Bad Broadcasting Corporation

I have been trying to keep a lid on my feelings with regards the BBC and what has been on the telly over the past few years. This could be because I'd find it too depressing to acknowledge the increasing amount of crud on air. Mainly though, it's because I've been more concerned that I might be sounding like a grumpy old lady who can not stay abreast of the times. Now however, and mainly because I am getting older and less concerned about what others think, I am not going to stay quiet any longer. I think I am being stitched up, I think that I am being charged a lot of money for my TV licence for what is predominanly a load of rubbish.

It used to feel that I was getting good value, there was always something on that I wanted to watch, but that is no longer the case. There is rarely a night that goes by nowdays where I am not interested in what is being shown on any of the channels let alone BBC 1 & 2, as the choice is either repeats, reality TV or feeble documentaries - and I am not into the soaps either. Gone are the days where I would settle down to a couple of hours of interesting and entertaining viewing at the end of a long day at work to unwind and forget the stresses. I miss the dramas and comedies that used to be a feature of at least one hour a night. This is no longer the case. In fact there seems to be more American dramas on the box these days than British and this appears to mark a strange turnabout.

To make things even worse we are now at the mercy of the World Snooker, or any sporting event that the BBC shows to be honest. (Yes I know, I'm not interested in sport either that makes me a sad-o but I still want my viewer's rights.) When I settled the other night to specifically watch something that had attracted my attention, a rare event enough as it goes, the programme was postponed until the snooker had finished. The snooker overrun by one and a half hours. The programme that I wanted to watch couldn't be recorded, we had no information to go on. Nothing had been said, put up on screen, ammended in the papers. When the snooker did eventually finish, the voice-over informed us in a trite manner that, - there had been a slight delay.

And so I repeat: what exactly am I paying for when I fork out for my annual TV licence? The service is apalling, I do not think that I am getting value for money, but I hang on in there anyway just in case and what else can I do if I want access to the other TV channels? As the BBC has the monopoly we are beholden to whatever it does and cares to charge. In this day and age however, shouldn't it at least have an overflow channel for sport events that go over their allotted times?