YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

These are the longest comments I have ever seen on Youtube.

@xXMissMarmaladeXx But anyway... GO FRY! xD

What a load of drivel.

Compare this with his faux outrage over the Pope's visit costing tax payers'.

Hypocrisy on the grandest scale.

The spurious premise offered here is that the BBC and public service broadcasting are one and the same thing. They are not. It is quite possible to constitute a different model for PSB. How PSB might be funded is a seperate matter.

It suits the BBC to portray itself as the last bastion of quality broadcasting, the nations conscience, your friendly Auntie, when in fact it is a grotesquely bloated self serving special interest group.

Even this tosh from Fry bears the BBC imprimatur.

mtceramics 3 years ago

If you don't want to pay a TV licence, don't own a TV. It is a privilege, not a right, and besides, i don't want to see any more sponsored programmes.

thecheesepriest 3 years ago

Gave up on the BBC when they gave up on Cricket. Its not the BBC I grew up with anymore. Lost its soul. If compromising its impartiality, standards, or integrity meant retaining the licence fee then they would.

samothraki1 3 years ago

The BBC defines what we mean by the phrase "british institution" and we should all be immensely proud of it.

The BBC has, for decades produced TV and Radio of the highest order simply because the license-paying public will accept anything less and we should not accept OUR BBC having to sacrifice its unrivaled quality to subsidise the drek being produced by channel 4.

red7devil213 3 years ago

The BBC is a great institution, but give people the choice whether to attend or not.

With the move away from all-encompassing analogue broadcast to digital, why not allow people to pay for the BBC if they wish to watch and listen to its services. I'm sure most people would continue to subscribe, and those that didnt would still be able to watch advertising funded broadcasting on the other side.

And we need to get away from the 'TV Licence' lets be upfront about it and call it the TV Tax.

DigitalDiabloUK 3 years ago

People think nothing of spending £15-£30 a month on satellite television, the BBC represents much greater value for money in terms of quality of programming, as well as being representative of modern Britian.

If you were to list the classic british programmes of the last few decades they would overwhelmingly be programmes made by the BBC.

Aside from its tv output, the BBC radio service is second to none, with channels and programmes for a diverse audience.

Stephen Fry put it brilliantly.

anhonestmoose 3 years ago 2

This is the huge problem this statement you made:

If you were to list the classic british programmes of the last few decades they would overwhelmingly be programmes made by the BBC.

But now they are creating utter shite and pissing our money away on flights, Taxi's and Hotels.

jeff9868 3 years ago

@anhonestmoose Then why is it inforced by the barrell of a gun? If something is so good, why use such violent tactics to inforce it?

kevbrav 1 year ago

ITV is dead, the BBC is the only descent british broadcaster left.

2hot4paper 3 years ago 2

It's interesting that everyone accuses the BBC of being biased against them: the Opposition calls it pro-Government, the Government calls it pro-Opposition, Christians call it too Muslim, Muslims call it too secular, Secularists call it too Christian, Americans call it pro-Europe, Europeans call it pro-America, right-wingers call it too left-wing and left-wingers call it too right-wing.

Surely as one of the few news agencies still to have any real bite, this is exactly how it should be.

schrodingersduck 3 years ago 2

why can't i have a choice left wing weaklings? liberals are the new nazis they hate debate and hate other opinions!

HouseOldSkoolRaver 3 years ago

You are so wrong. Liberal people by their nature encourage rational debate and don't jump to conclusions. Put the bong down.

rc55 3 years ago

Don't drink or take drugs! shame liberal weak abnormal brains like you have such big mouths for cowards!

HouseOldSkoolRaver 3 years ago

Stephen makes a sound argument, but it's based on the premise that the BBC produces programming worth protecting. Admittedly I've only been living in the UK for two years, but over that time I'm built up a very poor impression of the BBC.

The news coverage is just as superficial and as government-aligned as that offered by the big U.S. channels. The dramas and documentaries are self-important but largely unspectacular. The remainder of the programming is mostly unashamed rubbish.

tildetilde 3 years ago 4

It's very hard to find good objective news these days, the BBC is the closest to it, but I'm so tired of the sensationalist agenda. You can almost hear the presenters tone change when it's a superflous piece.

rc55 3 years ago

fuck the bbc and their carefully manufactured propaganda, infact fuck the state government

Atasuke 3 years ago

What on earth are you on about? Did you even listen to that? You're an idiot!!

