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All paid by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Un...

lainga 8y ago
I never understood why they stick with this model instead of just levying a tax on citizens (like my beloved CBC). The BBC has been more than just a TV station for a long time; and I hear people in the UK are dead tired of having BBC license "collectors" coming round every 2 months to harass them into paying fees for the flatscreen TV they have hooked up to an XBox.
- jgrahamc 8y ago
  I hear people in the UK are dead tired of having BBC license "collectors" coming round every 2 months I have never heard of this (I am in the UK). Yes, they'll send you letters from time to time (yearly?) but "coming round every two months"?
  - DanBC 8y ago
    The only people who have problems are the people who refuse to tick a box on a webform that says "I do not use iPlayer, I do not watch any tv live as it's broadcast".
    - jgrahamc 8y ago
      I didn't have a TV license for years because I didn't watch live TV etc. and they just sent me regular letters (I think every two years). True that those letters are kind of menacing but...
      - jlebrech 8y ago
        had you been unemployed (or remote working) and been home most weekdays you would have had many interrupting knocks on the door.
    - jlebrech 8y ago
      that's not quite true, they wording on their paperwork implies that they "may" still come round to persuade you to buy a licence, this is usually the elderly that are fooled into "buying" a licence on the stop but are instead proven to be guilty of not having a licence and are sent to court. the licence system is too heavy handed, especially for those that do not know their rights.
- Symbiote 8y ago
  If you tell the BBC licence collectors (phone/letter/in person) that you're not watching TV, they stop coming. The license collectors remain a favourite grumble of anti-government or anti-tax people, most people aren't affected. (Most people buy the license, most people who don't need to instead tell the BBC roughly every 3 years.)
  - jlebrech 8y ago
    after two years then will come back, and if they have reason to believe you are watching tv they can still come. people can watch netflix and still be bothered by those people.
- myrandomcomment 8y ago
  The BBC is fantastic. Use a proxy to watch it in the US. Keep telling them I would happily pay the license fee if they allowed us to watch the iplayer outside of the UK. They really should do this. I would wager money they would get more paying license outside the UK then inside.
lifeisstillgood 8y ago
Not sure if that's a complaint or not :-) My view is that of all my susbscriptions for entertainment - sky, disney, netflix, and time wasted listening to ads, the one that gives easily the best value for money is 12 quid a month to the BBC. (I mean sky is nearly 60 quid a month and i cannot persuade my other half to go broadcast-less)
- sofaofthedamned 8y ago
  The BBC have always been awesome, especially with their R&D. I used to work at a manufacturer of teletext inserters years ago so we met with lots of BBC people - they had 4K before anybody had heard of it, as well as the work on the Dirac codec. There's something about broadcast stuff i'd love to work with again. Even just a broadcast mixing desk jogwheel was a league above anything i've ever DJd with, the engineering to make it feel correct was amazing. I'd imagine these days moving to IP it's more of a challenge I can step up to. Are the BBC hiring devops people...?

lainga 8y ago

I never understood why they stick with this model instead of just levying a tax on citizens (like my beloved CBC). The BBC has been more than just a TV station for a long time; and I hear people in the UK are dead tired of having BBC license "collectors" coming round every 2 months to harass them into paying fees for the flatscreen TV they have hooked up to an XBox.

jgrahamc 8y ago
I hear people in the UK are dead tired of having BBC license "collectors" coming round every 2 months I have never heard of this (I am in the UK). Yes, they'll send you letters from time to time (yearly?) but "coming round every two months"?
- DanBC 8y ago
  The only people who have problems are the people who refuse to tick a box on a webform that says "I do not use iPlayer, I do not watch any tv live as it's broadcast".
  - jgrahamc 8y ago
    I didn't have a TV license for years because I didn't watch live TV etc. and they just sent me regular letters (I think every two years). True that those letters are kind of menacing but...
    - jlebrech 8y ago
      had you been unemployed (or remote working) and been home most weekdays you would have had many interrupting knocks on the door.
  - jlebrech 8y ago
    that's not quite true, they wording on their paperwork implies that they "may" still come round to persuade you to buy a licence, this is usually the elderly that are fooled into "buying" a licence on the stop but are instead proven to be guilty of not having a licence and are sent to court. the licence system is too heavy handed, especially for those that do not know their rights.
Symbiote 8y ago
If you tell the BBC licence collectors (phone/letter/in person) that you're not watching TV, they stop coming. The license collectors remain a favourite grumble of anti-government or anti-tax people, most people aren't affected. (Most people buy the license, most people who don't need to instead tell the BBC roughly every 3 years.)
- jlebrech 8y ago
  after two years then will come back, and if they have reason to believe you are watching tv they can still come. people can watch netflix and still be bothered by those people.
myrandomcomment 8y ago
The BBC is fantastic. Use a proxy to watch it in the US. Keep telling them I would happily pay the license fee if they allowed us to watch the iplayer outside of the UK. They really should do this. I would wager money they would get more paying license outside the UK then inside.

lifeisstillgood 8y ago

Not sure if that's a complaint or not :-) My view is that of all my susbscriptions for entertainment - sky, disney, netflix, and time wasted listening to ads, the one that gives easily the best value for money is 12 quid a month to the BBC. (I mean sky is nearly 60 quid a month and i cannot persuade my other half to go broadcast-less)

sofaofthedamned 8y ago
The BBC have always been awesome, especially with their R&D. I used to work at a manufacturer of teletext inserters years ago so we met with lots of BBC people - they had 4K before anybody had heard of it, as well as the work on the Dirac codec. There's something about broadcast stuff i'd love to work with again. Even just a broadcast mixing desk jogwheel was a league above anything i've ever DJd with, the engineering to make it feel correct was amazing. I'd imagine these days moving to IP it's more of a challenge I can step up to. Are the BBC hiring devops people...?