Forgive a foolish question from an unenlightened American: how does the BBC even know who owns a TV set?

If you purchase a TV in the store, does the store record your name? Are the TV police watching you while you shop? What is to stop someone from using a false name and paying cash for the TV?

Nicholas,

One foolish question is perfectly forgiveable. But eight of them is positively indecent!

[Editors note: Nick's seven surplus comments have been trimmed to one]

In response, the law in the UK requires all retailers and rental agencies to forward details of whomever they have sold or rented a television set and these are checked against a government database.

So, do I have to pay a registration fee when I listen to BBC on shortwave or online? Shouldn't I be extradited to the U.K., and charged with fee evasion? Just askin'

Also the BBC have TV detector vans which drive around matching signals given off by the TV to licence info at that address.

Good grief. That's even worse than here in the Netherlands, and I thought our system was outrageous. Our public broadcasters (yes, plural) get about 650 million euro a year from general taxation. They've built themselves some nice mansions in and around Hilversum with that money. Accounting for the difference in size between Britain and the Netherlands, I suppose the attack on our wallets is approximately the same, except the Dutch system might possibly be even more arcane.

Lucas,

You will be pleased to know you are safe from the Broadcast Blackshirts. The laws cannot be applied outside the UK juristiction.

In effect, non-Brits get the BBC for nothing. That has a certain resonance because 'nothing' is exactly what the BBC is worth.

Please excuses a stupid question from another ignoragant American. You have to pay a television license? How have you avoided a revolt?

We pay the licence fee for the 'wonderful privilege' of commercial free public service TV...i.e. the BBC

I wouldn't say the BBC is worthless. It was certainly better than silence when I entered books into a database at a job I used to have. That gets old fast, and nearly all of the local radio has bad pop music. Even the BBC beats that.

I realized that I wouldn't be prosecuted, I was pointing out that Americans can get the BBC for free (as can anyone with an internet connection). Should everyone who owns a computer in Britain also be charged a tax? What about people who build crystal radios? The whole thing is pointlessly unfair.

If you have a radio, I think, you still pay a radio fee. Or taht may have been abolished due to the ubiquity of radios.

What if you own a TV, but never watch the BBC? Do you still have to pay their fee?

John,

The answer is yes. You pay a licence to own a TV aeriel.

Lucas,

I agree with you in actuality. Some of the Beeb's output is very high quality. I do get rather bitter, though, about being forced to subsidise its political bias which is now open and unashamed.

It's the same in Germany. You have to pay for the "privelege" of receiving television signals. I have lived in Germany several times but this is the first time I've lived here not directly under the umbrella of the US government (i.e. no SOFA rights). I had no knowledge of this fee (which is hefty) and there was nothing to indicate that it had to be paid in any of the literature I got when moving back here. I found out because one fine morning, a man comes to my door, shows me credentials and tells me I better pay quick or I'm going to be slapped with a 2000 euro fine, in his rude and arrogant bureaucratic manner.

I wanted to club that dude with my television.

I have no idea how he found out about me. I suspect though that either landlords or possibly the Einwohnermeldeamt reports to these people when someone moves in somewhere, so they can then use whatever voodoo they have to determine if you have a TV. All the time I was here as a soldier I never got such visits and I lived "on the economy."

In any case, it's absurd. Maybe they could make the case if there were no commercials on TV, but there are plenty of commercials on the state-run channels now. And of course, what do I pay Onkel Gerhard over 50% income tax for? Isn't that enough?

Here is a link to the campaign against the TV tax which gives the BBC 3.9 billion dollars a year.

http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/bbcresistance

What we in the UK get for that money is constant bombardment of left wing propaganda. If overseas viewers think the BBC provide quality programmes then I feel sorry for you - your TV shows must be very bad indeed. If you want to watch television in the UK then you must pay £112 a year to the BBC.

There is a petition form which can be downloaded for signing with pen and paper by British citizens (i.e. we poor dupes who are being fleeced by the BBC) sponsored by the Campaign to Abolish the TV Licence. Access it at www.spiderbomb.com/tv/silence.html
There is an electronic petition at www.PetitionOnline.com/time2go/
It is worth signing, but apparently e-mail addresses carry no weight in law.

They only get the good stuff over there. Avengers, Doctor Who, East Enders, BBC nature and history documentaries, Forsyth Saga, etc.

I think the TV license thing is probably far simpler than any sort of database stuff: they just assume everyone has one, and spam every address with demands, until their name is crossed off the list as "paid" or "proved not to have a TV".

