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"To watch television you will need a television set and you may need an aerial. There is more information about television reception on the Ofcom website. You must also have a television licence, which can be bought at a local Paypoint outlet or online from the TV Licensing website. If you watch television at home without a licence, you will have to pay a fine."
What?!!?
Is this for real?
Yeah... it's how we pay for the BBC.
Anyone (edit: per household, not each person) able to receive live TV broadcasts has to pay £140 per year (or £47 for only black and white TV it seems)
And you get discounts if you are:-
- Blind
- Over 75
You can have as many television recievers at the address as you like. Also, the licence applies to ANY television broadcast reciever. So if you have a DVD recorder (or tape) or some other sort of box which is not attached to a screen you still need a licence.
The up-side of this is that programmes are not interrupted by any adverts and that as a so-called "Public Service and Entertainment Broadcaster" the BBC, when all things considered, provide the widest range and highest quality free to air programming of any TV or Radio station in the world.
*ROFLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL*
I had someone (Read: Englishman) on Ventrilo just tell me there is no such thing.
And laugh his netherregions off at the same time.
Wow.
If the population of the uk is around 61mil, then if everyone pays the full service price, that comes to 8 540 000 000. Mind you, that includes children and dependents and spouses etc, so I guess its an inaccurate figure.
We'd have to measure by household, say around 21mil*, which in the end comes to 2 940 000 000 pounds per year. Sheesh.
*(not sure if thats correct, got it from here - somebody please correct if I'm wrong)
Then include places like hotels, hostels, resorts, etc. and communal housing... man, the BBC makes a killing! The government funds our equivalent (ABC), for around the same price I think (if not more). However, we don't go worldwide, or publish a 24hr newsradio service.
Morgan, stop, It's a joke.
No, seriously. I found it on a UK government site.
And last time I checked, you weren't from the UK synth 
*is confused* But, the Doctor Who episodes here are only ~45min long. Does that mean that I lose 15 minutes of the show every time I watch?
And Top Gear seems to break for ads too...
*sits on the confusion bench next to DJ*
no it doesn't....unless it's on Dave
Dave? What's that?
Dave is the home of witty banter. a free digital channel full of repeats....lots of top gear.
Ohhhhh I like the sound of that channel
Interesting....
The way they film the show, with the lead ins and segues, I really thought they had ads. Maybe they're just catering for the int market.
Oh, I've just thought of something. BBC has been cutting the budget of its shows because of the economy etc....
But if every household is paying for it, surely they have the same budget?
i've seen a figure of about £3.4billion quoted as what the bbc have to play with.
for that you get...
' 8 interactive TV channels, 10 radio networks, more than 50 local TV and radio services, the BBC's website, and the on-demand TV and radio service, BBC iPlayer'
3.4b would be only from the subscription fees?
Surely they make more than that? They're big on merchandise, sell their programs etc?
Oh, btw, we have the 11th Doctor Who!
i think they got about £910 million from bbc wordwide
yeah, i saw that. it really is a case of doctor who?
Who?
As far as I'm aware you can not pay it, so long as you don't have any way to watch live broadcasts installed. Watching DVDs only would be fine, but they'd probably notice your non-licensed-ness and come and check you out... looking for a TV receiver.
Now that you can watch TV live over the internet that might lead to a trickier argument...
Synth, it's not a joke in the least... who is this Englishman and why is he so stupid?
DJ, Doctor Who is only 45mins long here too, you're not missing anything.
And since Top Gear isn't only shown on BBC they must make it with spaces for ads to help out the channels that re-air them later.
Oh yeah!
I wonder if you have to pay if you don't have a receiver, but stream it over the net?
If you're watching live, you have to pay. The question is how they would know you're watching live over the internet... or how you could prove that you aren't.
Why wouldn't they be able to prove you watch it?
Or are you referring specifically to watching it live?
Umm... if you use your PC to watch TV, how are they going to prove you did?
And yes, only live watching counts. If you only watch pre-recorded stuff, clips, or anything that isn't a live broadcast at the same time as it's on TV then you don't have to pay.
That's fair... I guess
Do any other countries pay for tv? (excluding pay-tv, cable, etc) If its necessary in the UK, I would assume that some other European countries have adopted this action as well?
(or maybe not, since they're not the BBC lol)
Btw, thanks for clearing that up for me SK 
I know Singapore used to have a radio and tv license when I was young, but I'm not sure what the system is now
Do any other countries pay for tv?
