You need a license to watch TV in UK?!

@Baldimo,

The TV licence you pay is for radio and TV. If you do not have any of it you do not pay a licence.
The licence goes to make good programs and to pay the people working there.
That means less or no ads.
What´s wrong with paying for people´s work?

1 Reply

@McGentrix,

McGentrix wrote:

Government owns the housing (am I wrong on that? Do people actually own homes in UK?)

Of course they don't. I own my house fully, fair and square. It is mine. Like my car is mine and my shoes are mine. Where did you get that crazy idea? Of course local government bodies (the city or county) own social housing which people can rent, but that's true in the USA.

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"bailiffs" can come to your house and steal your personal belongings to pay fines

Why the scare quotes? They have bailiffs in the USA (called sheriffs sometimes). And it's not stealing.

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for a license to watch TV.

Like Izzy says, if you don't like it, don't come here. Where do you get your stupid notions from?

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@centrox,

Somehow I have the idea that Britain is one of the European countries where more people own a house than in other countries.

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@farmerman,

Even the public stations that used to produce informational shows for the public good have gone to pot because the government has cut their funding and they have had to go to industry for funding and suffer the consequences of having to do as their corporate sponsors order them to do. Still they are better than Fox, CNN, NBC and the rest of so called tv stations.

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@izzythepush,

The licensing fees are terrific - much better programming results and few, if any, ads. It's a fee for service, not sure why anyone doesn't understand that. Not sure what they think television /magazine/newspaper advertising in the US / elsewhere is about. It pays for the product (and sometimes the viewpoint as well).

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Well, when all is said and done, Mr. Jerry Weeks is a bit of a twat, isn't he?

I feel sorry for the heavily pregnant Mrs. Weeks.

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@McGentrix,

McGentrix wrote:

am I wrong on that?

You're wrong on most things. All our housing is owned by the local Mosque, our rent goes to re-educating the infidel. You'd hate it over here, you stay where you are and show how big your testicles are by letting the rich man get huge tax cuts at the cost of the air you breathe and the water you drink.

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@McGentrix,

McGentrix wrote:

Dr. Who is a standard bearer of the BBC. Sherlock Holmes, The Young Ones, Monty Python, the I.T. Crown, Black Books (!), Benny Hill and some others.

You don't know anything about the BBC. That list could have been written five years ago, the only thing still on air is Doctor Who. You have no idea of what is being shown right now. Benny Hill hasn't been shown since the 80s, we've moved on even you can't.

You only found out about Black Books the other day, and now it's made your top 7. There's plenty of other great programmes you're completely unaware of, you only know of the handful your broadcasters let you watch. You even think Benny Hill and the IT Crowd are BBC productions. That's how little you know.

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@ehBeth,

The only ads on the BBC are for other BBC programmes.

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@izzythepush,

That is certainly the case for the BBC. I was thinking/posting more generally about countries that have TV licensing fees.

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@Baldimo,

Baldimo wrote:

Quote:
Any difference in USA except for the TV licence?

A bit of a difference, when I fail to pay for a traffic ticket, they don't take my car and sell it for fee's.

In most if not all states, If you don't pay your speeding fine, your license to drive will be suspended. If you get stopped again, you can be jailed and your car can be impounded. Property can be impounded for many violations. Do your goddam homework before posting bullshit.

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Why should your ownership of a TV be decided by a govt license.

It isn't. Not ownership, use for watching broadcasts. We have a social contract, whereby we pay the licence fee and we get the BBC free of ads, sponsorship, or political influence. There are 25 million licences in force, that is around 95% of households who are happy to pay the licence. If there was mass refusal, it would collapse.

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What if I only want to use my TV to play Xbox? Do I still have to pay the fee,

No licence needed.

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How about if I only watch movies on DVD or blue ray? Do I still owe the license fee?

No licence needed.

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My entertainment shouldn't be limited by a license from the govt. It's things like this that make me happy to be in the US.

Stay there. Don't tell us how to run our country. By the way, 'licence' is the correct spelling here (in case anyone is dumb enough to pick me up on it)

1 Reply

@centrox,

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In most if not all states, If you don't pay your speeding fine, your license to drive will be suspended. If you get stopped again, you can be jailed and your car can be impounded. Property can be impounded for many violations. Do your goddam homework before posting bullshit.

You are only slightly wrong. Yes they will revoke your license to drive, but the DMV isn't showing up to your house to knock on your door and take your car. That is a fact, do your own homework.

