Re: UK still has 13,000 B & W televisions
Australia used to have a licence for the ABC, by most accounts the quality of shows/films made back when there was funding for it (provided by the licence) was far superior in general to what we get these days.
I can't even stand commercial television these days, between the relentless ads and the godawful shows - I've switched to DVDs and digital downloads of TV shows entirely. Whenever we've been back over in the UK visiting family I've always been really impressed with the TV content. Personally I think the BBC's got a good model. |
Re: UK still has 13,000 B & W televisions
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A TV licence is not required to watch DVD's or Blu-Ray material using a monitor which happens to be a TV receiver, or even material recorded off-air by somebody that does have a TV licence. What you cannot do is watch broadcast material at broadcast time from any source, (i.e. not on a 'catch-up' website like the BBC i-Player). Most UK citizens accept that it is necessary to hold a TV licence and grudgingly (because it is a tax or sorts) pay up without question. There are a few freeloaders who try to justify why they shouldn't pay - as for any tax. The fact is that for many years, it has been demonstrated that (frequently inferior) UK commercial TV programming costs more than the BBC's output through added costs on purchased goods and services and buyers have no choice whether they watch TV or not. |
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Every now and then it comes up as a topic for debate, and no, nobody likes taxes - but so far nobody has been able to think of an overall better system of funding. That was really brought home to me during the summer when the BBC televised the Olympics, whilst a commercial channel televised the Paralympics. I don't think I was the only person who was very unimpressed when the opening ceremony of the latter was interrupted for adverts. Most people see it as the least of evils, and it's FAR less than most cable or satellite subscriptions. Surely it's no different in principle to such as a road fund tax - if you want to use a car on public roads, you have to pay an annual fee? At least with the TV licence the money is ring fenced and goes to the BBC, all road tax doesn't go towards road maintenance! |
Re: UK still has 13,000 B & W televisions
I don't know what the license fee is, but I bet it is more than worth the price to have two channels with the world leading quality of the BBC, and not a single commercial break to ruin the flow of a tense program.
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BBC1 BBC2 BBC3 BBC4 BBC1 HD BBC HD BBC News 24 BBC Parliament CBBC BBC Cbeebies and BBC World and BBC Asia and all the regional BBC local TV stations. then there is the radio Radio1 Radio2 Radio3 Radio4 Radio5 Radio6 and even more regional radio stations and loads more I have probably forgotten or I am not aware of as they serve cultural minorities, BBC i-player and all the RED button and on-line services, then all the world service channels and the commercial channels in other countries makes a public service broadcaster that actually brings in £8 billion worth of revenue on top of the licence fee! Now what does Mr Murdoch et all do for our country, probably evade paying the tax that is due on their turnover due to offshore fiddles, oh and end up with half of their staff in court for phone tapping etc ? and ITV have made hundreds of my colleagues and me redundant so they can pay simon cowell et all to make their commercial Pap! all for less than 50p a day! |
Re: UK still has 13,000 B & W televisions
Jalan,
How much TV have you personally seen from a broadcaster supported by a 'horribly totalitarian system' like ours? Can you say how it compares in quality and quantity to that served up by your national broadcasters which I presume are 'democratic' and free from government and commercial interference? In my two holidays in Bali, available TV was restricted to local Indonesian TV and US provided CNN news. It was the choice of the hotels in which I stayed. I was familiar with the CNN service but my Bahasa Indonesia is non-existent so I couldn't appreciate what was being said on the indigenous channels. |
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To force lawfully a licence onto individuals is in my opinion wrong. You already purchase the set then pay for the transmission. Nobody yet has answered me about why you cannot just have a TV for DVDs??? |
Re: UK still has 13,000 B & W televisions
Jalan, the way I understand it, is that you're paying the licence fee to watch transmitted TV and radio broadcasts ( including iPlayer etc. ). I think it's possible to have a TV/Monitor just for watching DVDs and not pay, as long as you can prove that it isn't used as a traditional TV.
While I agree that the BBC and licence fee system does work and we benefit from some great programming as a result, it isn't without it's problems and should be questioned on a regular basis to stay relevant, especially as peoples viewing habits change. |
Re: UK still has 13,000 B & W televisions
Not forgetting the Beebs five orchestras and that they commission something like 200 pieces of original music each year.
Ron |
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No, nobody likes paying taxes of any sort, and I'd be the first to agree that they should be kept to a minimum and there should be a high level of accountability. But realistically, what's the alternative? Isn't it recognised that in principle some level of taxation and public spending is neccessary, the debate within nearly every country being the level, not the principle. And in the UK, the TV licence is probably less unpopular than other forms of fees/taxation. |
Re: UK still has 13,000 B & W televisions
"have in your possession" and "television receiving apparatus" are the key words. It was also extended to include "capable of" when people started using TV's connected to a VCR to avoid paying the license. So if the TV or VCR could receive TV signals, you needed a license. A TV aerial, or evidence of recording, such as tapes wasn't needed. If it could do it, they could fine you. A monitor and DVD player were ok! They get records from every TV set sale, from the dealer - so it's just a data matching exercise. Frankly though - people now pay many times more for satellite and internet delivery than the TV license costs, so the old complaints don't work any more.
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