get rid of the tv licence

years ago I got taken to court by the tv licence people I won the case but still I get threatening letters telling me to get a tv licence , I phoned them up yesterday and told them If they didnt stop Id contact my lawyer to look at whether i could take them to court for haressment .


anyway what do you think about the tv licence should we have one and should you be made to pay for a service the BBC you may never watch .

other countrys dont have this system they still have tv when I watched tv I wasnt that impressed with the bbc, at least not to the extent that I think that everyone in the country need pay to fund them .

should we have a tv licence system or is it as out dated as say the royal family

http://www.tvlicenceresistance.info/forum/index.php


contact your mp normally they have a email address

 

I haven't had a TV for 10 years but I still get threatening and intimidatory letters from TV Licensing, virtually accusing me of being a criminal license evader. They put a note through my door recently saying they'd been round for an inspection - I was away on holiday so missed out on the pleasure of refusing to let them in. Like you I think their behaviour verges on harrassment.

Having said all that: I still support public funding for the BBC. But I'm not sure the licence fee is the best way to do it, partly because it supports this odious bureaucracy.

 

I believe in a public service broadcast station and therefore in the TV licence.

Sorry people but if one is peculiar enough not to have a TV in this day and age one shouldn't be surprised people don't believe you, can you really not see it from their point of view, perhaps you should just learn not to take it to heart.

 

I think it's a very healthy thing to have a politically independent public funded body making news and other public service programming. Commercial interests and the free market are not always the best way to get top quality journalism and programmes and as such the BBC is able to do culturally and socially important things which commercial broadcasters rarely do.

That's not to say the BBC is perfect and perhaps the license fee is not the best way to fund it. I have no objection in principle to making it fully tax funded, making everyone pay for it no matter if they own a TV or not, since public service broadcasting is arguably as important to public health as the NHS and the welfare system. Though perhaps if the government were able to directly set the BBC's budgets from general taxation it would be harder to argue for its total independence.

 

I'm tending to agree with lithium, fund the BBC from general taxation. The licence scheme is getting increasingly illogical: e.g. if you record a prog off the air and watch it later you need a licence, if you download it (legally) after it's been broadcast and watch it on your PC you don't. Also, there would be massive savings from scrapping the whole TV Licensing bureaucracy. Plus the licence is a regressive tax, like all flat-rate charges.

 

direct payment from government will turn the institute into a governemnt mouthpiece

no thank you very much

 

It is just one of those things. There is a Cash easy entry scheme with payments from as little as eleven pounds a month. Perhaps those interested could apply by phone. Say you are on benefits, usually they don't check. Then you are okey. Ideal for those without a bank account and on peasant wage.

I don't believe in the TV licence but I think that if the BBC started having advertisements it would be horrendous.
Suppose you just have to pay it or face 1000 fine or upto six months imprisonment.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/waysto...p;jsessionid=78352C15E707A2736EA8D49F104FAA18

 

what a fucking trip, man.

 

Well I'm peculiar enough not to drive either, but I don't get DVLC sending me mean letters insinuating that I'm in the habit of driving a car without a licence.

 

We subsidise the BBC. As the BBC don't recieve money from advertisements, they rely on us. There are methods to pay which suit all and is a lot fairer than say Council Tax. Many don't buy a licence and soon technology will be as such that when BBC channels get encrypted, we won't nessersearely need to buy a licence. Who would subscribe? Well I would say most of us because they have rights to the Olympics coverage etc.When 2012 comes along, this technology will exist. THe BBC is fantastic in its most diverse programming. From BBC1 to BBC4. There is something for everyone. They gave us Boosh, Little Britain and the Proms.

 

Hey Folks
I have to admit, the wording in the letters and the negative vibes I get just from the beginning annoy me!
My work gets letters all the time, pretty much accusing us of breaking the law!
I phoned up and complained about the tone to which they were writing the letters, I haven't got any letters since
Score!
/|\ Peace of the Grove
Alex

 

I Remember as a Child...Some man Knocked at the Front Door...I Asked what he Wanted and he said he Came to Check Water meter...

He was a TV License Guy! But he Assumed our Broken TV was in Use and so mum got in Trouble...Idiots...

Lame Tactics Lying to a Child...

my mother was in the House btw...I just Happened to Answer the Door...

 

Wow.

 

Gadget is in to Francesco med voyage. I could see her eyes getting nearer to the screen before i had to hit her around the back of head with a rolled up copy of the Daily Mirror. The BBC does offer some good entertainment and it is partly the BBC's initiative that we now have multi channel tv which is free.

 

WOW.

:leaving:

 

Why not just have telethons to raise money for the BBC. Everyone hates telethons. So pretty soon you will just hand over your money willingly just to stop the damn telethons. I don't know. What the hell am I doing here ? I don't live in England I don't even know what this is all about I just know telethons suck.

Peace

 

Is this how you accumulate your post count KC?

I detect a bit of attention-seeking going on...

I agree that the tv licencing authority are very draconian in their methods, not to mention their advertising. I don't have a problem with the licence itself, but there's no civilised justification in my view for bashing us over the head with it and treating everyone as potential criminals. I also don't see what's' wrong with being "peculiar" and not having a tv, that seems to be glorifying conformity, which is a pile of crap. Anyway I think there's a strong case for defining tv as the modern opiate of the masses.

 

Nothing "wrong", just don't be as simple as they are, if you choose to be different then expect confusion from people sometimes.

 

i thought it succinct, actually. did you read what i responded to?

 

What a trip! I never imagined that a country would force their citizens to pay for television! It doesn't seem right that I can watch BBC programs in the US and choose whether or not I pay for them. In the US, our public television is paid for by donations...the individual stations hold membership drives, something very similar to a telethon. Membership drives feature special programs, like concerts, then they interupt them every 20 minutes or so to solicit funds, offering premiums for larger donations ($150 dollars will often get you a DVD copy of the show). Corporations, Trusts and Foundations also donate to fund shows...they don't get a commercial but they do get a small mention at the end of the show (this show brought to you by ______ and viewers like you)

Here's something interesting...US public television helps to pay for some BBC shows. My family enjoys the British comedies which our local puplic television station pays the BBC to run on Saturday nights. I'd almost bet that Faulty Towers has paid for plenty, the same twelve episodes have been running for years! Keeping Up Appearances and As Time Goes By are big favorites here too. BBC sci-fi has some huge followings in the US; Dr Who, Red Dwarf & the orginal Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe series.

I don't understand this license thing...seems to me that the BBC should be able to run without charging everyone in the country and hassling those who choose not to watch TV.