18 ms·

> The United Kingdom is somewhat unique in the world for requiring those households which view broadcast television to purchase a licence for the privilege. I

by lqet 6y ago

> The United Kingdom is somewhat unique in the world for requiring those households which view broadcast television to purchase a licence for the privilege. I know at least three countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) which do the same (edit: according the Wikipedia [0], such a fee exists in basically every European country, Japan, Israel, South Korea and Namibia). In Germany, the situation changed a few years ago, every household has to pay now, even if they don't own a television or radio. When I was a freshman student 10 years ago, things were a little bit different: an inspector (the "GEZ man") came by my apartment a few months after I moved in. He wanted to have a look inside. I declined. He came back a few times, but I didn't open the door. I never paid the fee (and I didn't have to, because I received BAföG [1]). Even if I would have had to, there was just no way for them to prove I was actually owning a television. Here, those "detector vans" have been an urban legend for 60 years. I am pretty sure I read somewhere that they never existed and where basically "created" to fear people into paying the fees. [0] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rundfunkabgabe https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rundfunkabgabe [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesausbildungsf%C3%B6rderungsgesetz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesausbildungsf%C3%B6rderun...

glandium 6y ago
You can add France and Japan to the list. In France, they don't go door to door, though, it's only a check box on some tax returns forms. In Japan they do come door to door. I've never heard about "detection vans" in either, though.
- ohgodplsno 6y ago
  They actually can go door to door in France! And the fine for having lied is quite unpleasant. Not that they have time to anymore since almost every single public service got their budgets slashed.
- tripa 6y ago
  They do come for a surprise visit if you tick the box in France. Used to, at least, circa 2009.
- ssmiler 6y ago
  Also sellers must declare to tax administration to whom they sold TV sets. The administration sets the checkbox for you automatically ;)
- programLyrique 6y ago
  They might not come, but they will send you a letter to ask you if really, really, you don't have a TV.
  - RobertKerans 6y ago
    Yeah, this is the same as how it worked in UK (still works? I dunno). I didn't have a TV growing up, bought one when I was about 14 thinking I was being sneaky about it, address was taken when I was buying it and obviously some box got checked on some system somewhere and my parents got bombarded with letters.
- tjpnz 6y ago
  No detection vans in Japan but the door knockers are persistent as hell and not beyond making people feel unsafe in their homes.
  - benrbray 6y ago
    The worst part is the intercom systems which are standard in every home. Not only do you hear the doorbell and the knock, but they get to broadcast their face directly into your private space! (I have since disabled the camera / audio feed but it spooked me more than a few times!)
aldanor 6y ago
+Ireland
cpach 6y ago
Sweden also had this system until recently.
- progre 6y ago
  Also, alledgely, using scanners to catch cheaters. Though I got a visit from a man checking for unlicensed TV sets once and he didn't have a scanner, just a long list of people that didn't have a TV license.
  - jamesrr39 6y ago
    I bought a new TV and got a phone call from Radiotjänst a couple of weeks later, asking where they should send the bill for the TV license. Busted! Now that the fee is discontinued, and it comes out of tax money instead, I sure don't miss getting those invoices.
    - progre 6y ago
      The electronics stores had a reporting duty as I remember.
      - whizzter 6y ago
        Yeah, it was some law iirc. Regarding being busted, i was zapping one day when the bell rang so i opened the door to the inspector with the remote in my hand and the TV blaring, THAT'D i call getting busted :D
  - aysterberi 6y ago
    There was also the funny scare tactics commercials where they said you would get a snail on the eye if you didn't pay. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J03eeYQ72Y0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J03eeYQ72Y0
  - progre 6y ago
    Apparently, they actually had scanners, but never used them https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/7113883 https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/7113883 (swedish)
wojciii 6y ago
Also same kind of system is in use in Denmark. :) The law is such that the inspector can look into your home from public areas but you don't have to open your door to them or talk to them. They are unable to determine if you own any device which can be used to watch state TV. This is quite silly. People actually fear this and gladly pay up.
sleavey 6y ago
> In Germany, the situation changed a few years ago, every household has to pay now, even if they don't own a television or radio. This was literally the first piece of mail I got when I moved to Germany: a letter demanding I pay for the TV networks I don't watch. I didn't even own a TV by that point, nor would have understood much of what was being said! A German explained to me once that the forced payment by non-watchers is justified as it benefits society as a whole. I must say, I've now found some of the programming on the publicly funded TV stations is actually pretty good.
- Tomte 6y ago
