Current Events > lol @ paying $220/year for a TV license at UK.

(+) Yeah! (+)

A TV Licence costs 169.50 per year. You can pay this in one go, but most people choose to spread the cost by Direct Debit.

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/tv-licence-types-and-costs-top2

Is this per household or per TV?

It's per household.

I'd rather pay it than lose the BBC.

You got a loicence for that telly?

ai123 posted...

It's per household.

I'd rather pay it than lose the BBC.

Love that BBC

ai123 posted...

It's per household.

I'd rather pay it than lose the BBC.

Or maybe the BBC can get funding elsewhere and not through a TV license.

I think if you told Americans they had to pay a license for PBS and NPR those two industries would collapse overnight

Printerscape posted...

Or maybe the BBC can get funding elsewhere and not through a TV license.

As long as it doesn't mean ads or loss of independence, suggestions would be welcome.

ai123 posted...

As long as it doesn't mean ads or loss of independence, suggestions would be welcome.

Suggestion would be to fund it through the government as part of normal income taxes.

Tv and butter knife loincense

A license to watch TV is insane.

Printerscape posted...

Suggestion would be to fund it through the government as part of normal income taxes.

Why do that when we can instead not and use people who dont pay as part of the problems of society?

tfw NHK comes knocking

I do not understand something here from you Yanks. You are laughing at us Brits for needing a TV license yet you lot seem perfectly happy about the fact that you need a license to drive a car, own a dog, go fishing, own a gun etc etc etc.

I do not see the difference between a dog license and a TV license.

One good thing about need a TV license is that the BBC is free from commercials.

At least our PPVs dont cost $70.

Anyway different cultures have their own quirks. I still dont get the whole needing to tip for everything in the US. Just pay your employees a fair wage.

CassandraCroft posted...

I do not understand something here from you Yanks. You are laughing at us Brits for needing a TV license yet you lot seem perfectly happy about the fact that you need a license to drive a car, own a dog, go fishing, own a gun etc etc etc.

I do not see the difference between a dog license and a TV license.

One good thing about needing a TV license is that the BBC is free from commercials.

The difference is that me watching TV doesnt affect anyone else. For example Ive been watching Breaking Bad all day. Bothers nobody.

A dog, gun, car, or fishing have potential to harm others or the environment. It makes sense to me that there is at least some barrier to entry.

SHRlKE posted...

At least our PPVs dont cost $70.

Anyway different cultures have their own quirks. I still dont get the whole needing to tip for everything in the US. Just pay your employees a fair wage.

Excellent post.

Or how about the one I do not understand where when you go to a restaurant and ask for a cold drink they first completely fill the cup/glass with ice and then put in the drink so you end up paying a few bucks for the ice and the 10cents worth of juice in the glass. Whats wrong with just adding a couple of cubes? Why fill the entire glass with ice?

In my country, public service tv license are paid for by taxes. So it's accessible for all.

i bought one of those digital TV antennas at target and that's how I get my tv channels. I get like 40-50 channels depending on the weather. not bad for $25

Americans always misunderstand this.

You don't need a license to have a TV.

The licence is for certain programming amd live service shows. It's basically a government opt in subscription service.

Now If you want to discuss whether its worth it, or the underhanded tactics tv licensing use to make money out of it, we can talk

^^^^


Its weird. Theres certainly a lot of bigger issues to attack the UK on. TV licenses just feels so inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. As others have said. You dont have to pay for it.

pinky0926 posted...

Americans always misunderstand this.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_detector_van

Nah we just think this is funny as shit

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f682944e.jpg

SHRlKE posted...

^^^^


Its weird. Theres certainly a lot of bigger issues to attack the UK on. TV licenses just feels so inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. As others have said. You dont have to pay for it.

If as someone suggested above youre legally required to pay it to watch a YouTube livestream hosted outside the UK on your phone or face a fine, then its fucking dumb and no one should put up it in that circumstance. Granted, even if thats what the law says, I doubt it would be enforced at that level just like laws against piracy basically arent enforced here.

PraetorXyn posted...

If as someone suggested above youre legally required to pay it to watch a YouTube livestream hosted outside the UK on your phone or face a fine, then its fucking dumb and no one should put up it in that circumstance. Granted, even if thats what the law says, I doubt it would be enforced at that level just like laws against piracy basically arent enforced here.

You only need one if you watch live TV on YouTube. A live lets play or similar would be fine.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/0e8f45d5.jpg

sweden used to have a TV license as well

but as more and more people stopped getting tv's in favor of streaming they made it a universal tax instead that you have to pay whether you got a tv or not

SHRlKE posted...

At least our PPVs dont cost $70.

Anyway different cultures have their own quirks. I still dont get the whole needing to tip for everything in the US. Just pay your employees a fair wage.

Like most things in the USA, it exists/started because of racism.

I'd be happy for the BBC to be funded through tax and get a big overhaul to be mostly proper news and informational stuff rather than 85% entertainment garbage. But then again that would probably lead to less relevance and people would moan about their taxes paying for it. A catch 22. But the BBC is veering more and more away from being a public service. The massive cuts to the BBC world service recently were tragic. But hey at least we have Interior Design Masters with Allan Carr. And Meet the Richardsons. I really hope we get a program about celebrities going on holiday or trips, wouldn't that be amazing? Well worth the license fee.

Ive always wondered, how do they enforce this?

In fairness, I don't mind the licence fee. I can watch BBC stuff on iPlayer whenever I want, and there's a shitload of stuff on there, all without adverts and can date back a fair amount. I can watch all series of Top Gear for example, with series 1 now being 22 years old.

I can also watch stuff from 1948, although I'm not really inclined to do so.

Whereas American TV seems to want you to pay half a dozen companies 150 a year each for content, and then sticks a "premium" fee of another 50 a year on top, plus ad breaks, I think I'll stick to my BBC thanks.

mustachedmystic posted...

Ive always wondered, how do they enforce this?

Purely by people being stupid enough to let them. I lived in the UK for 35 years. None of the households I lived in ever had a TV licence.

Every so often, somebody would come to the door about the fact that we didnt have one. Theyd be told to leave and reminded that they have absolutely no power whatsoever to enter the property, which would be the only way to prove that we needed a tv licence.

We just have an annoying ass PBS telethon.

We also know a national television and radio broadcasting fee in Switzerland. It costs CHF 365.- a year.

I consider it a good thing for several reasons:

• It supports local television and radio channels
• It provides a balanced content, for example there are a lot of cultural and educational programs for adults and kids. The programs cover a broad variety of political topics, but in a rather neutral way. No sensationalism like we see in the US all the time.
• All regions, age groups and even people with disabilities are getting content specifically targeted for them.
• It helps preventing private competitors from flooding the country with political bullshit.

People here often discuss, whether CHF 365.- is too expensive or not. But I consider it as a small and very important fee to keep a balanced news coverage for everyone. It helps reducing extreme opinions and fosters the mutual understanding of our society.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Like most things in the USA, it exists/started because of racism.

PPV is racist?