but the snobish part of me wants to say why AREN'T you using the bbc - great news, great programmes - are you per chance the type who watches big brother and sky all the time and think thats quality entertainment? But thats just my snobish half ;)

I take great offence to being accused of watching big brother ;) . Mind you the BBC is not much better with garbage like Eastenders, a show where everyone hates each other and live in a pub; and Casualty, a show where somebody being mutilated by a combine harvester is seen as entertainment.

I do however like the BBC news but it hardly warrants the licence fee.
 
I take great insult to being accused of watching big brother ;) . Mind you the BBC is not much better with garbage like Eastenders - the show where everyone hates each other and lives in a pub - and Casualty - the show where somebody being mutilated by a combine harvister - are seen as entertainment.

I do however like the BBC news but it hardly warrants the licence fee.

lol spose i'll have to give you that - the bbc does try and tend to the masses with eastenders etc. But for me the news and the 'cultural' things the bbc does is what makes the money worth it - documentaries, the occasional good quality drama, (some) comedies - all without ads. makes the rest of tv look decidedly lacking.
 
I object to being asked to pay twice for these programs, so I will continue to download that rare creation ( a BBC program worth watching ) via Bit Torrent.

Doug

so the next time i'm in hmv I can just get a copy of life on mars on DVD and walk out the store without paying as I've already paid for it right?

iTunes purchase is same as DVD purchase you are buying the content to own. The licience fee pays for you to access the tv channel and watch it while its on its almost as if it was a rental. When it's gone you no longer have it.

Only part of the BBC funding comes from tv licence the rest comes from selling their show to other channels and DVD sales. iTunes is just an extension of the DVD sales nothing more. Sure DVD give you more extras but iTunes videos will be available quicker.

Hopefully apple and BBC can work out a catch up tv service based on the iTunes rental model making the shows only available for 7 days for free?
 
I find it strange that Apple want UK tax payers ( the ones who pay the license fees ) to pay for shows that have already been paid for. I expected them to be free for UK viewers.

Its a shame they've not been added to other stores, I'd pay for some of them.

( To the poster above a few - if your in Canada - the Sarah Jane chronicles are being shown on BBC Canada on Sundays )

I hope CBC shows the new series of Dr Who and Torchwood soon - both are great. Though, I've wondered why all the main characters in Torchwood are bi-sexual?!
 
Quality of the BBC

lol spose i'll have to give you that - the bbc does try and tend to the masses with eastenders etc. But for me the news and the 'cultural' things the bbc does is what makes the money worth it - documentaries, the occasional good quality drama, (some) comedies - all without ads. makes the rest of tv look decidedly lacking.

All I can say is......try living in the US. I spent 5 years living there and had dreams of programmes as bad as eastenders. The quality programming that is the BBC has to be missed to see how good it actually is.


I would gladly pay twice the license fee for the news and drama alone. Couple with the ability to have the BEST news site on the web makes me proud to be british.

We have to stop this whole complaining culture. The BBC IS the best television producer in the world without question. Having a film without adverts on mainstream television is a pleasure.
 
Hmm.

Mighty Boosh - Excellent
Life On Mars - Excellent
Little Britain - So-So (Third Season is crap)
Two Pints - Trite crap unless you're drunk in which case it's strangely watchable until you actually start liking the characters (except for the squeaky one, although she's the hottest out of a bad bunch).

As far as I'm concerned all the BBC shows should be available for download for 30 days after being aired for free, or for a cover fee for the bandwidth and other additional costs to the BBC of providing the service (say 49p an episode). After that I guess it is fair that they make sales to make up money.

Whilst I dislike the mandatory nature of the BBC licence fee for TV owners, at least there aren't adverts (as you sit there busting for a piss) and there's a wide range of material.
 
BBC / UK iTunes

I would hope there's more to come from the BBC and iTunes - but generally, being an AppleTV owner I welcome the content!

I do feel that the (still 79p/song + 1.89 music video / TV episode) is way too much.

It actually works out cheaper to go buy the DVDs in many instances.

I also find that iTunes will "rip" my music CD's for use on my iPod... why not my DVD's too? I've paid for them already. (first person to mention breaking dvd encryption being technically illegal gets beaten over the head with the "so is taping a tv program" response).
 
I was wrong in that other thread. This is just a rival service to DVD series, not an iPlayer alternative. Pity I don't like or watch any of the series on offer. I will only consider buying if they put some decent stuff on there - but then again the prices are fairly steep.

Still, I didn't realise that iPlayer streaming worked on the Mac. So it's not as bad as I thought....
 
the license fee is worth it for radio 4 (and r3 if you're a music snob - i'm not but i appreciate the way it's there for when i get old and miserable. r5 is alright as well if you can stand the jingle every ten minutes...).

bbc tv went down the pan years ago when it tried to compete with itv and sky for viewers - it shouldn't be there to get hit ratings for the least cost (if you try that you end up with poor output like pop idol and that come dancing crap...), but for high quality programmes that educate and inform - like the series atom which was on recently (but not on iplayer due to rights issues...).

edit: oh alright, the mighty boosh is genius. but i bet it only cost 12p to make.
 
