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Many people here are commenting on the fact that public broadcasters tend to do documentaries and educational programming which wouldn't be able to survive at t

by gyulai 6y ago

Many people here are commenting on the fact that public broadcasters tend to do documentaries and educational programming which wouldn't be able to survive at that level of quality under a free market system, which seems to be a cause that almost everyone can get behind and an argument frequently being used for defending this system. What riles me up personally: the ludicrous sums of money that these broadcasters pay for rights to broadcast the olympics and other major sports events. I really don't understand why I should be forced to give money to corrupt organizations like FIFA and the IOC to hold sports events that I don't watch and otherwise don't have a stake in, just because I happen to live in Germany, to make this stuff more affordable for other Germans. Another thing that I find infuriating about the German system: You have to pay even if you don't watch and don't even own a television and even non-residential addresses and addresses used solely for business purposes have to pay. The only exception is that a home office within a residential premise doesn't have to pay twice. But in some cases you might actually have to. For example if you have a residential home and run a car repair shop out of your garage, then you have to pay a second set of fees for the shop on top of the fees that you already pay for the residential home, even if there is no programming ever being consumed in either of the two. I also find the collection tactics highly questionable: When you register your business, they send you an invoice for paying that second set of fees for the business and never advise you of the home office exemption. It was only because of how infuriated I was that I did some legal research and then managed to claim the exemption after exchanging some letters with them. I bet most people don't do that and just pay up, which adds to the unfairness of the system.

audunw 6y ago
> I really don't understand why I should be forced to give money to corrupt organizations like FIFA and the IOC to hold sports events that I don't watch and otherwise don't have a stake in, State media has to broadcast some content that's actually popular, that most people want to watch, otherwise they'd soon lose political support. I hate it too, but fact is that these events are extremely popular, especially among people watching a lot of live TV. So I think it's a necessary evil unfortunately.
- account42 6y ago
  That's just admitting that the majority does not want the "independent" content of that state media.
- gyulai 6y ago
  > So I think it's a necessary evil unfortunately. I don't think its necessary at all. Why is it necessary? It's just something we have grown accustomed to in Europe, because of our big government way of doing things, where group A wants wealth transfers from group B, and if group A is a majority, they get their way. There are a lot of things where that makes sense: Group A, healthy and rich individuals, pay for health care for group B, sick individuals who can't afford health care. I'm on board because it would feel cruel and heartless to me to let them suffer. Group A, rich people regardless of whether they have children, pay for the education of children from group B, poor people with children, so that all children regardless of their background get to have a good education. I'm on board because I think that everyone should have access to the opportunities that come with a good education. Group A, everybody regardless of whether they use public roads, pay for road maintenance so that they can be used by group B, people who make a lot of use of public roads. I'm on board, because I think it would be bad for the country if it had regions that are only poorly accessible. ...in each of those cases, you can make counter-arguments. Those are just my opinions. Group A, everybody regardless of whether they like football, pay for group B, people who do like football, so that they can watch football. Hold on a sec... What the... What did I just say? ...that makes no sense! Why would I be on board with that? Now, as a taxpayer-licensepayer I'm just paying so that other people can get the things they like. That's clearly going too far. I just don't understand how so many people in Europe are no longer even weirded out by this stuff.
- marcosdumay 6y ago
  State media must focus on content that is useful to the society, not what is popular. Otherwise, why do you even need the state interference?
  - SllX 6y ago
    You don’t, and it is a choice. State media does have some interesting trade offs for Europe specifically though. If a country doesn’t have that large of an addressable media market you might not get a lot of local language options without the state media.
hef19898 6y ago
I have two companies registered at my home address. In both cases I got, a coupe of weeks after incorporation, a letter with a form form the GEZ covering stuff like number of employees and so on. But having the same address, it was enough to provide them the registry number under which the residential fees were already paid. Than I got a letter confirming I don't have to pay any fees. That happened in 2019 and 2020, so it could have been different. The GEZ was known for some less than clean practices in the past. I never got directly an invoice from them so tight of the bat.

by gyulai 6y ago

audunw 6y ago

> I really don't understand why I should be forced to give money to corrupt organizations like FIFA and the IOC to hold sports events that I don't watch and otherwise don't have a stake in, State media has to broadcast some content that's actually popular, that most people want to watch, otherwise they'd soon lose political support. I hate it too, but fact is that these events are extremely popular, especially among people watching a lot of live TV. So I think it's a necessary evil unfortunately.

account42 6y ago
That's just admitting that the majority does not want the "independent" content of that state media.
gyulai 6y ago
> So I think it's a necessary evil unfortunately. I don't think its necessary at all. Why is it necessary? It's just something we have grown accustomed to in Europe, because of our big government way of doing things, where group A wants wealth transfers from group B, and if group A is a majority, they get their way. There are a lot of things where that makes sense: Group A, healthy and rich individuals, pay for health care for group B, sick individuals who can't afford health care. I'm on board because it would feel cruel and heartless to me to let them suffer. Group A, rich people regardless of whether they have children, pay for the education of children from group B, poor people with children, so that all children regardless of their background get to have a good education. I'm on board because I think that everyone should have access to the opportunities that come with a good education. Group A, everybody regardless of whether they use public roads, pay for road maintenance so that they can be used by group B, people who make a lot of use of public roads. I'm on board, because I think it would be bad for the country if it had regions that are only poorly accessible. ...in each of those cases, you can make counter-arguments. Those are just my opinions. Group A, everybody regardless of whether they like football, pay for group B, people who do like football, so that they can watch football. Hold on a sec... What the... What did I just say? ...that makes no sense! Why would I be on board with that? Now, as a taxpayer-licensepayer I'm just paying so that other people can get the things they like. That's clearly going too far. I just don't understand how so many people in Europe are no longer even weirded out by this stuff.
marcosdumay 6y ago
State media must focus on content that is useful to the society, not what is popular. Otherwise, why do you even need the state interference?
- SllX 6y ago
  You don’t, and it is a choice. State media does have some interesting trade offs for Europe specifically though. If a country doesn’t have that large of an addressable media market you might not get a lot of local language options without the state media.

hef19898 6y ago

I have two companies registered at my home address. In both cases I got, a coupe of weeks after incorporation, a letter with a form form the GEZ covering stuff like number of employees and so on. But having the same address, it was enough to provide them the registry number under which the residential fees were already paid. Than I got a letter confirming I don't have to pay any fees. That happened in 2019 and 2020, so it could have been different. The GEZ was known for some less than clean practices in the past. I never got directly an invoice from them so tight of the bat.