  The trick is to watch the smaller "third programmes" or the programmes with special focus, not the big two (ARD and ZDF). Then you'll see a plethora of really well-made documentations about regions in Germany, regions in the world, culture, archeology etc. The third programmes are also where new comedians, hosts and artists are given a chance to refine their show concepts and prove themselves.
  - matthiasv 6y ago
    > The trick is to watch the smaller "third programmes" or the programmes with special focus, not the big two (ARD and ZDF). To be fair, The Big One is actually just all "third programmes" with some additional programming such as news.
    - Tomte 6y ago
      I have no idea what you're talking about. Take a look at the first column of https://www.tvinfo.de/tv-programm/ard https://www.tvinfo.de/tv-programm/ard Pretty much nothing in there is also shown at any third programme. The programmes are almost completely distinct. Evening news are actually the one part where the third programmes show the same as the ARD.
      - matthiasv 6y ago
        I am talking about the fact that the ARD itself is the collective group of all regional broadcasters (look up the name) and any programme is produced either by one of the regional broadcasters or by the shared production company Degeto. And of course is also shown in the "thirds". Take "Rote Rosen" (with questionable quality) and you will see it is also shown on rbb, hr, NDR and MDR.
haspok 6y ago
At least in the UK there is content on TV worthy of watching (I got addicted to snooker while there, also some quite interesting shows like "Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole"), also, when I moved overseas they paid back the licence fee for the remaining part of the year, no questions asked. Now I'm in Austria and the "content" on TV channels is just ridiculous. Targeted at 70+ pensioners, but why should I pay for their entertainment...
- hef19898 6y ago
  Back the day, before streaming was a thing, the benfit of Austrian TV was to whatch the same movies like on German private channels. Without any adds. Was quite nice. For obvous reasons, Austrian publc broadcasters lost there liscense in ermany one day. With the exception of the border regions, they cited technical reasons. Not living in a border region, I do rememeber that the Austrian news was quite good to get different perspective. Movies, as I said, were nice as well. I do have to agree, so, that the home-grown entertainment sucks. In Germany as well. It is funny, so, that german public TV is not allowed to create their own streaming service and a lot of content has to removed from their online offerings after a certain period of time. Which kind of sucks. Especially since the rights catalogue of the public German networks, ARD and ZDF, used to be quite impressive. They just decidded to never show any of it before midnight, if at all.
- bipson 6y ago
  Unfortunately the only demographic that really kept watching Austrian stations is pensioners, and sports fans (the amount of skiing tournaments on our main station in winter is ridiculous). Everyone else often had cable or SAT, which gave you all the German and also Swiss networks, particularly the private ones, where the program is aimed at different demographics (also possible because of vastly larger pockets: German ad market >> Austrian ad market) At least ORF tried to modernize its image, but do you want to lose your main demographic as well? Can you compete (financially) with German private TV and pay TV? Not to mention Netflix, Disney+, etc? There is not really a way out. So were stuck with Skiing, Austrian Soccer, Tatort and Gaming show clones. At least there is a lot of cooperation/joint shopping with German and Swiss (public) stations. The self-created German content could be worse though. Tatort can be quite nice, it is not aiming to be CSI - and that can be a good thing.
ohazi 6y ago
> no way for them to prove I was actually owning a television (Emphasis mine) This "playing fast and loose with language" that they do (and that you inadvertently did too, just now) makes me so irrationally angry. Why would the burden of proof be that low? They need (should need?) to prove that you received broadcast television, not that you simply owned a TV. We hear these stories about TV detector vans as if finding a TV set was ever sufficient evidence.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago
  > We hear these stories about TV detector vans as if finding a TV set was ever sufficient evidence. The vans would be detecting radio activity; there's nothing to detect if the TV is off.
- spuz 6y ago
  In the UK, you must pay if you are capable of receiving live TV, not only if you do receive live TV. Even if it was never switch on, a TV that is plugged into an aerial qualifies as meeting that requirement.
  - imprecision 6y ago
    You can have and use TV and not pay, so long as you can reasonably show you are not receiving live broadcasts (if it ever came to a warrant being issued). Not having it plugged into an aerial and the channel presets not tuned is considered proof enough. I'd guess with more and more watching via the internet they probably have far more success catching people watch live broadcasts via IP addresses and ISP logs these days though.
  - gambiting 6y ago
    That is absolutely 1000000% not true. You only have to pay the TV Licence if you ever watch live TV, not if you merely have a televion set. I've never paid the fee because I don't watch live TV, ever, and when you go on the TV licence page to fill out the form why you don't need a licence, one of the options on the form is "I only use my TV for games consoles, netflix, dvd players etc". So it's not some "clever hack" - the law specifically allows for not paying the licence fee if you own a TV set but don't watch live TV.