Presumably you are instulted therefore by DVD sales by the BBC? Or CD sales? There's no difference - if you want to watch the programes on your computer for free - i.e. what your license fee allows you (and anyone else in the uk who DOESN'T pay the fee) to do - then go to the iPlayer.

As for the whole license fee debate in general - I can see how you'd get annoyed by it if you never watch bbc things - but the snobish part of me wants to say why AREN'T you using the bbc - great news, great programmes - are you per chance the type who watches big brother and sky all the time and think thats quality entertainment? But thats just my snobish half ;)

Yes bask in the glory of being forced to pay for English television. And now twice glad i no longer have a tv. I tryed sky but paying for my tv twice is to much i only wanted the anime channel why should i have had to fund an English broadcaster.
And as for news and programing there are far better choices than the BBC look at that atrocity Doctor who way to spend a lot of money on bad effects and bad acting.
To be honist if you defend the programing of the BBC (Eastenders lol) then you are the prefect market for big brother as its equally the same level of drivel.
 
Shoesy is so happy

I gladly pay my license fee, think the BBC is brilliant and will gladly pay a measly £1.89 each time I want to watch and then keep an episode of one of my favourite shows through my shiny :apple:tv.

Ripping DVD's is so last year.

Yay Apple. Go BBC!
 
Yes bask in the glory of being forced to pay for English television. And now twice glad i no longer have a tv. I tryed sky but paying for my tv twice is to much i only wanted the anime channel why should i have had to fund an English broadcaster.
And as for news and programing there are far better choices than the BBC look at that atrocity Doctor who way to spend a lot of money on bad effects and bad acting.
To be honist if you defend the programing of the BBC (Eastenders lol) then you are the prefect market for big brother as its equally the same level of drivel.

Cable isn't that much better IMO. Yes, you get hundreds of channels.... many of which show the same stuff as other channels. If you like endless epsodies of Friends, Simpsons etc, then you'll love it.

Compared to UK TV and cable over here in Canada, I don't notice a lot of difference. Hundreds of channels full of endless crap, or 5 channels full of crap... with a small content of good stuff.

The scurge of TV these days is the dumbed down reality TV.
 
one day they will understand that with the internet there is no borders, I want british shows, Im sure australian wants them too and american shows too (i'm in canada, choice is pretty poor)
 
the license fee is worth it for radio 4 (and r3 if you're a music snob - i'm not but i appreciate the way it's there for when i get old and miserable. r5 is alright as well if you can stand the jingle every ten minutes...).

It's a television licence. I don't have a TV or pay the licence, but I listen to Radio 4 all the time (and I'm not doing anything illegal). If the BBC wanted a radio licence I'd be happy to pay it, but that's not how it works.

bbc tv went down the pan years ago when it tried to compete with itv and sky for viewers - it shouldn't be there to get hit ratings for the least cost (if you try that you end up with poor output like pop idol, that come dancing crap...), but for high quality programmes that educate and inform - like the series atom which was on recently (but not on iplayer due to rights issues...).

Agreed. I watched some BBC over Christmas - and I couldn't watch for more than a few minutes. Most of their programmes are so lazy these days - lots of rapid editing, the odd jolly snatch of pop music thrown in between every bit of talking (to keep the proles awake), same old safe presenters for every show and they never miss an opportunity for a bit of back-slapping and self congratulation. Lazy, low quality, patronising rubbish.
 
Am I the only one who thinks it strange BBC Worldwide are selling just to UK residents? I think this may be extended in the future to all iTunes stores. Also, hopefully other broadcasters will be encouraged by the BBCs lead (both in the UK and abroad). I think this could be quite significant for Apple.

Apple Uk marketing must be happy as well. Content sells TVs.
 
So many people are confusing iPlayer with the BBC Worldwide iTunes Store.

iPlayer gives you access to free repeats of shows for up to 7 days.

The iTunes store allows you to purchase BBC shows (you know, to keep forever) much in the same way as if you went to HMV or Amazon and bought the DVD.

To the people whinging about iPlayer... you're acting as if we can't even access the service... we can, we just can't download them (yet) but who cares anyway. Downloading them would be more convenient but it's not like we can't watch the shows.

I can watch the for free with the BBC iPlayer? I think this is aimed at non UK users.
iPlayer only show it's content for 7 days. You can't watch most of the shows in the new iTunes store on iPlayer.

And it's only for UK viewers (maybe it'll expand to others though?)
 
Joey is a little over excited this evening

Yah boo to all you life is so horrible moaners!

BBC is great! Brilliant!

Robin Hood- Yay!

Mighty Boosh- Smashing!

Little Britain- Award Winning!

Life on Mars- Got the Master out of Doctor Who in it!

Yay! Woo! Yay!
 
It's a television licence. I don't have a TV or pay the licence, but I listen to Radio 4 all the time (and I'm not doing anything illegal). If the BBC wanted a radio licence I'd be happy to pay it, but that's not how it works.

The license fee also funds BBC Radio too...

( though you won't be thrown in Jail for listening to radio without a TV license, of course )
 
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