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Post by PhilipDC78 on Mar 17, 2005 9:00:44 GMT -5
There's too much rubbish on it for me to bother paying the TV licence and it is a rather pkmtyolpive activity. What is a TV license? Do you need a license to own a TV in England?
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Post by christian on Mar 17, 2005 11:26:21 GMT -5
What is a TV license? Do you need a license to own a TV in England? If you are resident in England and watch TV, you have to have a TV licence by law. BBC TV is a public service provider that doesn't show commercials, and has to charge viewers for a licence. I don't think it's necessary as all other TV channels over here do commercials, and it could be argued that they too provide a public service. Having said that their colour licence is only just over £100 for a year's worth of viewing, and I guess you can easily pay more for your favourite weekly magazines. But there have been concerns expressed about the quality of BBC programming, which seems in recent years to have been suffering from a "dumbing down", including an increasing output of sex and violence. Can't really cpkmtyoll that as being quality programming. Rock told me the other day that when they originally set up the BBC, it was dedicated to God. How times have changed. It's very sad. Andy.
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Post by PhilipDC78 on Mar 17, 2005 11:43:08 GMT -5
If you are resident in England and watch TV, you have to have a TV licence by law. BBC TV is a public service provider that doesn't show commercials, and has to charge viewers for a licence. I don't think it's necessary as all other TV channels over here do commercials, and it could be argued that they too provide a public service. Having said that their colour licence is only just over £100 for a year's worth of viewing, and I guess you can easily pay more for your favourite weekly magazines. But there have been concerns expressed about the quality of BBC programming, which seems in recent years to have been suffering from a "dumbing down", including an increasing output of sex and violence. Can't really cpkmtyoll that as being quality programming. Rock told me the other day that when they originally set up the BBC, it was dedicated to God. How times have changed. It's very sad. Andy. So then do you have to pay the 100 pounds a year in order to watch BBC, or in order to own a television? In other words, are you paying for a BBC subscription, and do not have to pay it if you do not subscribe, or do all television owners have to pay 100 pounds a year, regardless of the fact if watch BBC or not?
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Post by christian on Mar 17, 2005 12:22:43 GMT -5
So then do you have to pay the 100 pounds a year in order to watch BBC, or in order to own a television? In other words, are you paying for a BBC subscription, and do not have to pay it if you do not subscribe, or do all television owners have to pay 100 pounds a year, regardless of the fact if watch BBC or not? The answer is yes to all four of your points.
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Post by christian on Mar 17, 2005 13:58:39 GMT -5
Correction: You can buy a television without an aerial, but you can't watch it without a TV licence, unless you don't have an aerial or satellite dish. Most houses already have an aerial. After I'd decided to stop watching my television and got rid of it, the TV licence people kept pestering me to renew my TV licence, and even threatened to send a TV inspector round, to make sure that I wasn't watching one illegally, even after I'd gone to the trouble of writing to them explaining that I no longer watched TV! In the end I just decided to make a point of going out for the whole day, every day, until they finally got the message. Apparently they have TV detector vans that are able to detect whether anyone without a licence is watching television. I even heard of a case of some guy who only watched videos on his television. They took him to court. He lost the case, and was made to pay a fine of £1000, plus, no doubt, court costs.
Andy.
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Post by PhilipDC78 on Mar 17, 2005 14:45:21 GMT -5
That is crazy! I can buy a television here in the US and watch television. I can buy an antenna and watch whatever I can catch off of the air broadcasts (which here is about 5 channels). I can also watch any movies I want as long as I have the movie (DVD or VHS) and a player to play it. There are no licenses in order to own and watch a TV. Of course, if I want more than 5 channels, and better quality than what I get from air broadcasts, I can sign up for cable (which I have now). I pay for cable, but I don't have a "license" to simply own and watch television. That is insane!
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Post by christian on Mar 30, 2005 9:35:18 GMT -5
Well, it appears that the first episode of the new Dr.Who series has received some favourable reviews in the English press.
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Post by christian on Mar 30, 2005 9:38:10 GMT -5
Are there any Dr. Who fans on these boards?
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