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Someone posted on another forum that in the UK you need a license to watch TV and its been the case for a while? Surely thats a joke, right?

Nope, that's how the BBC gets its funding

Yes, no real difference to paying for a premium channel like HBO except that it's compulsory.

Technically, you can avoid paying the license by having BBC channels blocked but it's more hassle than it's worth.

cost £145.50 per household


50% off if you're registered blind (the legal definition includes partially sighted so not as silly as it sounds)

or free for those ages 75 and over

You also don't need a license if you only watch TV via catch up, such as BBC iPlayer. If you watch live TV (either on TV or via the internet) or anything you have recorded as it was broadcast, then legally you need a license. The BBC gets a large chunk of the license fee, but some is divided up among the other broadcasters.

To watch anything live you need a TV license.

God bless Great Britain.

It should be noted though that as a result BBC does not air adverts

Works that way in Japan as well for NHK; if you don't pay your yearly "donation" they send someone around to collect. I loved answering the door and seeing the poor slob's face when the big white guy pretended to not speak Japanese. Cruel but funny.

I really wish they would allow licensing to the rest of the world, as my wife loves their programming. We've tried various paid UK proxies & VPN's for the iPlayer but they all seem to sort of suck, or they get shut down quickly.

Thats because it often takes a British person to understand a British programme. So there really isn't much point showing it outside the UK.

welshhoppo wrote:
Thats because it often takes a British person to understand a British programme. So there really isn't much point showing it outside the UK.

Top Gear's been doing pretty well here in Sweden, and BBC Entertainment generally has better stuff than the Swedish equivalent, at least in my opinion.

So I can't watch Blackadder any more? Or Monty Python?

welshhoppo wrote:
Thats because it often takes a British person to understand a British programme. So there really isn't much point showing it outside the UK.

Not sure if serious.

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
cost £145.50 per household


50% off if you're registered blind (the legal definition includes partially sighted so not as silly as it sounds)

or free for those ages 75 and over

That seems really expensive. My cable bill with internet's considerably less than that, and I've got a few premium services.

A year, I'd assume, regarding the 145 pounds?

Yeah, but isn't the BBC like five channels?

 Seaward wrote:
Yeah, but isn't the BBC like five channels?

4 main channels as well as a couple of kids channels, a 24 hour news channel and a couple of others(I'm pretty sure that there is a sports channel). The license fee also pays for excellent national (and reasonable local) radio stations and a world class news service. All of whom are completely free of the scourge that is advertising (aside from the odd charity appeal or party political broadcast). Having recently watched some US TV and seen just how many adverts that you are forced to sit through I am glad to spend just over £10 a month for good quality programming without anyone attempting to sell me gak.

 Soladrin wrote:

welshhoppo wrote:
Thats because it often takes a British person to understand a British programme. So there really isn't much point showing it outside the UK.

Not sure if serious.

I'm not always serious, but when I am serious you can't tell I'm serious.

The BBC usually has good stuff on and the lack of adverts is nice.
Frankly it's worth it. That said I don't watch live tv any more...

Not too mention that the BBC funds a lot of TV movies.

It's not a license like a driver's or gun license where you have to pass a test or background check. It's more like an involuntary subscription.

feeder wrote:
It's not a license like a driver's or gun license where you have to pass a test or background check. It's more like an involuntary subscription.

It's a voluntary subscription in that if you don't want to pay it you don't have to, you just don't get to watch live tv.

Oh really? I was under the impression it was not opt-out. If you owned a TV, you had to have a license.

 Palindrome wrote:

 Seaward wrote:
Yeah, but isn't the BBC like five channels?

4 main channels as well as a couple of kids channels, a 24 hour news channel and a couple of others(I'm pretty sure that there is a sports channel). The license fee also pays for excellent national (and reasonable local) radio stations and a world class news service. All of whom are completely free of the scourge that is advertising (aside from the odd charity appeal or party political broadcast). Having recently watched some US TV and seen just how many adverts that you are forced to sit through I am glad to spend just over £10 a month for good quality programming without anyone attempting to sell me gak.

Yup, the BBC might have its flaws, and I firmly believe the license fee should be changed to be more progressive, either by replacing it with a tax-like construct(not government administered) or by increasing the basic cost which is then modified by a means-tested rebate system, but even after the ridiculous cuts it's had to endure over the last few years, it still makes some of the best drama, arts, education, and current affairs TV and radio shows in the world and you not only don't have to watch a single advert when they're broadcast on TV, almost everything they show is also available to watch/listen to online.

It's a bit depressing to watch at the moment in terms of the independence debate, since the London-centric hierarchy and generally pro-status quo attitude mean their coverage is functionally even if not intentionally or maliciously biased, but it's still better than the alternative, which lets all remember is Rubert Murdoch, Paul Dacre, and other similar toxic, vile, inhuman wastes of life.

It's pretty good actually, a channel with no adverts and which can achieve a lot of independence from political bias and from this that come with advertising. The alternative are channels that are subject to the whims of advertisers and reflect the views of corporations like the Murdoch empire. There's a reason the BBC is constantly under attack from the right wing press, they want it broken up so they can buy it and control it.

Students tend to get away with it for a long time.. remember trying to lie to the guy that came round to my student house, through the edge of the window you could clearly see two people sat down playing mario kart

agnosto wrote:Works that way in Japan as well for NHK; if you don't pay your yearly "donation" they send someone around to collect. I loved answering the door and seeing the poor slob's face when the big white guy pretended to not speak Japanese. Cruel but funny.

And is that presumably why they had to send round two sumo-wrestlers?

 Ouze wrote:
I really wish they would allow licensing to the rest of the world, as my wife loves their programming. We've tried various paid UK proxies & VPN's for the iPlayer but they all seem to sort of suck, or they get shut down quickly.

You should get satellite TV then.

feeder wrote:
It's not a license like a driver's or gun license where you have to pass a test or background check. It's more like an involuntary subscription.

My mind reels at the thought of the kind of test you would have to take if ever it was initiated. Best not to travel down those avenues of madness.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
A year, I'd assume, regarding the 145 pounds?

Yes it's over the year. Around £12.50 a month.

welshhoppo wrote:
Thats because it often takes a British person to understand a British programme. So there really isn't much point showing it outside the UK.

I disagree. A fair number of intelligent, well-educated foreigners can understand British TV.

In other news, you used to need a licence to own a dog or a radio receiver. You still need a licence to drive a car or go fishing.