_ph_ 6y ago
I don't know whether these vans were ever used here in Germany to detect TV watchers which don't pay, but these vans certainly existed. Their official, and I do think main purpose, was to detect signals which could interfere with TV and radio reception coming from defective electric devices or even illegal transmission sources.
GoblinSlayer 6y ago
The TV fee exists everywhere, but usually if you have the cable, you pay; if you don't pay, you are cut off and that's the end of story.
- saberdancer 6y ago
  This is not a fee for the cable provider. This is a fee you pay regardless of whether you consume public channels or not. In some countries, the mere existence of a TV or radio in your household means you have to pay. These are publicly broadcast channels.
mschuster91 6y ago
> I am pretty sure I read somewhere that they never existed and where basically "created" to fear people into paying the fees. We actually do have detector vans - they belonged to the RegTP, now Bundesnetzagentur, and are used to pinpoint pirate radios, malfunctioning equipment, and check if private point-to-point radios requiring licenses actually have licenses: https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/DE/Sachgebiete/Telekommunikation/Verbraucher/Funkstoerungen/PruefUndMessdienst/PruefUndMessdienst-node.html https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/DE/Sachgebiete/Telekommunik... In 2019, the BNetzA was out in 4.700 cases of radio interference - mostly it was WiFi routers using bands that are not allowed in Germany, but there were also 1.200 cases where interference hit sensitive communications like police radio or airplane communications: https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/gadgets/bundesnetzagentur-beseitigte-2018-tausende-funkstoerungen-a-1246103.html https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/gadgets/bundesnetzagentur-be...
tannhaeuser 6y ago
German public broadcasters in particular used to justify gross per-household fees by arguing free-to-air TV can be received by everyone, and pushed FTA DVB2 over antenna a couple years ago with spotty reception, and only in metropolitan areas, years ago. That argument is as comically out-of-date as it ever was, with CI/CAM devices (for SmartCard readers) being installed on every Smart TV and set-top box since the SD/DVB1 times. Even though they argue they act in accordance with the majority, they know quite well that they'd loose a large percentage of their audience out of inertia alone when they'd be doing the decent thing and require SmartCards for those who actually want to watch their TV programs which, as far as entertainment goes, is mostly bottom-of-the-barrel palliative-care crime series plus expensive programs for corrupt sports (the good stuff is mostly on radio IMO). But public broadcasters also have expansive web/IP presence, and even use Facebook for public communication (ZDF), when in their news/opinion pieces they rant against social media LOL. Public broadcasters today seem just to create a self-serving and self-referential media presence for politicians, in these times of Coronavirus more than ever. Tonight, they're going to push for even stronger measures including curfews (!) even though infections are going down; needless to say, without parliamentary participation. The whole thing is getting out of hands with irrationality fast right now.
doikor 6y ago
Here in Finland they just moved the payment into taxes in 2013. Basically 2.5% starting from income after 14000€ and maxes out at 163€ collected. https://www.vero.fi/en/About-us/newsroom/visual_aids_for_presentations_and_for_t/public_broadcasting_tax/ https://www.vero.fi/en/About-us/newsroom/visual_aids_for_pre...
- deanclatworthy 6y ago
  Which is absurd to pay for if you're a foreigner not speaking Finnish, as the public broadcaster basically offers no content in English other than (poorly) translated news.
  - Hamuko 6y ago
    YLE offers news in Finnish, Swedish, Finnish sign language, simple Finnish, English (https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/ https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/ doesn't look that poorly translated), Russian, Sámi and Karelian. Areena also has many English-language programs that are just subtitled into Finnish.
  - kzrdude 6y ago
    Taxes are mostly a package deal :)
  - alibarber 6y ago
    To be fair it might appear poorly translated to an English speaker mainly due to the fact that there isn't much of it, in Finnish or otherwise. Some people in Finland regard this as a feature not a bug, although it's taken me a while to get used to.
  - doikor 6y ago
    YLE also has some originally English content (and as we don't dub adult programs in Finland you can enjoy them too). For example the early seasons Game of Thrones were shown on YLE in Finland (this was before HBO Nordic existed)
- Yaggo 6y ago
  I remember the old times when there were inspectors going from door to door, often ex cops. Legally you weren't obligated to open your door, but if you did, and they heard a voice of TV, an invoice did follow. It was just crazy system.
Fnoord 6y ago
In The Netherlands the fee got abandoned and replaced by a tax increase (on BTW, an equivalent to VAT).
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
RajuVarghese 6y ago
Yes, Switzerland also had roving vans with equipment with which they could detect a switched on TV. I know because I got caught about 40 years back and had to pay a fine. The person that came to the door could tell us exactly where the TV was in the living room. So, those vans - or something like it - did exist!

