m1stify
Well-Known Member
Ireland not fielding a team was nothing to do with costs, rather corruption within the governing body!
Do you think horses riding will be kicked out of the Olympics in the future
- Thread starter Santa’s Irish draught
- Start date
Ireland not fielding a team was nothing to do with costs, rather corruption within the governing body!
HashRouge
Well-Known Member
I don't understand this comment. You are not *forced* to pay the licence fee. You only need to pay it if you a) watch programmes live on TV or b) if you watch live TV on other online services such as ITVplayer/ iplayer or c) if you watch programmes on catch-up on iplayer. A lot of people don't do any of these things anymore and it is very, very easy to avoid paying the licence fee if you really object to it. Unless you are committed to watching live TV, then I don't understand why you are paying for it. I think the BBC is brilliant but if honestly, if you really dislike it that much, no-one is forcing you to do anything.
OrangeAndLemon
Afraid of exorcism
That's a lot more than the BBC can afford without a significant increase to the licence fee (more than £4.99 a month I suspect but haven't done the maths)
In an era where trans sportspeople will need significant consideration to understand how they can be given an equal basis on which to compete, is the Olympics ready to wave goodbye to the only sport which doesnt have sex and weight classes and enables competitors to compete equally...dressage in particular has seen para athletes being able to compete against able bodied athletes (ignoring Pistorius) although not yet at the highest levels.
I'm lucky to have SkyQ and a years free trial of discovery plus but if I didn't I'd be paying because I worry BBC would only show british competitors and I wanted to watch the German riders too. And I really enjoy the modern pentathlon which I doubt will get BBC coverage.
TPO
Well-Known Member
You have to pay a fee if you have a TV CAPABLE of receiving the bbc. I dont watch bbc or iplayer but I have access to it because I have an aerial.
I cannot legally have a tv that enables me to watch itv and channel 4 without paying a license because it is also capable of receiving bbc.
Trust me I wouldn't be paying it if it wasnt a legal requirement. I don't watch bbc live or iplayer, the only exceptions were the Olympics and badminton/Burghley, none of which have happened.
Kat
Well-Known Member
The license fee also supports channel 4 so you are getting value from your license fee.
Kat
Well-Known Member
I agree the inclusivity issue is really positive for the Olympics. Not just in terms of sex/gender but also age, disability and sexuality.
I think quite a few equestrian Olympians would be considered disabled for the purposes of the DDA, even though they may not qualify to be graded as para athletes.
TPO
Well-Known Member
According to Channel 4 they receive no public money. It is fully funded by their "commercial activities". So says their official statement
Kat
Well-Known Member
I think it is to do with the making of some of the public service programming (or used to be) but I am no expert.
Honestly I am pretty disappointed that the BBC can't cover the Olympics in full as they did in 2012 but it isn't their fault. There is no way they could or should have tried to out bid Eurosport given the amounts of money involved.
Honestly I am pretty disappointed that the BBC can't cover the Olympics in full as they did in 2012 but it isn't their fault. There is no way they could or should have tried to out bid Eurosport given the amounts of money involved.
Mule
Well-Known Member
It was Hinneman really. I felt so bad for the athletes and, had they went, the sport in Ireland would have grown so much. Who knows when we will qualify a team again
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Mule
Well-Known Member
No, it wouldn't be possible for any public broadcaster to come up with that amount of money. I just think it's a shame.
HashRouge
Well-Known Member
I'm sorry but as far as I can tell, this is not true. If you do not watch live TV and do not use iplayer, then you do not need a TV licence https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/broadband-and-tv/tv-licence/. The simple fact of having an aerial and a TV is irrelevant.
Obviously if you are keen on watching ITV and Channel 4 (and other freeview channels) live, then you do have to pay. But if you watch them on catch-up and don't watch other live TV, then you don't need a licence. I'm sorry to be arguing the point, but I just don't like the insinuation that you are being "forced" to pay for the dreadful, evil BBC when that is not true. It is easy enough to avoid paying the TV licence so, if you really don't like it then don't. Ditch your freeview box and get a HDMI cable to hook your laptop up so that you can watch ITV/ Channel 4/ 5 on catch-up, and away you go.
TPO
Well-Known Member
I do watch live TV, I dont watch, or listen or read, the bbc.
The only exceptions are equestrian events at the Olympics, badminton and burghley. There has been no B & B for 2020/21 & they arent showing all of the Olympics. Ergo I've paid my license for nothing.
Legally I have to because I do watch live TV on itv, channel 4 and freeview. I therefore have the ability to watch live tv so I have to pay a tv license. Trust me I wouldnt be paying £26.50 per month if it wasnt a legal requirement.
Maybe we can go back to discussing equestrian sports in the olympics rather than my dislike of the bbc and having to pay their license fee.
HashRouge
Well-Known Member
Back to the actual topic of the thread - I think then popularity of sports is more or less irrelevant. The Olympics features tonnes of unusual/ less popular/ niche sports. In this respect, I don't think the equestrian events are any less popular than shooting, weightlifting, archery or fencing.
I also don't think that accessibility (or lack thereof) will come into it. A huge number of the Olympic sports are completely inaccessible for competitors in less wealthy countries due to cost. The equestrian sports are an obvious one, but don't forget that events like cycling, sailing, swimming, gymnastics, shooting, triathlon, pentathlon etc are all going to be pretty inaccessible too if you're from a country where there isn't a lot of funding. I think a lot of Olympic sports have a bias towards competitors from the USA, Europe, Australia, Russia and China because of the amount invested by these countries. So you couldn't really say, well, we need to get rid of equestrian events because poorer countries can't compete in them, because you'd have to get rid of loads of sports for the same reasons!
Then there is the cost and logistics of hosting equestrian events for the host nation. I guess this might be more of a factor, though again, poorer countries are simply not going to host the Olympics because of the overall cost involved, so it won't get booted on the grounds of restricting who can actually host the Olympics.
The big one for me its animal welfare. I reckon that might be the thing that does for the equestrian events in the end, though I can't imagine it will happen any time soon. I would say environmental concerns too (i.e. flying out hundreds of horses) but I don't think the Olympics are particularly good for the environment anyway!
HashRouge
Well-Known Member
Well if you can't survive without watching ITV and Channel 4 live then you do of course have to pay the licence fee. It wasn't initially clear from your posts that this was the case though, as you said you needed to pay the licence fee because you had a TV "CAPABLE" of showing live TV, plus an aerial (which appears to be irrelevant), not that you wanted to be able to watch ITV/ Channel 4 live. I have to say I'm entirely unsympathetic to your resentment towards paying the licence fee though - unless you absolutely cannot survive without being able to watch ITV or Channel 4 live (which seems nuts to me when you can see everything on catch-up) then you can 100% avoid paying the licence fee. You don't "have" to do anything, you are not being "forced" to do anything.
And apologies for continuing this debate when you clearly don't want to. However, I absolutely hate needless bashing of the BBC. I think it's brilliant and I don't really care that you don't, but you absolutely could avoid paying the licence fee if it was really that important to you.
TPO
Well-Known Member
milliepops
Wears headscarf aggressively
I'm going to tentatively step back in, even if you sign in blood to say you're not watching live telly they still keep sending letters hounding you... had that experience myself.
I'm at peace with the licence fee, i made OH pay it, haha.
eta this page seems to make out that you need a licence for far more than watching normal telly
https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one
I'm at peace with the licence fee, i made OH pay it, haha.
eta this page seems to make out that you need a licence for far more than watching normal telly
https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one
piebaldproblems
Well-Known Member
I've never had a TV, rarely use anything other than Youtube to watch things, and I still get regular letters from them...