![]() |
#21
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
It's not only the lack of adverts which makes the licence fee attractive, it's also the fact that without it the BBC could not produce it's wonderful non-commercial programmes, matchless news service and awesome website. To get my digital cable channels I have to pay about £50 a month (four times the licence fee!) and you still get the adverts and often all you get is cheap foreign imports, reality television shows and programmes first made by the BBC! Where would 'Gold', 'The History Channel' and 'National Geographic' be without BBC programmes?
|
#22
|
||||
|
||||
![]() Quote:
Quote:
|
#23
|
||||
|
||||
![]() Quote:
|
#25
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
That would be so nice.
|
#26
|
||||
|
||||
![]() Quote:
Quote:
I get 54 channels, but there are only two I watch almost every day, and maybe 5 more I watch once a week. And by me, I mean the whole family. I would say half the channels I have never watched, even once, and some, like E!, the entertainment channel, I would never have watched, except for one thing-- it's a celebrity biography and gossip channel, but it has Saturday Night Live reruns, which I have very occasionally watched. I get two home shopping channels, and four sports channels. Never watched. I don't watch BET very often, less than once a month, but they sometimes show movies, like Cool Runnings, or The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, that I like. It probably would actually cost more just to deliver channels I want, than just to give every customer all the channels. I don't know whether it's the same over there or not. Maybe I'm not getting it, though. Are you just complaining about the clumsy way they keep their records? or about the charges in the first place? |
#27
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
No, at least not in Ireland.
Quote:
Quote:
It's basically a tax. Come on, who likes paying taxes? ![]() Last edited by jw; 22 September 2009 at 01:45 AM. |
#28
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
You have to have a TV licence in England if you own and operate a TV. AFAIK It doesn't matter what you use that TV for - even if you only use it for the purpose of hooking up a games console. There may be some sort of loophole whereby you could disable the tuner thus effectively turning it into a monitor I don't know, but an unmodified TV is capable of recieving broadcast signals, so you have to buy a licence.
From what I understand, the detection system is based around the NTVLRO (National TeleVision and Licencing Office) database. The assumption is that the vast majority of people do have a television, so they go to addresses where no licence is registered. A couple of years I was quite hard up, and I let my TV licence slip (TV or food - tough choice) for a few months. An inspector turned up on my doorstep. I know there were no high tech gadgets involved because I hadn't been using the TV. He asked me to turn on my TV, he commented on how good the reception was, then we discussed it and offered me a payment plan - not "it's straight to court for you sonny". For the record I know I was in the wrong, and I'm not proud of this incident. I think the BBC having to share the licence revenues with the commercial channels is a fairly recent thing. It certainly used to go exclusively to the BBC. I did see a breakdown somewhere, darned if I can find it but the BBC still gets the lions share. It should be noted that the BBC does run 9 (or is it ten including the Gaelic language channel) TV channels and 6 radio stations, all advert free out of this. Of course there is merchandising, and I don't know if the adverts on BBC America generate enough to not only keep that going, but to also replenish the general coffers. BBCi on the internet is a curious thing legally. Until recently it showed programmes 2 hours or so after they had been broadcast (available for a limited period usually 7 days), and no licence was required to watch them. The BBCi service did not show every programme available to broadcast viewers though. Films and imported shows were generally unavailable probably due to the agreements with the owners/distributors. Recently I seem to have read that the service has, or will offer live (as in at the same time it is being shown on broadcast television) internet streaming and you will need a licence to watch that service. We have a licence for this address before you ask, but I don't watch much TV. I have a Freeview dongle for my PC, but it's looking kind of dusty. I don't know if a detector van could pick up someone using a PC to watch TV. |
#29
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
When I worked in retail, 1980-84, we were to ask people who bought tvs to provide thier names and addresses that the company (Fine Fare) had to provide to NTVLRO.
Sadly, some folks gave false addresses. |
#30
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
On one hand, I think "advertizing free tv is cool" but I think it's a bit ridiculous to have to pay a tax to own a tv you have strictly for gaming or watching DVD's for example.