by lqet 6y ago

glandium 6y ago

You can add France and Japan to the list. In France, they don't go door to door, though, it's only a check box on some tax returns forms. In Japan they do come door to door. I've never heard about "detection vans" in either, though.

ohgodplsno 6y ago
They actually can go door to door in France! And the fine for having lied is quite unpleasant. Not that they have time to anymore since almost every single public service got their budgets slashed.
tripa 6y ago
They do come for a surprise visit if you tick the box in France. Used to, at least, circa 2009.
ssmiler 6y ago
Also sellers must declare to tax administration to whom they sold TV sets. The administration sets the checkbox for you automatically ;)
programLyrique 6y ago
They might not come, but they will send you a letter to ask you if really, really, you don't have a TV.
- RobertKerans 6y ago
  Yeah, this is the same as how it worked in UK (still works? I dunno). I didn't have a TV growing up, bought one when I was about 14 thinking I was being sneaky about it, address was taken when I was buying it and obviously some box got checked on some system somewhere and my parents got bombarded with letters.
tjpnz 6y ago
No detection vans in Japan but the door knockers are persistent as hell and not beyond making people feel unsafe in their homes.
- benrbray 6y ago
  The worst part is the intercom systems which are standard in every home. Not only do you hear the doorbell and the knock, but they get to broadcast their face directly into your private space! (I have since disabled the camera / audio feed but it spooked me more than a few times!)

aldanor 6y ago

+Ireland

cpach 6y ago

Sweden also had this system until recently.

progre 6y ago
Also, alledgely, using scanners to catch cheaters. Though I got a visit from a man checking for unlicensed TV sets once and he didn't have a scanner, just a long list of people that didn't have a TV license.
- jamesrr39 6y ago
  I bought a new TV and got a phone call from Radiotjänst a couple of weeks later, asking where they should send the bill for the TV license. Busted! Now that the fee is discontinued, and it comes out of tax money instead, I sure don't miss getting those invoices.
  - progre 6y ago
    The electronics stores had a reporting duty as I remember.
    - whizzter 6y ago
      Yeah, it was some law iirc. Regarding being busted, i was zapping one day when the bell rang so i opened the door to the inspector with the remote in my hand and the TV blaring, THAT'D i call getting busted :D
- aysterberi 6y ago
  There was also the funny scare tactics commercials where they said you would get a snail on the eye if you didn't pay. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J03eeYQ72Y0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J03eeYQ72Y0
- progre 6y ago
  Apparently, they actually had scanners, but never used them https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/7113883 https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/7113883 (swedish)

wojciii 6y ago

Also same kind of system is in use in Denmark. :) The law is such that the inspector can look into your home from public areas but you don't have to open your door to them or talk to them. They are unable to determine if you own any device which can be used to watch state TV. This is quite silly. People actually fear this and gladly pay up.

sleavey 6y ago

> In Germany, the situation changed a few years ago, every household has to pay now, even if they don't own a television or radio. This was literally the first piece of mail I got when I moved to Germany: a letter demanding I pay for the TV networks I don't watch. I didn't even own a TV by that point, nor would have understood much of what was being said! A German explained to me once that the forced payment by non-watchers is justified as it benefits society as a whole. I must say, I've now found some of the programming on the publicly funded TV stations is actually pretty good.

