Country Tracks 22.8.10 Blyton piece

[Dancing_Ledge]

Yesterday's edition of Country Tracks on BBC 1 included Ben Fogle's piece from August 2006 about Enid Blyton's Dorset. Includes Viv's 'I'm a Blyton Anorak' confession

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... le_Dorset/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Scroll forward to 28 mins 30 secs

[Anita Bensoussane]

There has been some discussion of that in the following thread (page 20), Dancing_Ledge:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... &start=285" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Anne's Father]

bloody bbc block iplayer outside UK ...i would love to know WHY!!!!

[Moonraker]

I'll tell you why! We pay around £145.50 for a TV licence - which in itself pays for the BBC iPlayer. Why should foreigners get it for free?

[Eddie Muir]

Good point, Nigel!

[Ming]

You two sound xenophobic.

[Moonraker]

Better than sounding like you want something of great value for nothing!

[Leslie]

Oh I saw that when it was on! My mother had turned it on (while I was flicking through the paper) and I looked up, got interested then thought "isn't that Viv from the forum?' I told my mother that was who it was! I thought it was great!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'll tell you why! We pay around £145.50 for a TV licence - which in itself pays for the BBC iPlayer. Why should foreigners get it for free?

I don't see why any of us should have to pay a TV licence for any channel. There are oodles of TV channels these days and I don't understand why the BBC can't be funded by advertising like the others (yes, I know adverts can be annoying, but they do have their use as they give viewers the chance to make a cup of tea/visit the loo!)

[Moonraker]

I don't see why any of us should have to pay a TV licence for any channel. There are oodles of TV channels these days and I don't understand why the BBC can't be funded by advertising like the others (yes, I know adverts can be annoying, but they do have their use as they give viewers the chance to make a cup of tea/visit the loo!)

Nothing is for free, Anita. The plethora of channels that you can access via Sky or Virgin (at a considerable price) are still full of adverts. I consider the licence fee to be remarkable value, and would absolutely detest advertising on the BBC. The licence fee is incredibly good value for money. The basic Sky package works out at £ 216 a year + loads of adverts ( containing the oodles of channels that you refer to). At £145, the BBC is a real bargain - as well as being a national treasure. Long may the licence fee last!

[Ming]

£145? Blimey, I'm not rich enough to afford that for one TV channel.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Sorry I'm a bit thick, but what is this BBC iplayer?? I've heard of everyone mentioning it. But are none the wiser!!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Nothing is for free, Anita. The plethora of channels that you can access via Sky or Virgin (at a considerable price) are still full of adverts.

We don't have Sky or Virgin or any TV channels we have to pay for, but we still have a bewildering number available to us.

Long may the licence fee last!

...what is this BBC iplayer??

BBC iplayer is the one thing that almost justifies the licence fee! Try Googling "BBC iplayer", Julie, and you'll find that you can access many (though not all) BBC TV and radio programmes through your computer, usually for up to a week after they were originally broadcast. Actually, I've just realised that Dancing_Ledge included a link to Country Tracks on BBC iplayer - see the first post in this thread. There's also an ITV iplayer (or is it Channel 4? - maybe both!) but that's frustrating to watch as it's set so that you can't bypass the adverts.

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

There are oodles of TV channels these days and I don't understand why the BBC can't be funded by advertising like the others

yup - and it's oodles of stuff that I don't want to watch! As it is, commercial channels struggle to find enough advertisers, and the BBC also seeking advertisers would spread this 'jam' more thinly. 40p a day to the BBC gets me my main source of news, Radio 4, BBC2 and BBC4 and i-player. It's great value!

At the end of the programme, there was a piece about Tyneham. You get a glimpse of the newly restored "History Barn", which has a small stage and can seat over 100. It occured to me that it would be a good place to visit if the EB Soc did a jaunt to Dorset.

I was on Brownsea again today doing a walk for the National Trust, and doing readings about islands. There was a howling gale through the 'Whispering' woods, but still no wailing!

Viv

[Fiona1986]

ITV, Channel4 and channel5 have players.

This might be a bit techy, but if you download the adblock extension for firefox you can block ALL adverts including those that interrupt online TV. (Doesn't work for chrome, and I haven't tried it in IE).