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Comment by mcny | Hacker News Reader

I wish I had more experience with the BBC. On the surface, it seems like a very interesting experiment. From outside, I imagine BBC would be different from other broadcast television stations in that it doesn't have do ads (BBC outside the UK is different, I believe). How much of a difference does it make? I'd love to hear some insight from people in the UK.

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I stopped listening to commercial radio maybe 20 years ago. The commercial aspects ruin the experience - too many ads, too many loud strident and annoying ads, too small and repetitive a playlist. Very little news, talk, science, comedy etc.

Classic FM was OK for a while, but these days I almost constantly listen to BBC radio in the car or at home because unlike TV I can do other things at the same time. When I'm listening to R4 at home (talk radio with news, science, current affairs and comedy) it's often interesting or funny enough to deserve full attention. I still prefer radio as a day's background noise over constant streaming thanks to the variety in programming through the day, and the periodic talk, and news. I turn off or switch for some of course. :)

TV I mostly gave up on, except some BBC, and films and a few series via Netflix etc. I hate UK commercial TV - way too many ads now, enough to ruin the programming and stop me wanting to watch.

Without BBC radio it would ruin my day. Most days. I'm not sure what I'd do without it. Listen to a lot more audio books maybe, as I don't want 100% music.

If you want to experience the BBC a lot of radio is available for ad free download, podcast, or streaming on site, and there's always the World Service. Not sure how TV access is from abroad. World Service is interesting because it gives a distinct perspective that's different to domestic UK broadcasts. I used to listen a lot when I was often up late.

I think its worth noting that BBC Radio 4 is deemed sufficiently important that checking for its broadcast is one of the tests that the UK nuclear deterrent submarines use to determine if civilisation as we know it has ended.

Yes, I do complain about the BBC occasionally (e.g. I was genuinely shocked as to how partisan they were during the Scottish Independence Referendum) but overall I love their service and am quite happy to pay my license fee.

I'm a Brit, vehemently anti-ad, but am not a fan of the BBC, and don't support it (financially or otherwise).

It may have made some sense back when it was the only broadcaster, but now that it's one of many, and there are proven alternatives for ad-free (e.g. the HBO subscription model), I can't see any justification for continuing to force people to pay for a channel they don't like and don't use.

Whereas I agree with the sentiment, I find that nearly all subscription TV (Sky, etc) has 15 minutes of adverts an hour. These include the premium channels, such as Sky films and Sports. I don't see why anyone would pay £60 a month for these channels to play 8 hours of adverts each a day, and then complain about the TV licence cost of £150 a year.

The only subscription service I use is Netflix, which doesn't have ads and is cheaper than the TV license. I wouldn't pay for anything that did have ads, and I don't see why "some people spend a lot on ad-infested channels" in inconsistent with "some people complain about being forced to pay for something they don't use".

> I can't see any justification for continuing to force people to pay for a channel they don't like and don't use.

When you say "channel" you're talking about 7 Tv Channels and numerous radio stations

So? I don't use any of them.

I'd like to point out that parent is talking about BBC radio, but you're asking about TV. I point this out because I was about to reply that if you're in the U. S., you can get much the same experience with a collection of local public radio stations. At least in the Seattle area, there's the classical station, there's the "mostly jazz" station, a couple of NPR affiliates. Mostly ad-free, if one doesn't count the bumper sponsorships.

But you were asking about TV, so that doesn't apply. Though between Netflix and HBO Go, we get all the TV we can watch without ads. It's jarring to turn on a TV in a hotel room these days. "I'm continually amazed that people pay for this."

I listen to a mix of BBC programming and commercial radio while driving to work. The ad-free BBC allows for some real immersion in the programme content, which is great for plays and documentary. E.g. something like “In our time” which devotes 45 totally uninterrupted mins to a single subject. When I get bored with the serious stuff I switch to commercial music radio and use the ad-breaks to cycle to the next station that is playing music. So, lack of ads allows real depth in the content.

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