I grew up in the 80s and 90’s like most others in the UK… watching television. The BBC was a big part of that. Old sitcoms like Red Dwarf, Open All Hours, One Foot In the Grave. The imported shows like The X-Files that BBC2 (and later BBC1) had broadcast from 1994 onwards. It was a big part of my life as a kid.
But in later years, the bias that I came to see in their output and the sneering ‘talking down to’ style of reporting in its news and documentaries became hugely evident. Last years (2020) output was certainly no exception.
Don’t get me wrong, this applies to almost all… no… I’ll say all mainstream media platforms output. But the BBC is held to a higher standard (allegedly). Something that they have forgotten (or just abandoned). To me, this alone is unacceptable.
And then we had the ‘Sir’ Jimmy Saville cover-up that came to light publicly in 2012. For years I continued, like a mug, to pay my TV license. Well I used to host New Years social gatherings and watching the live coverage of the turn of midnight was a staple of this. I now seem justified having cancelled my license in 2020 judging from the coverage for the 2021 New Years fireworks display and the BBC’s insertion of their woke agenda. Seriously justified!.
So cancelling was evidently something I should have done long ago. But any time I had started the process, the ambiguity of the rules and also how to go about this seemed… well… almost deliberate.
As far as we are told, you need to have a TV licence if you (1) Watch or record live TV programmes on any channel or device or (2) Download or watch programmes on BBC iPlayer. How difficult could that be to get ones head around?
Then I spoke to others whom had seemed to come to the same hurdle. This seemed like a psychological barrier that had been purposefully designed to intimidate those that start the process. But the more I heard this reported, and learning from organsiations such as Defund the BBC, the more I was determined to see this through in 2020.
And I was not the only one in my social circle. So we compared notes and all went through this process. Some having different experiences to others.
I recall doing this in early 2020. I went on the website, answered a load of questions that seemed designed to try to install self-doubt if you believe that you don’t need the license (but I saw through it). I answered all the questions honestly and correctly and was told my payments and license would come to an end, which they did. That seemed to do the trick.
But then a few months later. It starts up again. In July a letter comes though: “Oy oy… whats this? You’ve not carried out this here declaration yet. You have to come back and get some kind of ‘non-TV License-License’ otherwise you’ll be in trouble”. Obviously that wasn’t the literal wording of the letter, but that was the general message. So I had to go to some link to a ‘No Licence Needed’ form and answer more questions, which I did. The whole thing seemed like another attempt at getting me to doubt my eligibility for not having a license.
Evidently this is a process that is necessary every two years.
And my story is a lot shorter than many others. So far it doesn’t involve any unexpected knocks at the door from random enforcement officers. By they way if that happens, remember you DO NOT have to let them in without a police warrant.
Anyway, I’ll cut this short. I was considering doing this as a straight forward ‘How To Cancel Your TV License‘ blog… but this has been done elsewhere (see the below links) so why complicate it? I’ll just direct you there.
Beyond this I will share a few stories and articles that have influenced and/or since justified my decision to cancel. As below.
BBC BIAS AND BAD PRACTICE ARCHIVE:
More items shall be added to this archive over time.
Joseph
Last updated 17th January 2021