TV licence fee to rise to £131.50

[AdamD]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4641006.stm

The television licence fee is to rise to £131.50 from 1 April, a 4.2% increase, the government has announced.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said it would enable the BBC to continue to provide a "strong and distinctive schedule". The current fee is £126.50.
She said the licence fee for 2006-7 would enable the BBC to remain at the "forefront of broadcasting technology".
The current settlement allows for the fee to be increased by the level of inflation plus 1.5% up to April 2007.
The government also revealed that the total television licence fee revenue collected by the BBC for 2000-1 to 2004-5 was more than £13bn.
Digital services
The corporation has already asked the government for its next settlement, to run for seven years from 2007 to 2013.
BBC director general Mark Thompson said a 2.3% rise above inflation would fund programmes and digital services.
For example, the corporation plans to make TV shows available via broadband internet for up to seven days after broadcast - alongside the existing "listen again" feature for radio.
That will include being able to watch shows on the internet at the same time as they are broadcast on TV. And, in a bid to offer a wide range of digital services, portable devices, such as mobile phones, will have access to more material.
The range of services that the corporation aims to offer includes new local radio stations and High Definition TV. The BBC is also required to help the nation switch over to digital TV during the switchover period, 2008-2012.

Yick

[Enuff]

I dont know how they get away with it.

Abolish the TV licence

[driver_problems]

Originally Posted by Dodger444

I dont know how they get away with it.

Abolish the TV licence

they must be spending it on all the new talent they are allowing onto the screens e.g. another 'reality' type tv show (essentially TV by numbers) or things like "Another chance to see the Morcambe & Wise 1974 Christmas Special"

[AdamD]

Yea, not to mention all the repeats of existing soaps, drama series' and movies.
Bleh

[marky]

I'm saying nothing,

[Enuff]

Originally Posted by marky

I'm saying nothing,

ok think i might say nothing too... here we go... "NOTHING"

[marky]

Originally Posted by Dodger444

ok think i might say nothing too... here we go... "NOTHING"

OOOOO you got me going now, I refuse to pay and go to court on a regular basis (I pay my fines), The BBC should in this day and age fund themselvse, just like all the others do

[Minbu]

The BBC keep banging on about needing the licence fee because they don't get advertising revenue like the other channels, ITV, etc. So why do we have to pay for SKY, for example, which is packed with adverts?????

[Damien]

Bbc Rocks!

[Enuff]

Originally Posted by Damien

Bbc Rocks!

but about 99.9999999% of the time it sux

[yesman]

Originally Posted by Dodger444

I dont know how they get away with it.

Abolish the TV licence

I do, it is a government tax, have a read of this

[marky]

Originally Posted by Damien

Bbc Rocks!

Do the rocks give out secret signals

[Enuff]

Originally Posted by yesman

I do, it is a government tax, have a read of this

Good read I like this question put by Gerald Kaufman -

Will my right hon. Friend call on the BBC to desist from the odious licensing campaign that it is conducting, in which it implies, regardless of the Data Protection Act 1998, that it is able to snoop on every household in the country and threatens people with the repulsive slogan, "Get one or get done" and the prospect of a huge fine or a prison sentence? Will she make it clear to the BBC that if it conducts a campaign with menaces and threats of that kind, using licence payers' money to do so, more and more people will believe that there ought not to be a licence at all?

Nice one Ged m8

[Anonymouse]

A few years ago, I got enormous grief from them. I don't even have a TV.

To explain: when I moved into my flat, I had a long-term plan to (eventually) get a TV and video, and subscribe to NTL. But my parents' VCR suddenly died on them, and there were a couple of programmes I really wanted them to tape for me. So I decided to buy a VCR early and lend it to the parents until such time as they could afford to replace theirs...but I took out extra cover using my name and address, since I was going to be the one using it eventually.

If I'd known what was going to happen next I'd have had second thoughts about that.

I was very surprised to receive a letter, plus a licence form, from TVL; I just sent it back with a note saying I didn't have a TV. They sent another, plus notification that an inspector would call on such a date. He didn't turn up...not that I waited in for him. Go figure.

A third letter, suggesting I might have a PC (true, although there's no possible way they could know that for sure, since I built it myself) with a TV card (most definitely false - the non-TV version of my graphics card was cheaper). I wrote back an extremely snotty letter asking them "What part of 'I don't have a TV' don't you morons get? Did I perhaps write in Greek, or did I use too many one-syllable words?". By now I'd realised why they'd latched onto me like a damn lamprey (ever seen one? All those teeth? Eew!), and explained what had happened, i.e. the VCR business; I invited them to check with my parents (they didn't).

As for the possibility of the TV-enabled graphics card, I said that Windows was quite unstable enough without trying to watch TV drivel on it, thank you very much. As for 'any other member of my household' who might have had a licence at some point, I explained that the only other member was my 9-month-old kitten, who wouldn't watch TV even if I had one. She certainly didn't have a licence, and still doesn't.

The inspector did turn up eventually, and I showed him the aerial lead...which doesn't even have a co-ax plug on the end, hasn't had since I moved in (in 1999), and now probably never will. Thankfully I haven't heard anything since from these gorts. I still don't have a TV, and now, purely on principle, I have no intention whatsoever of getting one until the licence fee is abolished. I told 'em so, too. Besides, given the utter crap that's apparently on these days, what the hell do I want a TV for? I get all the entertainment I want from DVDs, reading and playing with my cat!

There are a couple of programmes I watch, but the mother tapes them for me so I can watch them (on their licensed TV) when I visit at the weekend. But that's it.

Edit: Hmmm. On delving further into that website, I now discover you do not need a TV licence for a TV card. Interesting.

[Halcyon]

Talking of VCR's and DVD Recorders, in my local Tesco there is a sign saying that if you are to purchase any of these goods, your details will be passed on to the licensing people.

With the amount of trash there is on TV, I find this amount crazy to pay.