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It sounds weirder than that to me: > colour TV: £169.50 per year; monochrome TV: £57.00 per year; blind people: 50% discount People who can't see their color

by gs17 2y ago

It sounds weirder than that to me: > colour TV: £169.50 per year; monochrome TV: £57.00 per year; blind people: 50% discount People who can't see their color TV at all pay more than people who can but have an old black-and-white one?

madeofpalk 2y ago
Do the discounts stack? If you’re blind should you just buy a monochrome tv and pay £28?
- account42 2y ago
  On the other hand you might end up paying quite a bit more for a monochrome tv than for the cheapest color tv you can find.
  - chihuahua 2y ago
    Maybe you can just turn down the color setting to 0, and break off the knob.
Ellipsis753 2y ago
Weirder still, the discounts stack! So blind people can benefit from buying a black-and-white TV for an additional discount. I've given this a lot of thought in the past. The best I could come up with is that "legally blind" could still allow for someone with _very poor_ (colour) vision...
dom96 2y ago
this is making me want to buy a black and white TV (or grab a monitor and set it to always show in black and white) just so I can buy the monochrome TV license for giggles
soneil 2y ago
People who can’t see their colour TV pay more than people who can’t see their B&W TV. Oh to be a a fly on the wall when the inspector has to explain the difference to a blind person. I think it made a lot more sense in the past. The license is set up so it’s a consumption based tax rather than taxing everyone. So only people with TVs paid TV tax. If colour increased the costs, only people consuming colour paid those increases. I imagine it made much more sense before consumption was ubiquitous
- rescbr 2y ago
  A novelty product opportunity: plug together a Raspberry Pi, an USB TV tuner and a BW LCD display to pay a smaller TV licence.
  - chihuahua 2y ago
    When I lived in Britain in 1989-1992, at the time the rule was that battery-powered TVs were exempt from the license fees. I had a tiny TV that could be powered by 6 AA batteries. The screen size was approximately 3 inches / 7.5cm. I don't know if the rules have changed since then, but if they are the same, then a battery-powered laptop would also be exempt (even in color.)
TheRealPomax 2y ago
That's... not what https://www.gov.uk/find-licences/tv-licence https://www.gov.uk/find-licences/tv-licence says at all. If you're blind, you almost certainly qualify for a free license.
- giobox 2y ago
  No, it really does say this. There is expressly no free TV licence for being blind, instead a 50% discount. https://www.gov.uk/free-discount-tv-licence https://www.gov.uk/free-discount-tv-licence https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/for-your-home/blindseverely-sight-impaired-aud5?WT.ac=reducedfee_blind https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/for-your...
Xophmeister 2y ago
Since the switch to digital, presumably there’s no longer and signal for B&W TVs.
- manarth 2y ago
  There has rarely (if ever) been a separate broadcast signal for B&W vs colour. Broadcasts began in B&W, over time upgraded to colour, but there wasn't a need to broadcast Channel <whatever> in B&W and broadcast the same channel in colour on a different frequency. One single broadcast signal, and different capabilities of receivers.
  - Xophmeister 2y ago
    But surely B&W TVs only exist with analog tuners?
    - manarth 2y ago
      Oh, I misunderstood the point you were making. I guess you _could_ have a modern digital receiver with SCART-out (if such a thing exists) to a B&W TV. This BBC article (2018) claims 7,000 people watching TV with a B&W licence – whether they were actually watching it in B&W is not known :-D https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46125741 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46125741

by gs17 2y ago

madeofpalk 2y ago

Do the discounts stack? If you’re blind should you just buy a monochrome tv and pay £28?

account42 2y ago
On the other hand you might end up paying quite a bit more for a monochrome tv than for the cheapest color tv you can find.
- chihuahua 2y ago
  Maybe you can just turn down the color setting to 0, and break off the knob.

Ellipsis753 2y ago

Weirder still, the discounts stack! So blind people can benefit from buying a black-and-white TV for an additional discount. I've given this a lot of thought in the past. The best I could come up with is that "legally blind" could still allow for someone with _very poor_ (colour) vision...

dom96 2y ago

this is making me want to buy a black and white TV (or grab a monitor and set it to always show in black and white) just so I can buy the monochrome TV license for giggles

soneil 2y ago

People who can’t see their colour TV pay more than people who can’t see their B&W TV. Oh to be a a fly on the wall when the inspector has to explain the difference to a blind person. I think it made a lot more sense in the past. The license is set up so it’s a consumption based tax rather than taxing everyone. So only people with TVs paid TV tax. If colour increased the costs, only people consuming colour paid those increases. I imagine it made much more sense before consumption was ubiquitous

rescbr 2y ago
A novelty product opportunity: plug together a Raspberry Pi, an USB TV tuner and a BW LCD display to pay a smaller TV licence.
- chihuahua 2y ago
  When I lived in Britain in 1989-1992, at the time the rule was that battery-powered TVs were exempt from the license fees. I had a tiny TV that could be powered by 6 AA batteries. The screen size was approximately 3 inches / 7.5cm. I don't know if the rules have changed since then, but if they are the same, then a battery-powered laptop would also be exempt (even in color.)

TheRealPomax 2y ago

That's... not what https://www.gov.uk/find-licences/tv-licence https://www.gov.uk/find-licences/tv-licence says at all. If you're blind, you almost certainly qualify for a free license.

giobox 2y ago
No, it really does say this. There is expressly no free TV licence for being blind, instead a 50% discount. https://www.gov.uk/free-discount-tv-licence https://www.gov.uk/free-discount-tv-licence https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/for-your-home/blindseverely-sight-impaired-aud5?WT.ac=reducedfee_blind https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/for-your...

Xophmeister 2y ago

Since the switch to digital, presumably there’s no longer and signal for B&W TVs.

manarth 2y ago
There has rarely (if ever) been a separate broadcast signal for B&W vs colour. Broadcasts began in B&W, over time upgraded to colour, but there wasn't a need to broadcast Channel <whatever> in B&W and broadcast the same channel in colour on a different frequency. One single broadcast signal, and different capabilities of receivers.
- Xophmeister 2y ago
  But surely B&W TVs only exist with analog tuners?
  - manarth 2y ago
    Oh, I misunderstood the point you were making. I guess you _could_ have a modern digital receiver with SCART-out (if such a thing exists) to a B&W TV. This BBC article (2018) claims 7,000 people watching TV with a B&W licence – whether they were actually watching it in B&W is not known :-D https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46125741 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46125741