Why I won’t be paying to get Saorview

I won’t be purchasing a Saorview box.

I pay my TV licence to help fund three TV channels and four radio stations, but from Oct 24 I have been told that I will no longer receive the three TV channels unless I pay another €79. I won’t be doing this.

The advertising blurb around Saorview claims that it is free. It isn’t. We will continue to pay for digital television through our licence fee. The idea of having to pay an extra €79 for more channels pushing out repeats of the same rubbish that we receive all year every year is just too much for me. I don’t want to watch Celebrity Baiinnsteor, repeats of the Simpsons, inaccurate reports on Prime Time or poor commentary on GAA games. Whether in sparkling digital quality or in bog standard analogue these programmes offer nothing new or innovative, not to mention the poor quality of public service that we have been subject to down through the years.

I don’t want to have to sit through another series of the Late Late Show watching so-called celebrities pedalling books or RTE personnel promoting their shows. TV3 is no better, but at least they don’t charge me an annual fee to pay for over-priced presenters and poor programmes interspersed with more and more advertisements and programme promotions. I won’t miss RTE television after Oct 24. I will, of course, regret that I still have to pay the ever increasing licence fee for a reduced service, but when it comes to our State broadcaster, I seem to have been doing that for quite some time.

Tony Creedon

Macroom

Co Cork