Do You Pay For A TV Licence?

[EvelynX]

To the non-UK folk, it might seem a strange concept but in the UK we are required to pay for a TV licence at  cost of £145.50 (226.80usd at time of writing) per year, or £49 if you have a black & white TV. Nope, Not even kidding about that still being a thing, apparently.
 

The licence is required if you view Live TV on any channel or device, in fact it is actually a Jail-able offence in some circumstances not to own one, if you do in fact use the services.

I recently moved into my own place and when the letter started rolling in to remanding me about the TV licence I took a little look online and found that the licence literally is only required, "If you watch TV as it is being broadcast" (Regardless of method used to watch)
Do I sacrifice my right to watch live TV, for an extra £145 per year I would have paid otherwise?
You're damn right I don't pay it.

So I was wondering, who of you are in the UK pay for it? How much Live TV do you actually watch? Is this the first you are hearing of not having to pay it? Am I morally wrong for not paying it seeing as I regularly use the content, albeit, not live?

The rest of the world! Do you have anything like this? Does the idea sound ridiculous to you? Or do you like the idea of paying a fee? Most of which funds multiple, ad free, politically unbiased channels? All with genuinely good quality content? (Content being Subjective of course.)

(Note; As just an example, Doctor Who is a licence fee funded production that could very well not exist in it's current state, if not for the fee. Who knows how different the world would be if it where ad funded like in the rest of the world!)

Source Link on Pricing & Rules

[aidenrelkoff]

Woah.... really, why is this a thing?!?!

 

is that the price per TV? or per house hold

[LarsReviews]

Around 18 Euros to the GEZ for TV, Radio and Internet. (Germany)

[1Scotty1]

I pay 14€ monthly for Internet and we are getting TV from that also.... crappy speed of Internet, but hey, for 14€ and the fact I live in a backwater village... complaining is the only thing I can do about it

[SImoHayha]

welp looks like am not living in the UK any time soon

[EvelynX]

Woah.... really, why is this a thing?!?!

 

is that the price per TV? or per house hold

Per household.

I don't think there is a device limit.

The crap thing about this system is that this is on top of a cable subscription, if you have one, although we do get a lot of good channels without cable. (Not cable, actually satellite in this country)

It's a reason not to live in the UK, but 150mb/s down & 25 up is a reason to move here so I'll probably be staying for now.

[shadowblitz3]

no such thing here

[Lord Pantaloons]

The fuck?

[Jaybird]

With my cable I pay taxes on franchise, FCC, and some other things. I'm not looking at my bill at the moment but it all totals about $10. So I guess you could say it's a broadcast fee.

[sherwind2010]

I'd pay that for Ad free TV.

[squirrl]

welp looks like am not living in the UK any time soon

 

 

Woah.... really, why is this a thing?!?!

 

is that the price per TV? or per house hold

 

 

Per household.

I don't think there is a device limit.

The crap thing about this system is that this is on top of a cable subscription, if you have one, although we do get a lot of good channels without cable. (Not cable, actually satellite in this country)

It's a reason not to live in the UK, but 150mb/s down & 25 up is a reason to move here so I'll probably be staying for now.

 

 

The fuck?

 

 

Lol... nope, it's free

(tho they keep theirselves with ads )

 

 

With my cable I pay taxes on franchise, FCC, and some other things. I'm not looking at my bill at the moment but it all totals about $10. So I guess you could say it's a broadcast fee.

 

Most of it goes to the BBC. That's how they make most of their money, but at least they give back somewhat by delivering ad-free content on all their (UK) channels.

[EvelynX]

With my cable I pay taxes on franchise, FCC, and some other things. I'm not looking at my bill at the moment but it all totals about $10. So I guess you could say it's a broadcast fee.

We get quite a lot of channels for 'free' (that our fee pays for) It used to be 5 but with digital switch-over we get about 60 (15 of which anyone really watches)

Do Americans get much without cable?

[The_Strict_Nein]

The advantage of this means that the largest communications company in the UK is state owned.

 

As such, private media companies have no-where near the same level of control in the UK as they do in the US.

 

It's also really not that bad. It's £145 for the year for each household, and all BBC channels don't have adverts.

 

BBC news is also add free. And without the license fee, the BBC would not have been able to afford projects such as rolling out computers to as many households as possible in the UK, back in the 80's, which inspired thousands of computer scientists in the UK

[EvelynX]

Most of it goes to the BBC. That's how they make most of their money, but at least they give back somewhat by delivering ad-free content on all their (UK) channels.

I know most of it goes to BBC but it is strange that the fee applies with other channels too to some extent. I have no idea how much.

[EvelynX]

The advantage of this means that the largest communications company in the UK is state owned.

 

As such, private media companies have no-where near the same level of control in the UK as they do in the US.