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It isn't. Not ownership, use for watching broadcasts. We have a social contract, whereby we pay the licence fee and we get the BBC free of ads, sponsorship, or political influence. There are 25 million licences in force, that is around 95% of households who are happy to pay the licence. If there was mass refusal, it would collapse.

The Brits wouldn't stick up for themselves in this case, they are lemmings.

I wonder what would happen if it was made optional, I'm willing to bet the license would be a thing of the past.

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Stay there. Don't tell us how to run our country. By the way, 'licence' is the correct spelling here (in case anyone is dumb enough to pick me up on it)

If I'm not mistaken, you have had plenty to say on how the US should be run. You should really take your own advice. You Brits get so bitchy when people complain about your country.

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@izzythepush,

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There's plenty of other great programmes you're completely unaware of, you only know of the handful your broadcasters let you watch.

What our broadcasters let us watch? Don't you mean what the BBC exports over here is controlled by the BBC? Sure we get a few of the programs from over there but those are only on what seems like the weekend, Dr. Who, Orphan Black, Ripper Street, Top Gear and The Graham Norton Show, are only on during the weekends. During the week on daytime, BBC America will only show reruns of old US TV shows, everything Star Trek and reruns of Dr. Who. The BBC could do a better job of show casing more of that excellent TV. I did watch a season of Luther once and it was ok. We had Black Mirror on Netflix, was that shown on the BBC over there or paid TV?

I wonder how many US TV shows are shown over there?

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

Quote:
You consider freedom and liberty to be childish? Huh. Never would have pegged you as one of those
By your own phraseology, you make my point. There is only YOUR definition of freedom allowed. (Thats really not freedom is it?)

I had to arch my eyebrow and scratch my chin over your response.

Freedom is freedom. What you are suggesting is imposing restrictions on freedom. Is that your freedom? Restrictions on things guaranteed by the founding documents of the country?

I certainly prefer my definition of freedom. I don't need anyone coming to my door to collect my valuables over an outstanding license fee. If the company doesn't want me to receive something broadcast over the air, then I would suggest they scramble that signal and sell me a de-scrambler. Otherwise, **** them.

Come to my house to collect my valuables, better bring some body armor and a small army.

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@McGentrix,

are we paranoid ?? About what?

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@farmerman,

I agree about BBC planet earth, love it, sometimes when I can't sleep, I put it on to relax me, before you know it....Also some pretty good British comedy on PBS, kind of different but good. I mostly watch reality TV like ID and the cooking channel and the like, the rest is crap.

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@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

McGentrix wrote:

Dr. Who is a standard bearer of the BBC. Sherlock Holmes, The Young Ones, Monty Python, the I.T. Crown, Black Books (!), Benny Hill and some others.

You don't know anything about the BBC. That list could have been written five years ago, the only thing still on air is Doctor Who. You have no idea of what is being shown right now. Benny Hill hasn't been shown since the 80s, we've moved on even you can't.

You only found out about Black Books the other day, and now it's made your top 7. There's plenty of other great programmes you're completely unaware of, you only know of the handful your broadcasters let you watch. You even think Benny Hill and the IT Crowd are BBC productions. That's how little you know.

I don't claim to have some insider track on what's on the BBC. Anymore than I would expect you to know what's on CBS tonight. I don't watch BBC as I don't pay for cable TV. Yet, I have an antennae that goes up into the sky and then through the magic of TV I get clean, crisp, digital TV for free. Yeah, I get commercials, but you know what? Don't really care. Commercials are part of what makes America the leader of the free world.

The shows I listed are shows I've watched on BBC America and MTV and Netflix recently (Thank you again for the Black Books suggestion.). I don't care who produced them. Is that a thing over there?

I looked, but I could not find a comparative list of TV from around the world. Every list I found was an either/or list pandering to the audience.

Now, I'm not saying BBC TV is bad, it's not. There are some really great shows on. But, in minor league baseball, there are also some really great players. But when compared to the big leagues, they just don't hold up.

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@revelette1,

I love Alton Brown's take on cooking science. Brit cooking shows try awfully hard to be interesting for their cooking , as well as being entertaining but just dont make it. Maybe thats one area in which we do excel.

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

are we paranoid ?? About what?

Nope, just safe.

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@Baldimo,

Baldimo wrote:

Quote:
Stay there. Don't tell us how to run our country. By the way, 'licence' is the correct spelling here (in case anyone is dumb enough to pick me up on it)

If I'm not mistaken, you have had plenty to say on how the US should be run. You should really take your own advice. You Brits get so bitchy when people complain about your country.

Nothing to argue with in that.

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You need a license to watch TV in UK?!

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