Television

This is one for the Brits really, sorry to everyone else, but you may not understand this argument as it is entirely concerned with moaning about the state of British television and discussing the age old issue of why it is no longer worth paying the licence fee.

If you live in the UK you will probably be familiar with this argument. It’s something we all moan about, and have been moaning about for years. My dad was banging on about this decades ago and probably still is now. We are expected to pay a licence fee every year in order to receive the TV broadcasts from all the different TV stations; this so we can watch live TV and newly broadcast programmes when they go out and not have to miss out on all the joys and wonders that the telly-box has to offer us, right?

Well, ok, but the problem, for so many years, is that if we’re going to do that, we should get to see something good.

There are, of course, high points and low points to television. At certain times there are loads of great dramas and shows to watch and at other times it all seems to be going downhill. When there is a slump in programme quality we all begin to moan about just what it is we pay for when we shell out money every year for the privilege of sticking an aerial lead in the back of the TV and watching . . . well, whatever crap they happen to have put on. If the standards slip, there is a public outcry because we are, unfortunately, a nation glued to the television.

This is beside the point though because now the argument is changing. Or at least it should. Whereas before we had no choice about licence fees – if we wanted to watch TV there was really little option – now we have alternatives. I have not watched terrestrial television in years and never plan to again. But I don’t think I’ve missed anything.

And here is why:

1. You can now buy most programmes, after they’ve been broadcast, on DVD or blu-ray.
and . . .

2. If you can’t do this, they are usually findable online. The BBC and ITV both have iPlayers now, where you can go online to “catch up” with all the programmes you’ve missed after they’ve gone out on terrestrial TV. YouTube also makes a very good platform for all the ripped videos of different shows, so often put up by helpful people who just want to share their favourite stuff with the world. All free and all watchable at any time of day.

So, whereas before we were beholden to the television stations and the government demand that we pay for the service that we were being provided with, regardless of how useless and terrible that service happened to be, there is now the option for us to just wait 24 hours and watch what we want via these methods. And, not only does this allow, for the curtailing of the channel-hopping “culture” that has sprung up over the last couple of decades since TV remotes were invented – thus getting rid of most of the rubbish that we would otherwise “end up” watching simply by having landed on it while aimlessly surfing around – but it also means that we don’t really have to pay these big conglomerates any more for the things we don’t want.

Some of you, if you have read my previous posts, might have noticed that I hate middle men, so this last point, for me, is highly satisfying.

But, anyway, my point was that the question: why do we pay the licence fees, is still there, albeit in a slightly altered form. Because now it’s not a case of having to. We no longer have to sacrifice anything by staging this particular revolution, because they’ve given us all the things we need so that we won’t have to any more – they’re not losing any money because the BBC, and all these other big companies who might otherwise benefit from licence payers’ money, must make a hell of a lot more in DVD sales these days than anywhere else.

And the beauty of it is that, far from depriving us, it actually makes our lives better. The world really would be a better place if we all just stopped aimlessly watching TV – being handed the same old crap that faceless, suited fat-cat telly people decide to hand us – and just made informed decisions about what we actually wanted, or needed to watch. If we do it that way we can save a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of otherwise wasted energy. Let’s face it, what do you actually get out of watching reality television? What’s the point, really? Just go outside if you want to see reality. Surely you know by now, it’s all garbage.

There is a song by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers called “Throw Away Your Television”. Go and listen to it. And then do it.

Go on. I dare you!