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The Music Thread Strikes Back

In the UK you have to pay for a tv licence so the bbc isn’t actually free. It’s still excellent value most of the time and I always think of it as essentially free to view as every household has to pay the fee regardless so the content is sort of free really, from a certain point of view.
 
Alan said:
I think there's something about the BBC I don't understand, then, as I would have called that a free broadcast?

Referencing tax funding?
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BBC is funded via a TV License.

£159 per household a year
 
A... TV... License?

Do you have to pass a test?

(Sorry, I'm horrendously hijacking yet another thread)
 
No but you can’t watch any television at all without paying it. Even if you never watch the bbc.
 
I haven't been this surprised by a mass media fact since I learned that cable companies here actually receive their source signals from satellites.
 
I mean, you CAN just never pay it. As they don't have "detecting equipment" (beyond a list of who does and doesn't have a licence), and you're not obliged to answer the door to them, and they have no right to enter your property. Would be pretty shitty to do though unless it was a genuine choice between eating or paying the fee.
 
Do we still have detector vans?

Thought they would have been scrapped long a go or if they still exist will be in smal numbers. You buy a new TV now and the address is cross checked with their database and if you have no license you will be getting a letter within a few weeks to say sort one or a lovely fine will be coming your way
 
Deutsch Wolf said:
they have no right to enter your property.
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I believe they can get permission to do so via the courts, which seems a lot of effort to get £160 from someone (I know at this point it will hundreds of £ in fines as well though)
 
Yeah but you have to let them in first or they can't do anything. If you just ignore the letters forever and they never get into the property and find proof that you're watching Quincy of an afternoon then they can't do shit.

They don't have the rights that say, an electricity company does where they can force entry (even our shit Government has temporarily stopped this too).
 
Im One of the people who think it's good value on the whole. In general the quality of programmes is excellent , of course they have their share of rubbish (personal taste)
The only downside is their sports coverage.
Used have test cricket, F1, Motogp, plus other stuff. Only live football is Internationals I think.
On detector vans, they definitely had them early 80s as I know to my cost.
 
Deutsch Wolf said:
Yeah but you have to let them in first or they can't do anything. If you just ignore the letters forever and they never get into the property and find proof that you're watching Quincy of an afternoon then they can't do shit.

They don't have the rights that say, an electricity company does where they can force entry (even our shit Government has temporarily stopped this too).
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Get permission from the courts they can just walk in. Its a lot of effort and cost to do so.

For me, it should only reach this point if they believe the occupants are making people watch Mrs Brown's Boys illegally

TV Licensing can only enter your home without your permission if authorised to do so under a search warrant granted by a magistrate (or sheriff in Scotland). They will only do this when they have reason to believe an offence is being committed. TV Licensing will be accompanied by the police when executing a search warrant.
 
Bet they haven't had 10 search warrants granted in the 2020s. Never happens.

I was tempted to cancel my Direct Debit when the BBC employed Saunders during Euro 2016.
 
It would be a very rare for them to do so, but they can is my point.

It will generally follow this route - warnings, fine, court case, CCJ....then people will move house and start again
 
I don't get how detector vans ever worked - its imagining by connecting a receiving antenna it somehow magically turns into a transmitter.
 
They didn't, it was to scare the gullible into paying up.

If they were even halfway serious about enforcing it then they'd make you tie your iPlayer account to a valid licence number. But they don't.
 
I've seen people tell Capita (the people who come round your house) to get fucked before, even with a warrant.

As its a civil matter and not legal, the warrant still doesn't allow them to enter your property. Plenty of youtube videos showing this. All the police are there for is to "keep the peace". It's just intimidation tactics.
 
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