not2old

Ignoring a DNS or VPN, can any of you live without cable TV or Satellite?

Going totally 'OTA/Free to air, with or without camposat.tv/Filmon only, could you do it?

magnumpi

Of course not!

Would you only watch BBC1 and BBC2 ?

BristolUK

I could do it with computer only - I pretty much do.

All I watch on TV when it's actually "on" is football and the rugby world cup.

If the footie/rugger is on BBC or ITV, FilmOn is perfectly good enough for streaming. Any other channel and it ranges from very good, to watchable through to problematic and unwatchable.

So I want to keep TV for football which is most of my 'live' viewing.

With the way our pricing/bundling works cutting out the TV only saves $35 on standard prices.

When you look at it that way, $35 a month for watching football without the frustrations is worth it, plus others in the house do like other things that are on TV.

But then they're Canadian and used to a lower quality.

not2old

In my youth in the UK it was only BBC1 & ITV/Granada, then for a few years before coming to Canada BBC 2

Today, at my age...

I would not watch BBC for the reason that I have been in Canada too long & it's foreign content does my head in watching it. Nor do I web/internet watch any UK sports

I do like local Canadian content from CBC, CFTO & the US TV networks that is on my OTA

I generally do not watch filmon

By all stretch, I am Canadian

Almost Canadian

Even those lovely documentaries with Mr. Attenborough?

not2old

Attenborough (pompous ass)

As I posted, I don't get to watch BBC

As I mentioned, we have been in Canada far too long to know what the latest & greatest UK TV is all about.

I get enough of British TV for the one week when I'm over visiting family in the UK that is enough for anyone.

TBH, I have in the past watched on-line the odd 5 minute segments of BBC news, that's about it

Wife has in the past watched one or two episodes of Corrie on line

Because of the 'cheap as it is' internet service that we have, there is no point in Iplayer or a DNS, even Filmon..... rubbish

Steve_

We always have this thread and the last time we had it, I didn't come across that many examples of what makes UK TV superior. There are a handful of shows on in the UK that are okay and you can't get them in Canada but quoting crap like Spooks and A Place in the Country or Emmerdale isn't much support for the argument.

Also, I was trapped in the UK for a week last year and all I had access to was freeview and it was rubbish. Unless you think RT is quality programming. That used to be the only argument that made any sense to me, there are more channels available OTA than there are in Canada but the extra channels are just total crap, only the network channels are any good so how is it better than Canada? Not only that but if you live close to the border you can get US channels OTA as well so you're definitely better off in Canada in that situation.

One thing I did find is that I struggle with British accents now when watching British TV. And the problem is that British actors seem so wooden because they're often classically trained and have posh accents but are trying to play someone working class and they can't pull it off. Which is one of the reasons Sherlock is so crap, but hey, you can watch that in Canada.

I think TV in Canada is really good, because a lot of the Netflix shows for example are filmed in Canada so in Canada they're distributed on the cable channels, usually as part of some deal to get a discounted rate to use Bell studios, etc. If you want to watch British TV, anything half decent is on some Canadian channel somewhere.

So yeah, bollocks to TV licencing. I'd rather watch commercials than watch most BBC programming.

BristolUK

I doubt many of us are surprised at that.

BristolUK

You can't opt out of NI (UK) and Taxation either. Is that a bad thing?

Some things are just done for the greater good.

magnumpi

Like the MOT and Bedroom Tax, yeh the UK is very do goody goody theses days

quiltman

Just to add to the "discussion", here's a link to those countries who DO have a TV licence fee! It's surprising who is on it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licence
i knew Germany and Japan had licences via friends but it seems there are more than I realised.

Thairetired2016

And in Germany you have to have a license even if you do not have a TV. If you refuse to pay, you go to jail. Several ppl lost their case in court, and had to spend 6 months inside. German govt. assumes that everybody has a TV. If not, you watch TV on your computer.

BristolUK

Well, who'd have thought it.

The Sun (and The Times) - owner Rupert Murdoch/News International - would have people believe that the BBC's licence fee is a diabolical piece of legislation unique to the BBC and Britain and it's just coincidence that Rupert Murdoch/News International also own Sky and Fox for whom the BBC is a rival broadcaster and he/they wouldn't dream of publishing bollocks about the BBC that gullible folk will swallow hook line and sinker and therefore undermine the BBC for Murdoch/News International interests, oh no.

Nothing of the sort.

bats

It's about quality not quantity

Shard

BBC should be slimmed down to focus on the 'public good' programs that commercial television doesn't make. Like PBS, but with a licence fee (at a fraction of the current amount). Why it competes in the mainstream media is hard to understand. Vested interests no doubt.