TV Licensing

[EvanDavis]

Here's something I did n't know, even if you haven't a TV which I haven't had for moths, you still need a TV license.

Remember even eif you donot have a TV, under the Communications acr 2003, you will still need to be coverred by a license if you use an other device. This includes computers, mobile phones, games consoles, digital boxes, DVD/VHS recorders

all I have is a PC and my mobile phone, and I alreaady pay my ISP every month and my mobile phone company every month

 

[muckshifter]

Here's something I did n't know, even if you haven't a TV which I haven't had for moths, you still need a TV license.

all I have is a PC and my mobile phone, and I alreaady pay my ISP every month and my mobile phone company every month

Not quite right.

You only need a TV licence if the equipment is "capable of receiving" a live broadcast. You do not need a TV licence to watch the BBC iPlayer, or ITV, or C4

My PC is NOT capable of receiving a TV signal, my mobile is nucking fackard and incapable of receiving any broadcast even when it worked and my ISP can't even keep me connected, never mind send me a TV signal.

TV Licence ... one ripoff that should have been scraped along with the dog licence, err, that was scrapped, wonit?

They get my back up ... I don't have ANY 'equipment' that can receive any TV

Did you know, even if you is registered blind, you will need to buy a TV licence to "watch" TV . now that, is sad.

 

[Anon_F]

Evan we could shop you to crimestoppers, your a criminal!

 

[EvanDavis]

Evan we could shop you to crimestoppers, your a criminal!

 

[floppybootstomp]

Aye, what Mucks said. If you have anything in your home capable of receiving a live television broadcast then legally you need to buy a TV licence.

The TV licence guerillas are also very persistent and will make what sound like very nasty threats to you if you don't have a TV licence but read between the lines and you'll see their threats are toothless and just scattered with words to frighten you. They are extremely nasty people who manage to make traffic wardens look cuddly.

If one of their lepers comes a knocking easiest way is just don't answer the door but if you do remember they have NO LEGAL RIGHT to enter your home and check to see if you have any tuners about the place.

You may have gathered but I despise the TV licencsing authority with a passion. I don't watch TV at all but my daughter does and I do have a TV so I eventually bought a licence this year which to me was as painful as having teeth pulled and listening to nails scraping down a blackboard.

However, I did get away without having a licence for 9 years which means I saved around £1300 - yay!

I think the BBC should not rely on licence revenue and sell advertising space just like all the others. That IS a selfish view cos I don't watch any of their crap and no, I don't care, lol

 

[TriplexDread]

Including the new Android and older Symbian mobile phones

License still needed unfortunately

 

[crazylegs]

What a load a drivel

No TV no license as for the rest of the silly rules they keep making up as they go along...they can go take a running jump!

 

[itsme]

A mate of mine don't have a TV licence, so they took him to court and he had to pay £1 a month as he was on benefits and that was three years ago Ummm £156 for three years not bad that

 

[captain zed]

Sadly we have them license thingy's over here. If you have two ya need two. And so on. Highway Robbers

 

[AbsoluteKevster]

Just had my renewal through...

 

[bootneck02]

I pay direct debit monthly saves a big bill at the end of the year

 

[floppybootstomp]

I'm surprised none of the political parties have promised to scrap the TV licence as part of their manifesto, seems to me they'd have a landslide victory.

Monster Raving Loony Party take note

The argument goes that as the BBC retains independence through being funded by the public rather than commercial concerns it is able to make quality programs without so much pressure to maintain ratings figures.

This is true to a certain extent the BBC has made some very good drama series in it's time.

But it can also be argued the BBC can squander money for the same reasons, some of it's employees are overpaid and it also maintains a left-wing political stance, albeit subtly.

Nothing's perfect I suppose but is this so called freedom worth £145.00 of your cash every year?

I don't think so, I think it should be about choice. The BBC makes a lot of revenue from worldwide sales of it's programs, literature and media, to my mind those sales should be enough to maintain independence even with an alternative form of funding from advertising rather than loot collected by the TV licensing nazi thugs.

Ok, low shot, that last bit was a bit dramatic

I'm not sure about the arguments but as I said - and this is purely selfish - I don't watch TV so let's scrap the licence fee.

 

[bootneck02]

Coming from a public service background last job was with Kent County Council, all senior posts within local authorities, Health service, Civil Services etc. are all overpaid in the cause that if you want the best you have to pay the best, the problem that aint so. Most of the posts are taken by people who have come up the ranks of civil service and only know the way things are done by that particular organisation and there is little real thinking outside the box. There is a lot of money wasted because of departmental pots of budgets which are jealously guarded. Because if a department saves monies it will be penalised the following year so come January any spare cash is spent on non essential items just to get rid of the cash, and so waste tax payers monies. Even now with budgets being squeezed there is still a lot of waste and still many people will be out of work with very likelihood of finding employment in the near future. As for the BBC the best part of it is the Local Radio, the TV side of it is no better than the commercial TV with programs like East Enders, very educational, yes there is a lot of good programming but the same could be said for the commercial services, but don,t be led into false security that we don't pay for them we do with the price of the products we buy so what ever we watch we pay but on balance we get more from the BBC than we do from the commercial TV

 

[floppybootstomp]

Um, yep, ok, but - relevance to TV Licensing?

Unless you were referring to a possible paralell with me mentioning overpaid staff at the BBC.

Trouble is, if anybody is any good within the television industry they will be headhunted and so I suppose the BBC has to pay astronomical fees to keep them.

Maybe.

 

[bootneck02]

My son works for the BBC and was an engineer now a project manager for a multi million project which will be for 2 years and at the end of that he has no contract so could be out of work. In comparison with the commercial sector it is lower paid but since he was 18 he has never been out of work. We know of people who have left for the better paid commercial sector and after a few years find themselves out of work because of the short term contracts that are out there. Yes you are right FBS the good one are head hunted and they leave the BBC and many after a few years regret the decision. Now if he is made redundant he will have a reasonable payout and his pension will be frozen until retirement age. Many of those left the BBC especially to get a better pay packet left and gained a fixed term employment contract and earned a lot more than they did for the BBC, and many found at the end of the contract the contract was not renewed so were unemployed without any redundancy payout. Part of the trouble was there were too many broadcast engineers out there and also the advance in technology. But going back to the original argument about fat cats it is only the very top of the tree of public service most people who work for public services are no better off than any else who works for a living.

 

[Urmas]

 

[floppybootstomp]

Hear hear

 

[bootneck02]

Yes I have a cycle behind the front door for such an occasion