Why don't they have like cable boxes or converter boxes so the people who have the license can get the channels but those who don't can't? Like the cable boxes here in the US, if you don't pay your bill, they cut off your cable. It seems it would be a lot easier then hunting down every person with a television set in their house and demanding the license fee. |
#31
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
[
Quote:
It isn't like cable - if you have a TV and a properly aligned antenna, as it stands you can recieve the five main channels, because they are broadcast over radio waves. There is no way of cutting any individual off. |
#32
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
They could conceivably encrypt the signal and require it to go through a device that is only unlocked upon receipt of payment for a television license, but then that would have to be connected to something that they could access. Maybe a box on the side of the house that the TV people could open up and shut off if the house didn't have a current license.
I imagine that's not particularly practical, though. |
#33
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
Are you sure you're not talking about a freeview/cable subscription? BBC4 is freeview/cable/satellite. ITV isn't funded by the licence. The licence is for having a working TV set capable of receiving TV broadcasts (and it funds the BBC (mainly), something dating back to when BBC was the only broadcaster). What you actually receive on that set will also depend on other subscriptions (e.g. to a cable provider) or on having a freeview box (which would get you BBC3, BBC4 and other free digital channels). Basic terrestrial channels are BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channels 4 and 5 (though there is the planned digital switchover)
|
#34
|
||||
|
||||
![]() Quote:
Quote:
|
#35
|
|||
|
|||
![]() Quote:
It's a way to move money from the people to the state without calling it a tax. |
#36
|
||||
|
||||
![]() Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
The BBC has far more channels than just BBC America, they have at least one Asian channel and a new television channel for the Middle East has just opened. I think these may carry adverts, though. |
#37
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
We get five BBC channels by satellite here: BBC Entertainment, BBC Lifestyle, BBC Knowledge, CBeebies, and BBC World News. They all have adverts, but actually not nearly as many as our local licence-supported SABC channels.
|
#38
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
I can't be the only one who thought of this during the course of this thread.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_OuBhx-jB8 -RoadsterBBCHeavenboy |
#39
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
No.
However they assume you DO have a TV. Even telling them you don't isn't normally enough. They continue to send threatening letters and people to the door. Generally they try and pressurise people into letting them in, but they can get a court order to make you let them into the house to check that you really don't have a TV. Quote:
Also - see above. I think arguments that it's actually good value for the product you are getting just don't work - it's not a commercial arrangement of that kind. Would I pay that much for the BBC services - maybe. Am I happy that I (a) have to pay to use unrelated services, and (b) can be forced to have someone in my house to check whether I'm using the service - NO. It's kind of surreal - lyou can't imagine any circumstances in which company A which produces, say T-shirts, can insist you pay them because they assume you have their product. If you claim you have never had anything to do with their product they can enter your home to check, and charge you if you have a similar product from company B. You can use their services for free (radio, I Player, internet site for news etc,) and pay for using a service that gets none of the money. Plus - as it is governmental and not commercial you might at least expect that it would be administered in a more socially forgiving way. The very old get free licenses, and some people on benefits can pay monthly (but they'll kick people of the scheme and refuse to let the back on when they make the choice Eddy did and buy food instead of paying). Blind people get 50% off. Othersie you pay the same for any size household, any number of TVs. For a fuzzt 19 inch TV to 5 huge wide screens in the house. Then they dispraportionately go after the poor if they don't buy one... Quote:
Quote:
Victoria J |
#40
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
AFAIK anyone can pay monthly, but IIRC you have to put up six months in advance.
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/waystop...debitintro.jsp If you don't have a bank account upon which you can set up a direct debit (as was my case) you can use a TV Licensing savings card, whereby you can put a bit on it each payday or whenever you have a few quid spare in the hope of paying off any arrears (the option I was offered) and that you have enough on it to pay the license when it is due for renewal. This can be done at a PayPoint outlet, which are located in Post Offices, newsagents and many other stores. http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/waystopay/postoffice.jsp Last edited by Eddylizard; 23 September 2009 at 10:05 PM. |
![]() |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|