Things you've always wanted to know......

[WHU Independent]

Search You tube for tv licence inspector owned and there's 30 mins of comedy gold right there.

BTW the TV license people have never been able to detect TV's with a van. It's a scare tactic..

If you don't have any TV equipment on show through windows etc, you don't reply to any of their threatograms and don't answer the door to them there is sweet FA they can do. Even if you open the door they don't have right of entry. AND if you let them in (and - this is very very rare- they have the police with them there is not much they can do if your TV is unplugged. Just watch the vids to see how informed people treat them.

I've never had a TV licence since I left home ( and that was a Lonnnng time ago) and currently don't need one because of my circumstances. I've been active in the anti TVL lobby for years and even have a good mate who took the TVL to court and won (they lied and he could prove it, so the judge threw the case out!)

[James P]

Out of interest, what is the justification for not paying your TV licence?

[WHU Independent]

Rather than re-invent the wheel, I'll post an article that sums up my attitude to it. There are other factors but this covers a lot of them.

The 'licence' fee is an unlawful charge. It is not a tax: governments tax us, not broadcasters, and this money is not collected or spent by government. Governments are answerable for the expenditure of tax money. But the whole point of the devious and dishonest 'licence' fee is to absolve the BBC from being answerable to anyone: not to you, not to your elected representative, not to Ofcom, not to public accounts scrutiny, to no one. It is a device designed to deprive consumers of the consumer rights which would ordinarily attach to such a purchase. Which is a great position for a bunch of unelected people running Broadcasting House to be in, and one they intend to use all their considerable propaganda resources to hang on to!

Granted there is a bunch of superannuated, paternalistic Overpaids called the BBC Trust, who claim to act in the best interests of the 'licence' fee payer. But the only chap who knows the best interests of the 'licence' fee payer is the 'licence' fee payer. He and she don't need to be patronised like this.

Nor is the 'licence' a licence. Think of a driving-, fishing-, pilot's licence... Typically they are obtained by demonstrating competence, they guarantee a standard of behaviour and they can be confiscated for lapses of behaviour. Their level of charge is related to the cost of licensing, not to the cost of running a broadcasting operation. When was the last time the inspector came around and checked you were watching tv in the prescribed manner and with full regard to health and safety regulations?

Government can licence a broadcaster; it is absurd for it to claim to licence the recipient of a broadcast, not least because of the implied interference with freedom of speech. Why, in a democracy, should we need government permission to watch television? The 'licence' is no more than an order from government, to you and me, to subscribe to the BBC. But the government can't order you to buy anything, it can't even order you to buy British.

You may love BBC programmes, you may hate them. That is irrelevant. The issue is whether you and I should be compelled by government, under threat of criminal prosecution, to pay for them.

Some defend the 'licence' fee on the grounds that they hate adverts But there is no reason why a privatised BBC could not live honestly on a voluntary subscription rather than a compulsory one. It is, after all, the best broadcaster in the world, we know that because it continually tells us so, and would never want for subscribers or income.

A voluntary subscription would allow the BBC to participate in the free market democracy that the rest of us inhabit. It would bestow what the BBC desperately needs: someone, shareholders and/or viewers, to be answerable to. Those of us who wish to take up ITV's offer of free to air television would be able to do so without having to pay the BBC. Those who disagree with the policies the BBC promotes would be able to exercise their right to unsubscribe. Those who cannot afford the BBC levy (it is a noticeable bite out of jobseekers' allowance) would not have to be denied tv services.

And the over 75s' free 'licence'? It's paid by government (that is, by you the taxpayer, not by the BBC). Why shouldn't the government offer the option of a Sky Sports subscription instead? To offer only one subscription is commercial favouritism and a restraint on trade.

The 'licence' is an outdated charge which is no longer enforceable. Yet antediluvian Culture Minister, Jeremy Hunt, remains committed to the 'licence', and pretty soon there will be another BBC settlement announced from behind closed doors, which the BBC will again have kept away from public discussion until it is finalised.

[Tenbury]

Hunt's been Foreign Sec. for the best part of a year (though I grant you.he remains pondlife.)

I wouldn't pay for any TV service, personally, but ,with a couple of honourable exceptions, commercial radio is so inferior to BBC radio that I wouldn't mind paying a radio licence.

[The Old Man of Storr]

WHUI - that's VERY interesting .

Living where we do I would be tempted to not pay my TV licence BUT my wife Jennie would NEVER allow it , she's funny like that , honest as the day is long .
Still , what you say is interesting - how would it stand in a court of law I wonder ?

[Samba]

Out of interest, what is the justification for not paying your TV licence?

£154.50 still in his bin

[Samba]

WHUI - that's VERY interesting .

Living where we do I would be tempted to not pay my TV licence BUT my wife Jennie would NEVER allow it , she's funny like that , honest as the day is long .
Still , what you say is interesting - how would it stand in a court of law I wonder ?

#FreeTheSkyeOne

[sussexhammer74]

Does Samba sleep?

[S-H]

Does Samba sleep?

Would you sleep if your team reached the Champions league final last night?

Poor bugger will be red raw this morning..

[sendô]

The 'licence' fee is an unlawful charge. It is not a tax: governments tax us, not broadcasters, and this money is not collected or spent by government.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Act_2003

[Kludgehammer]

But the whole point of the devious and dishonest 'licence' fee is to absolve the BBC from being answerable to anyone: not to you, not to your elected representative, not to Ofcom, not to public accounts scrutiny, to no one.

This is a crock of ***** - the reason the TV license continues to exist is all about trying to give at least the illusion that the BBC is independent of the state, and not a propoganda arm of the prevailing government. Not being answerable to elected reps is a plus point, not a disadvantage - the last thing I want from the BBC is the likes of Teresa May and Jeremy Corbyn being able to influence the content. Whether they spend the money entirely wisely is a whole 'nother point (spoiler: probably not), and there is certainly an argument to be had over the ludicrous overpayment of certain high-profile, and largely eminently replaceable, on-screen 'talents'.

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

............................................

ludicrous overpayment of certain high-profile, and largely eminently replaceable, on-screen 'talents'.

There was a standing 'joke' among us terkky staff at the Beeb when I worked there, along the lines of "I could do his/her job, I bet he/she couldn't do mine"

[Hammer1972]

Yeah, I'm sure the guy who does the Windows updates could host Question Time...

[Samba]

Does Samba sleep?

Would you sleep if your team reached the Champions league final last night?
Poor bugger will be red raw this morning..

:lol:
I am omni potent...

[bigcarpchaser]

You don’t have to show any degree of competence to have a fishing licence, anyone can get one.
The rest of the article is interesting though.

Anyway...why do Dyson think it’s a good idea for them to build an electric car when their crappy vacuum cleaners only last 5 minutes?

[DasNutNock]

Anyway...why do Dyson think it’s a good idea for them to build an electric car when their crappy vacuum cleaners only last 5 minutes?

Because people are ****ing stupid.

[Samba]

Anyway...why do Dyson think it’s a good idea for them to build an electric car when their crappy vacuum cleaners only last 5 minutes?

At least the roads will be less dusty..

[Greatest Cockney Rip Off]

Yeah, I'm sure the guy who does the Windows updates could host Question Time...

That'd be me and yes, I could do Question Time. It'd be like no other Question Time you've seen before, but yes, I could do it.

[S-H]

I'd watch it.

[dal]

why is it that petrol stations can charge .9 of a pence? it doesn't exist. Is it rounded up or down when we pay?