 

It's also really not that bad. It's £145 for the year for each household, and all BBC channels don't have adverts.

 

BBC news is also add free. And without the license fee, the BBC would not have been able to afford projects such as rolling out computers to as many households as possible in the UK, back in the 80's, which inspired thousands of computer scientists in the UK

BBC Micro?

[The_Strict_Nein]

BBC Micro?

 

Exactly.

 

Heard a speech from a guy who is an executive at Intel who was inspired as a child by things like the BBC Micro

[ObeseWalrus]

In Denmark we have a Media License. If you have a TV or internet device you need to pay. I don't complain.

[mr moose]

Kinda not really, we have part of our taxes go to fund government broadcasting (ABC and SBS for T.V). So in effect every body who pays tax pays for the ABC whether you watch it or not. 

[xox]

Do you know dude why it's no-where else?

 

The BBC is the only thing funded like that.

In Britain, we have things like the NHS (third or second biggest employer in the world) and the BBC. In other countries, they have better ways of funding public TV, but it's a political issue really.

 

 

And yeah, we as a family pay license fee. It's not that much when you think about t compared to Sky TV (although you have to pay license fee whatever). We get value out of it because we always watch TV live or record it from live.

 

I don't know why it's a reason not to move to Britain, it's a minor fee per house which pays for ad-free TV.

[xiaolongstan]

Im under 18, so no, but my parents do since they have several TVs, though we have gotten some calls from "Radiotjänst", who collect the license, but that was a while ago.

[xiaolongstan]

I pay 14€ monthly for Internet and we are getting TV from that also.... crappy speed of Internet, but hey, for 14€ and the fact I live in a backwater village... complaining is the only thing I can do about it

By TV license OP means the fee you pay to the state owned media company, Radiotjänst collect fees on behalf of the government and pay to our state owned TV and Radio, in the UK, you pay the Government who pay the BBC.

[Ialyrn]

To the non-UK folk, it might seem a strange concept but in the UK we are required to pay for a TV licence at  cost of £145.50 (226.80usd at time of writing) per year, or £49 if you have a black & white TV. Nope, Not even kidding about that still being a thing, apparently.

 

The licence is required if you view Live TV on any channel or device, in fact it is actually a Jail-able offence in some circumstances not to own one, if you do in fact use the services.

I recently moved into my own place and when the letter started rolling in to remanding me about the TV licence I took a little look online and found that the licence literally is only required, "If you watch TV as it is being broadcast" (Regardless of method used to watch)

Do I sacrifice my right to watch live TV, for an extra £145 per year I would have paid otherwise?

You're damn right I don't pay it.

So I was wondering, who of you are in the UK pay for it? How much Live TV do you actually watch? Is this the first you are hearing of not having to pay it? Am I morally wrong for not paying it seeing as I regularly use the content, albeit, not live?

The rest of the world! Do you have anything like this? Does the idea sound ridiculous to you? Or do you like the idea of paying a fee? Most of which funds multiple, ad free, politically unbiased channels? All with genuinely good quality content? (Content being Subjective of course.)

(Note; As just an example, Doctor Who is a licence fee funded production that could very well not exist in it's current state, if not for the fee. Who knows how different the world would be if it where ad funded like in the rest of the world!)

Source Link on Pricing & Rules

You need to be careful about not paying, you only have to look on youtube and other places on the internet, and the press, to see how many people have been taken to court. And these are including people who dont watch a live broadcast at all. Even if your tv isnt hooked up to any receiving equipment, they will try to imply that you are watching it through a pc/laptop, mobile device, or games console via the Iplayer. They dont care if you watch TV or not, and they will do whatever it takes to get your money. Their collectors will head to your home at some point, and they will try WILL pressure you until you pay up. If you refuse them entry to your home, they WILL come back with the police, and they WILL force their way in, and you WILL be arrested.

[Jaybird]

We get quite a lot of channels for 'free' (that our fee pays for) It used to be 5 but with digital switch-over we get about 60 (15 of which anyone really watches)

Do Americans get much without cable?

Depends on the city, Houston had about 10-12 last I knew. Haven't watched local tv in a long time.

[Ruostunut kokis]

We don't have a TV licence. We pay a tax known as Yle-vero (translation: "Yle-tax"), which varies depending on income. The funding goes to the Finnish Broadcasting Company known as Yleisradio

 

Oh, and I'm 17, so I'm considered a minor, and minors plus people bellow certain income level don't need to pay that tax.

[Mooshi]

As an American, I scoff at the concept and believe the UK gov would put a tax on breathing if they could get away with it.

 

I'd be damned if some weirdos came to my door demanding I pay a tax on a television set I don't even use. I'd tell them they can either get lost or say hello to the dog. For public broadcasting, you guys could learn from your gun loving cousins. Those networks that are publically funded are through donations. We don't have our government shaking you down for some idiotic tax.