I have never paid for a TV licence. I just write "FUCK OFF" on the freepost demands and send it back. I've done this at every new address I've lived at, after about three to six months they stop sending warnings.

TV detector vans are a legend, but I have a friend at Capita (who act as private sector tax collectors for the BBC) who tells me there are only three vans, one of which doesn't work and they don't bring prosecutions as a result of detection by CRT radiation or otherwise. If you buy a TV and are worried, give a false address or none at all.

TV detector vans do not somehow 'detect' a TV set in the house, the drivers are armed with nothing more than a list of people who haven't paid. They then knock on your door and ask you to pay or prove that you don't have a TV.

As for if we should pay or not - put it this way. 112 pounds a year is cheap for what we get. The BBC has no left wing bias, they just do what journalists ought to do, ask difficult questions. And almost any price is worth having commercial free television. I lived in the USA long enough to know that we don't want to see the propaganda wings of GM, MacDonalds etc (aka NBC, ABC and CBS) on the air here.

just my opinion

-J

Living on the other shores and having been, rather, accidentally exposed to this information, I'm extremely upset by it: please tell me how is it different from any feudal or quasi-feudal levies of the kind the openly oppressive totalitatian governments (as, e.g., the USSR's) used to impose on their subjects=prisoners?

And, I hope we still remember, that the totalitarian governments, at least as much as the BBC empire, obviously all had their subjects' "best interests" in mind (without, though, going to such details as asking for the reluctant beneficiaries' opinion: for those in the business of serving the high goals of "public good" - in another coincidence with the old bolshevik tradition - the hefty goals justify the mean means).

Living on the other shores and having been, rather, accidentally exposed to this information, I'm extremely upset by it: please tell me how is it different from any feudal or quasi-feudal levies of the kind the openly oppressive totalitatian governments (as, e.g., the USSR's) used to impose on their subjects=prisoners?

And, I hope we still remember, that the totalitarian governments, at least as much as the BBC empire, obviously all had their subjects' "best interests" in mind (without, though, going to such details as asking for the reluctant beneficiaries' opinion: for those in the business of serving the high goals of "public good" - in another coincidence with the old bolshevik tradition - the hefty goals justify the mean means).

All this talk is useless if something isn't DONE about it!!! I refuse to pay for a TV License, especially for a service that I do not use (as I don't own an aerial at all - I have a satellite dish instead and receive Greek TV only).

My suggestion to anyone who reads this: tell ALL your friends that live in the UK to sign the petition to abolish the license at
www.spiderbomb.com/tv/silence.html

In response to a comment about how we've avoided a revolt... well, the people here are obviously sheep! British people are the absolute worst at complaining!! Perhaps they should take some pointers from their Mediterranean brethren who seem to have mastered the art ;-)

if tv detector vans work and are applied how come i still get threatening letters when i've lived here six months and not used a tv?

The BBC truly represents a small elite who 'govern' the population and decide whats good for us backed by threats and fear.
Why oh why is non-payment not just a civil issue, but a criminal issue?

What other company can throw people in jail for non-payment of fines - not even the government can do that!

America has great TV on cable - when I lived there there was about 8 cracking films on every night from a choice of 35 channels - and with the cable you got phone calls for free for $15 per month. The license fee is a true disgrace levved on each person in the UK.

Does anybody know if that "detector van" thing is true? I live in the U.K. for a year, and a buddy of mine, who is British, felt pretty certain that it is hogwash desinged to frighten people into paying the tax. I feel inclined to agree. . .

Does anybody know if that "detector van" thing is true? I live in the U.K. for a year, and a buddy of mine, who is British, felt pretty certain that it is hogwash desinged to frighten people into paying the tax. I feel inclined to agree. . .

I FEEL VERY STRONGLY ABOUT HAVING TO PAY THE BBC TV LICENSE FOR ALL THE EXTRA DIGITAL CHANNELS THEY ARE BRINGING OUT, ESPECIALLY WHEN WE HAVE TO PAY THE £99 FOR THE EQUIPMENT PLUS ANOTHER £80 FOR A NEW ARIEL (upgrade from analog ariel) PLUS ANOTHER £30 TO INSTALL THE BLOODY NEW ARIEL AND THEN FIND OUT THAT I CAN'T GET THE NEW DIGITAL CHANNELS IN MY AREA ANYWAY!!!! and yet i still have to pay the extra money in my TV license!