Morgan, there was a time in Australia when you had to have a 'Listeners License' for radio and when tv came along then your tv license covered radio as well.
Inspectors would come along and knock on your door and ask to see your license and there was a fine if you didn't have one. Even if the only receiver you owned was a car radio, you had to have a license. This (like the UK one) was to pay for the ABC..
The Whitlam Labor Government abolished all license fees in 1974 and now the ABC is funded by government grants.
Yeah I kinda figured as much for the early times.
most of europe require a tv licence.
Apparently Germany is the most expensive place. You have to pay for TV and Internet reception. Not sure how much it is though...
Internet reception too??
Their ISP rates had better be low...
And I'm a bit surprised that Dekrazee one is not aware that Singapore also until very recently required a license for radio & TV - Australia I think dropped it in the late 70's - singapore sometime in the lateish 90's. Being Singapore they used to drive around with detector trucks etc. Car radios counted in Singapore too. I'm a bit worried about referring to 1974 as "Early Times" though!!
*ahem*
2 days agoI know Singapore used to have a radio and tv license when I was young, but I'm not sure what the system is now
@thinka, The Whitlam Labor Government abolished all license fees in 1974 and now the ABC is funded by government grants.
You don't bother reading previous posts, before posting then?
It has to be. I might not be from the UK, but I'm from a socialist nation! Yaaaaayyyyy....
I meant that it originated in 'early times' - such as when tv was first introduced.
So it just doesn't exist anymore, then.
The four commercial free to air stations in Australia should issue vomit bags for their viewers. As Andro said ... the ABC is taxpayer funded and not too bad. Special Broadcasting Service (SBS ... der) usually turns up something good. But the real deal occurs ... for those around the 153rd longitude ... on Briz31. It is usually funded by meat tray raffles at the local pubs, reception is ordinarily poor in good areas and it has some fabulous game shows like Crazy Crossword and many others. Pay TV would be great if watching the same movie 8 times in one day was your thing.
Oh don't get me started on tv up here. We get the same channels as everyone else in aus, but given that we have a digital box that means the weather has to be absolutely-frickin-perfect to watch it. And guess what? It's the monsoon season. So watching tv is worse than watching a scratched-to-shit DVD. I could go on and on about it, but I just finished having this conversation with someone else, so I wont
aww...that was just starting to get interesting.....tell me more...
Same here, except not so much the weather, but the planes. I'm right under the flight path, and the planes flying over mess the signal up. Then my set top gets all moody and won't show a pic, so I have to turn it of and on again
ohh... thats how you fix that!! i generally just wait half an hour until it decides to show me another two frames, and then wait for it to reset again...
I have bugs ears on the tele in the garage with a good result.
'Turn it off and on again' fixes everything! You should know that Morgan... *tsk tsk*
Ruski - bug ears eh? Didn't know they still had those
Dek, I knoowwww - I feel so ashamed. This is what the Darwin-ness is doing to me! Take me away from all the working technologies and I just assume that because everything else here is crap, then when things break then thats just it. Oh, and the heat has melted my brain a bit..
HAHAHAHAHAHAH
Oh dear....
Just as well you didn't move to the desert or the like!
LOL I just read desert as 'dessert' and thought to myself, how would ice cream make things worse...
SEE!! My brain really is melting!
Imagine moving to a place called 'Ice Cream'
Meanwhile, someone mentioned this yesterday, which tickles me greatly -
Morgan ... is that a vanilla paddle pop in your mouth? In which case the differential of the ambient temperature and that of the paddle pop might be giving you an ice cream headache.
The Berserker group is also a geological formation from the Permian Period generally comprising Siltstone, lithofeldspathic sandstone, intermediate to felsic intrusive and extrusive domes, volcanic breccia, minor conglomerates and mainly marine deposits.
*scratching head*
ruski is 2 smartz fr us
Morgan ... thanks but not the case. I happened to have the description in front of me. The Berserker Group I refer is just in from the coast in Gladstone where a major project is on the drawing board. The global economy meltdown shouldn't sink this one. Speaking of which I wouldn't want to work for Xstrata right now, but then if I did then I wouldn't be anymore and it wouldn't be a problem.
That's not a Berserker...
THIS is a Berserker!
that would be dek in the office when someone finished the coffee and didn't tell her....
Ok Sir M. Which one is Dek?
Shhhhh....
reveal not my sekrit identity!
