£145.50 fee for free tv in UK

[viewer]

I was wondering how people would feel if we had to pay this sort of money over here in the land of oz?

It appears the levy funds the BBC (National Broadcaster) services, and if fee is removed, online content may also be charged.

[DB44]

Believe it or not we used to have it here. My mother tells the story of the TV licence officer knocking on the door one day, which would have been probably in the latter half of the 60's. She answered the door with myself and my two younger brothers behind her covered with measles. He said something like "I feel sorry for you. For heavens sake tell your husband to go out and buy some licences" before beating a hasty retreat.

The UK is just much slower to get rid of these anachronisms. Given the current reputation of the ABC I doubt we will be seeing the reintroduction of any tax to fund it any time soon.

[gordon_s1942]

When Colour was being introduced, the proposal was that an annual fee of $75 would be levied on Colour TV's alone apart from the then Radio/TV license in use.
I think the annual combined Radio/TV license was $25 which would make a total of $100 per annum if that had been introduced and in 1975, the average wage was under $2 an hour so a $100 was a lot.
I cant remember if it was 3 tiered, Radio only, Radio/TV (B&W) and Colour, each attracting its own fee.
I feel certain that when TV was introduced in 1956, there was an increase in the fee if you had a TV, but I think it was a 'combined' fee rather than a stand alone fee as was later proposed.
At that time you got the license card from the Post Office and you had the option to pay it in full or any amount you liked so long as at the end of the 12 months it was paid in full.
I think when you paid an amount, it was done using a postage stamp that was then 'cancelled' with the date and place shown so you couldnt 'recycle' the old stamps.

Also I cant remember now if the license was a fixed annual term, 1 July to 30 June or when you first started the card.

However, as expected there was one hell of an outcry both from the Public and TV industry so the Government of the Day 'Generously' offered instead to add something like 1% to the Sales Tax and everybody was happy which was a brilliant con job as people eventually ended up paying more through the Sales Tax than the TV license Fee.

But many dont know the actual Law relating to the Broadcast licenses wasnt repealed until several years later.

[gordon_s1942]

double post

[weirdo]

my wife recalls her parents having a coin slot on their tv

[gordon_s1942]

Where was this weirdo, here or overseas as Coin operated things other than Electricity and Gas meters in rental properties back in the 50's/60's werent very common unless it was intended for maybe a Motel or one of the TV rental companies of the day.

[Mr 672A]

My old man use to have to pay this rubbish license and at one stage they were going to upper the license if you had 2 tv's in your house. I Remember the old man saying once that when sewerage appeared back in the early sixties it was suggested to introduce a second toilet license if you had a sh.it house inside the house. The early days all dunnies had to be outside the house.

[gordon_s1942]

Canberra proposed a '2nd Dunny Tax' some years ago but realised as it produced more crap than anywhere in OZ, it would cost too much in wages to pay all the Public Servants it would affect.

I remember 'indoor' plumbing in houses in Sydney and other areas back in the 50's and 60's but many chose to use the old 'Up the Yard' brick Loo that had been built in the Pan days because the mains seemed to run very close to them and the Loo was already there so why not use it?
I gather from old photo's etc, they laid the sewer mains in many of the older areas along what was then the 'Dunny Lane' so it didnt take much to connect to.

Some Councils still raise the spectre of an addition charge but now they are putting it that they need the money to upgrade or increase the capacity of the facilities to handle the waste material which they claim is increased by having a 2nd Loo.

One Council I heard of In Victoria now rates homeowners on Water tank capacity, NOT on the water itself, BUT on the extra flow it causes on the sewer system.........

[freakee1]

It would be nice to see telly you pay for that doesn't have advertising

it would....... seriously



f

[admin]

Most of Europe pays a TV license.

[gordon_s1942]

Seriously NO as my Bladder wouldnt allow me to sit that long and not only that its when the ads are on that allows you to put the kettle on, stretch your legs and keep track by counting each ad so you can get back to your seat not the miss the show.

Back in the dim dark days of Olde, the ABC pretty much ran their programs without a break from beginning to end without station breaks but some were that mind numbing you needed a break to stop going to sleep.

In the 'Real World' that unless you were extremely philanthropic, it costs heaps to run a TV channel as those who run the Community type channels will tell you.
Unless you get all the equipment free and everyone volunteers their time to service and run the channel, it still takes an appreciable amount to cover the costs that must be met.

Unfortunately, it is 'Commercial Television' and that how they pay the bills to provide the shows you want to see.

[Guiseppe]

.. and that how they pay the bills to provide the shows you want to see.

Want to see???????

If TV licensing was ever introduced I think the Government of the day would be in for a very rude shock - all those TVs on the nature strip to be collected ..

[Parkim]

I remember radio and TV licenses here in Oz and in the UK where we lived in the 1980s.

I started uni in 1968 and the student hostel I was living in would only allow us to have a radio in our room if we had a paid up license. They would not allow any student to have a tv in his (it was all male in those days) room, everyone had to watch the one in the common room. One guy snuck in a portable tv but it wasn't long before the warden confiscated it until the student was heading home for a weekend and had to take it with him.

From 1985 to 89 we lived in England. We had no tv set but used to get cards in the mail telling us to get a license. I chucked them out but they kept coming each six months or so. One time I got our seven or eight year old son to scribble on it like a little toddler might but to write 'no tv' in there somewhere. We sent it back like that and never got another card in the mail.

In the UK they had trucks that roamed around picking up the signals that came from tv sets and try to match it up against who has and who hasn't a license. I don't think flat screen LCD monitors emit the same signals as the CRT boxes did, so they might be having compliance problems.

[gordon_s1942]

Parkin, they also used 'Detection Vans' here or so they claimed and every now and again a report would appear in the newspaper that someone was fined for not having a license.
It was a rare house after WW2 that didnt have a Radio so it was a fair guess by an Inspector there would be a Radio there plus the bluff it had been 'detected' by the Van but when TV started, it was hard to deny having a TV when there was an antenna on the roof announcing to the world that you had TV.

In some cases, the refusal to allow either a Radio or TV was because it used 'Their Electricity' but one person I knew had a battery operated Radio and they wernt happy about it, they couldnt find a reason to refuse it so when he on his own, he plugged it into the power to save his batteries which were very expensive at the time.

[viewer]

Remember the Foxtel helicopters....

[weirdo]

Where was this weirdo, here or overseas as Coin operated things other than Electricity and Gas meters in rental properties back in the 50's/60's werent very common unless it was intended for maybe a Motel or one of the TV rental companies of the day.

that was in Brisbane Gordon
she doesn't remember much apart from that it had a coin slot (it was actually before her time)
not sure if it was payment for the viewing pleasure or electricity
a quick Google doesn't reveal too much either apart from this >