Tomte 6y ago
The trick is to watch the smaller "third programmes" or the programmes with special focus, not the big two (ARD and ZDF). Then you'll see a plethora of really well-made documentations about regions in Germany, regions in the world, culture, archeology etc. The third programmes are also where new comedians, hosts and artists are given a chance to refine their show concepts and prove themselves.
- matthiasv 6y ago
  > The trick is to watch the smaller "third programmes" or the programmes with special focus, not the big two (ARD and ZDF). To be fair, The Big One is actually just all "third programmes" with some additional programming such as news.
  - Tomte 6y ago
    I have no idea what you're talking about. Take a look at the first column of https://www.tvinfo.de/tv-programm/ard https://www.tvinfo.de/tv-programm/ard Pretty much nothing in there is also shown at any third programme. The programmes are almost completely distinct. Evening news are actually the one part where the third programmes show the same as the ARD.
    - matthiasv 6y ago
      I am talking about the fact that the ARD itself is the collective group of all regional broadcasters (look up the name) and any programme is produced either by one of the regional broadcasters or by the shared production company Degeto. And of course is also shown in the "thirds". Take "Rote Rosen" (with questionable quality) and you will see it is also shown on rbb, hr, NDR and MDR.

haspok 6y ago

At least in the UK there is content on TV worthy of watching (I got addicted to snooker while there, also some quite interesting shows like "Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole"), also, when I moved overseas they paid back the licence fee for the remaining part of the year, no questions asked. Now I'm in Austria and the "content" on TV channels is just ridiculous. Targeted at 70+ pensioners, but why should I pay for their entertainment...

hef19898 6y ago
Back the day, before streaming was a thing, the benfit of Austrian TV was to whatch the same movies like on German private channels. Without any adds. Was quite nice. For obvous reasons, Austrian publc broadcasters lost there liscense in ermany one day. With the exception of the border regions, they cited technical reasons. Not living in a border region, I do rememeber that the Austrian news was quite good to get different perspective. Movies, as I said, were nice as well. I do have to agree, so, that the home-grown entertainment sucks. In Germany as well. It is funny, so, that german public TV is not allowed to create their own streaming service and a lot of content has to removed from their online offerings after a certain period of time. Which kind of sucks. Especially since the rights catalogue of the public German networks, ARD and ZDF, used to be quite impressive. They just decidded to never show any of it before midnight, if at all.
bipson 6y ago
Unfortunately the only demographic that really kept watching Austrian stations is pensioners, and sports fans (the amount of skiing tournaments on our main station in winter is ridiculous). Everyone else often had cable or SAT, which gave you all the German and also Swiss networks, particularly the private ones, where the program is aimed at different demographics (also possible because of vastly larger pockets: German ad market >> Austrian ad market) At least ORF tried to modernize its image, but do you want to lose your main demographic as well? Can you compete (financially) with German private TV and pay TV? Not to mention Netflix, Disney+, etc? There is not really a way out. So were stuck with Skiing, Austrian Soccer, Tatort and Gaming show clones. At least there is a lot of cooperation/joint shopping with German and Swiss (public) stations. The self-created German content could be worse though. Tatort can be quite nice, it is not aiming to be CSI - and that can be a good thing.

ohazi 6y ago

> no way for them to prove I was actually owning a television (Emphasis mine) This "playing fast and loose with language" that they do (and that you inadvertently did too, just now) makes me so irrationally angry. Why would the burden of proof be that low? They need (should need?) to prove that you received broadcast television, not that you simply owned a TV. We hear these stories about TV detector vans as if finding a TV set was ever sufficient evidence.

thaumasiotes 6y ago
> We hear these stories about TV detector vans as if finding a TV set was ever sufficient evidence. The vans would be detecting radio activity; there's nothing to detect if the TV is off.
spuz 6y ago
In the UK, you must pay if you are capable of receiving live TV, not only if you do receive live TV. Even if it was never switch on, a TV that is plugged into an aerial qualifies as meeting that requirement.
- imprecision 6y ago
  You can have and use TV and not pay, so long as you can reasonably show you are not receiving live broadcasts (if it ever came to a warrant being issued). Not having it plugged into an aerial and the channel presets not tuned is considered proof enough. I'd guess with more and more watching via the internet they probably have far more success catching people watch live broadcasts via IP addresses and ISP logs these days though.
- gambiting 6y ago
  That is absolutely 1000000% not true. You only have to pay the TV Licence if you ever watch live TV, not if you merely have a televion set. I've never paid the fee because I don't watch live TV, ever, and when you go on the TV licence page to fill out the form why you don't need a licence, one of the options on the form is "I only use my TV for games consoles, netflix, dvd players etc". So it's not some "clever hack" - the law specifically allows for not paying the licence fee if you own a TV set but don't watch live TV.

_ph_ 6y ago

I don't know whether these vans were ever used here in Germany to detect TV watchers which don't pay, but these vans certainly existed. Their official, and I do think main purpose, was to detect signals which could interfere with TV and radio reception coming from defective electric devices or even illegal transmission sources.

