This afternoon.

Further to recommendations by the Future of Media Commission that the TV licence fee should be abolished and replaced by exchequer funding for RTÉ… and an Oireachtas committee recommendation that streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime should face a new levy to pay for a fund for independent productions….along with the appointment of an online safety commissioner…

…David Tully writes:

My Dad watches TV. He is in his 80s. Everyday the same routine. Buys The Irish Times in the morning. At a minute past six, watches the Six-One news. The TV is in the same corner. Wires, dust behind it. Three remote controls. Multiple black boxes doing God knows what underneath. It’s cute, but…. why the f*#k should I pay for it?

I don’t watch TV. Haven’t done so in literally 20 years.

Hence this sneaky RTE bill. A tax wrapped in a levy. Wrapped in altruism. Suggesting media arts production and child safety. But “We’ve a mandate to deliver culturally appropriate content nationally”

When there were one or two cameras in the country. A cinema. One screen. Three channels. Yes, necessary back then. What about now? When people blog. Tweet important news. Upload.When musicians live stream. Where’s the relevance with regards to cultural parenting or control.

Why should a failing system get to extract tax. At the same time not adapt. Plus policing the internet like a 3rd Irish parent. What does that even mean. And if you do open the internet to taxing platforms. Where does it stop? Who decides? This isn’t about a few big platforms. It’s opening Pandora’s Box to taxing the internet.

Sadly, there is an idea for a national platform but you couldn’t have people from TV involved. It’d be like getting Easons to invent Wikipedia. Here’s a nice article how they made that beautiful egalitarian ecosystem.

Anyone?