Norinay 3 years ago

Bollocks to the BBC extortion racket

You extort £140 every year from every household and then whinge about how good you are, you're legalized robbery is what you are BBC and I want the TV TAX AXED!

Down with BBC and everyone £140 a year better off!

JasonVz 3 years ago

No one forced you to pay for your TV license.

rc55 3 years ago

Yes they bloody well did.. idiot

JasonVz 3 years ago

can i still watch itv and channel 4 or sky tv without a license? no you f**king bastard! its been weeks now and the bbc still havent said the murderer of jimmy in london was turkish. maybe its not important but thats a taste of how they work.

HouseOldSkoolRaver 3 years ago

@rc55 ???????????????

kevbrav 1 year ago

I thought I should post a remark as a non-television user!

I am, of course, a heavy radio listener; mainly Radios 3, 4 and the World Service.

As such, I really must say that the BBC provides the only serious radio broadcasting in this country, with the possible exceptions of Classic FM and Jazz FM. It is for me, quite simply, the jewel in the crown of British broadcasting, and any threat to its continued excellence would be deeply saddening.

Dreadtower 3 years ago

"Jewel in crown of British broadcasting"

What a laughably pompous remark, British broadcasting is utter shite

JasonVz 3 years ago

I'll rephrase that

"BBC is the lid in the toilet of British broadcasting"

JasonVz 3 years ago

He's so brilliant

MargotVoguey 3 years ago 3

Only Stephen Fry could keep this interesting.

D4VED 3 years ago 4

hello bbc

Aznk1dd 3 years ago 4

The BBC is a great british institution and it is evolving to keep up with the times. I am more than happy to pay the TV licence to be proud of what we have in the BBC.

I do recognise that there are issues with ipartiality that should be addressed seriously.

But I wonder how many of the people who say that britishness is crumbling away would also fail to recognise the great and relevant institution that the BBC is?

siservelan 3 years ago 3

I can't hear him.

mystorydude 3 years ago

completely agree. People pay the lisense fee for the BBC not other channels. Who wants to pay for channels with advertising?!

naomifunky 3 years ago 2

multipletom - there's no suggestion of there being no license fee, thats not whats being suggested. Its the idea of splitting the income with other channels. To be honest, the BBC never said it was impartial - why shouldn't they promote videos promoting themselves on their own youtube account?!

I also agree with Fry completely - the BBC produces better quality dramas, documentaries and other programs than other channels. To lose the money and therefore the ability to do this would be .......

Kikie705 3 years ago 3

the BBC wastes a lot of its money on pointless extravagence that doesn't benefit the viewing public in any way.

the BBC is legally obliged to be impartial - why should television viewers be forced to pay for a television service that mainly represents views that are not their own?

regardless, the BBC claims that it is impartial endlessly, and damned be anyone who disagrees with them on that. the institution's one-sided approach to reporting on climate change issues just proves that it isn't.

multipletom 3 years ago

This comment has received too many negative votes show

The BBC is a left wing public broadcast channel, it is also anti-white and pro-immigration.

Death to the BBC!!!!!!!!!!

Adolf18891945 3 years ago

BBC is brilliant - No argument.

More Mr Fry on TV please.

GOAQ 3 years ago 10

*Claps*

I agree with everything he said there.

The BBC is well worth the licence fee: 144 hours of TV broadcasting per day, numerous radio stations, BBC Online, all for just 37p per day.

Once the Digital Switchover is complete, the money the BBC is obliged to spend on promoting the switch could then be redirected to another broadcaster while having no adverse affect on the BBC itself.

slornie 3 years ago 3

the BBC props up a video of a lefty BBC star "intellect" heaping praise on the corporation and the concept of the BBC. valuable public broadcasting - I think not.

(if the BBC was genuinely impartial they'd at the very least put up a counter-argument with the same amount of substance from an equally prominent figure - but unfortunately the beeboids can't bring themselves to admit the possibility that a world without a TV licence might just be a better one.)

multipletom 3 years ago