GoblinSlayer 6y ago

The TV fee exists everywhere, but usually if you have the cable, you pay; if you don't pay, you are cut off and that's the end of story.

saberdancer 6y ago
This is not a fee for the cable provider. This is a fee you pay regardless of whether you consume public channels or not. In some countries, the mere existence of a TV or radio in your household means you have to pay. These are publicly broadcast channels.

mschuster91 6y ago

> I am pretty sure I read somewhere that they never existed and where basically "created" to fear people into paying the fees. We actually do have detector vans - they belonged to the RegTP, now Bundesnetzagentur, and are used to pinpoint pirate radios, malfunctioning equipment, and check if private point-to-point radios requiring licenses actually have licenses: https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/DE/Sachgebiete/Telekommunikation/Verbraucher/Funkstoerungen/PruefUndMessdienst/PruefUndMessdienst-node.html https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/DE/Sachgebiete/Telekommunik... In 2019, the BNetzA was out in 4.700 cases of radio interference - mostly it was WiFi routers using bands that are not allowed in Germany, but there were also 1.200 cases where interference hit sensitive communications like police radio or airplane communications: https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/gadgets/bundesnetzagentur-beseitigte-2018-tausende-funkstoerungen-a-1246103.html https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/gadgets/bundesnetzagentur-be...

tannhaeuser 6y ago

German public broadcasters in particular used to justify gross per-household fees by arguing free-to-air TV can be received by everyone, and pushed FTA DVB2 over antenna a couple years ago with spotty reception, and only in metropolitan areas, years ago. That argument is as comically out-of-date as it ever was, with CI/CAM devices (for SmartCard readers) being installed on every Smart TV and set-top box since the SD/DVB1 times. Even though they argue they act in accordance with the majority, they know quite well that they'd loose a large percentage of their audience out of inertia alone when they'd be doing the decent thing and require SmartCards for those who actually want to watch their TV programs which, as far as entertainment goes, is mostly bottom-of-the-barrel palliative-care crime series plus expensive programs for corrupt sports (the good stuff is mostly on radio IMO). But public broadcasters also have expansive web/IP presence, and even use Facebook for public communication (ZDF), when in their news/opinion pieces they rant against social media LOL. Public broadcasters today seem just to create a self-serving and self-referential media presence for politicians, in these times of Coronavirus more than ever. Tonight, they're going to push for even stronger measures including curfews (!) even though infections are going down; needless to say, without parliamentary participation. The whole thing is getting out of hands with irrationality fast right now.

doikor 6y ago

Here in Finland they just moved the payment into taxes in 2013. Basically 2.5% starting from income after 14000€ and maxes out at 163€ collected. https://www.vero.fi/en/About-us/newsroom/visual_aids_for_presentations_and_for_t/public_broadcasting_tax/ https://www.vero.fi/en/About-us/newsroom/visual_aids_for_pre...

deanclatworthy 6y ago
Which is absurd to pay for if you're a foreigner not speaking Finnish, as the public broadcaster basically offers no content in English other than (poorly) translated news.
- Hamuko 6y ago
  YLE offers news in Finnish, Swedish, Finnish sign language, simple Finnish, English (https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/ https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/ doesn't look that poorly translated), Russian, Sámi and Karelian. Areena also has many English-language programs that are just subtitled into Finnish.
- kzrdude 6y ago
  Taxes are mostly a package deal :)
- alibarber 6y ago
  To be fair it might appear poorly translated to an English speaker mainly due to the fact that there isn't much of it, in Finnish or otherwise. Some people in Finland regard this as a feature not a bug, although it's taken me a while to get used to.
- doikor 6y ago
  YLE also has some originally English content (and as we don't dub adult programs in Finland you can enjoy them too). For example the early seasons Game of Thrones were shown on YLE in Finland (this was before HBO Nordic existed)
Yaggo 6y ago
I remember the old times when there were inspectors going from door to door, often ex cops. Legally you weren't obligated to open your door, but if you did, and they heard a voice of TV, an invoice did follow. It was just crazy system.

Fnoord 6y ago

In The Netherlands the fee got abandoned and replaced by a tax increase (on BTW, an equivalent to VAT).

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

RajuVarghese 6y ago

Yes, Switzerland also had roving vans with equipment with which they could detect a switched on TV. I know because I got caught about 40 years back and had to pay a fine. The person that came to the door could tell us exactly where the TV was in the living room. So, those vans - or something like it - did exist!