tv licenses....

[dessa14]

How to pay and more information
The colour TV licence costs just over £10 per month - about 34p per day for each household. It is free if you are over 75, half-price if you are registered blind.

lol...
this is true information, half priced for blind people... coz they only get half the entertainment...lol
thanks,
dizzy

[IrishMike]

You have to have a license to watch t.v. in Australia? Crazy!

[dessa14]

no we don't have tv licenses, the poms do.
thanks,
dizzy

[LittleGrizzly]

you pay the license fee for BBC, not to watch tv.

[IrishMike]

Oh ok, my bad, just showing my ignorance here.

[Spetulhu]

you pay the license fee for BBC, not to watch tv.

So do we. Well, we don't pay for the BBC but our own state broadcasting company. It's called a TV license anyway, since they demand everyone pay it if there's a TV in the home. A nice case of "you can watch it if you want, so cough up the money for it". If I tried to bill people on the same grounds I'd be in court sooner than you can say "fraud".

No, I don't pay.

[Krusader]

So do we. Well, we don't pay for the BBC but our own state broadcasting company. It's called a TV license anyway, since they demand everyyone pay it if there's a TV in the home. A nice case of "you can watch it if you want, so cough up the money for it". If I tried to bill people on the same grounds I'd be in court sooner than you can say "fraud".

No, I don't pay.

Same in Norway. Exactly the same system. Pay for the state channel, but even if you don't watch it you still got to pay if you own a TV.

[Kagemusha]

Same in Norway. Exactly the same system. Pay for the state channel, but even if you don't watch it you still got to pay if you own a TV.

Same thing here in Finland.

[TonkaToys]

half priced for blind people... coz they only get half the entertainment...lol

Crazy but true... used to be cheaper if you had black and white TV. You used to have to pay if you only had a radio!
The argument for the blind having to pay is that someone else in the house might bee watching the telly instead.

[Ser Clegane]

Same thing here in Finland.

And here in Germany

[The_Doctor]

Do those channels have adverts?

[Ser Clegane]

Do those channels have adverts?

Here in Germany the two main public channels have adverts to a very limited extent - during the afternoon they have adverts between shows and sometimes there are short a announcements of who is sponsoring a certain program.
There are no breaks for ads during e.g. movies.

[Al Khalifah]

There can be no adverts for commercial products or services on the BBC between programs or during intervals. There are also tight controls on the number and extent of product placement and advertising that can occur within shows on the BBC.
BBC programs and films tend to run through their entire duration without any commercial breaks, which is one of the reasons why people think so highly of the BBC. It can create scheduling nightmares however and leads to the broadcasting phrase a BBC half hour (around 28.5 minutes) as opposed to a television half hour (22.5 minutes) due to there being no ad-breaks.
The BBC in recent times has struggled to keep up with other terrestrial services in the UK, which although not charging any subscription fee, make far more money from product placement and advertising. Subscription services like Sky also include advertising breaks, which means they can offer far more expensive programs, more sports and more recent film releases.

[Ja'chyra]

you pay the license fee for BBC, not to watch tv.

Strictly speaking true, but realistically if you watch any TV including Sky or cable you need a license even if you never tune into BBC.

Don't you also need it to listen to the radio? I would rathe they done away with the license fee and went to advertising, let's face it we all need a toilet break during a three hour film.

[Krusader]

Do those channels have adverts?

There are no adverts in the shows and neither between them. They are also strongly prohibited from showing any commercial company or product in a "advertising way". The state channel, NRK, have done that a few times and there has been discussions about it.
Later years, many people have demanded that the license fee be reduced, since sports broadcasts have "This broadcast is supported by" ads in the beginning from some companies/corporations that often sponsor the different Norwegian national teams and/or sports clubs.

[dessa14]

well in australia we have two state funded channels, and they only self advertise, and they are both alright, but SBS plays pretty much only foriegn news and programs.
we don't have to pay for tv, we can watch all our free to air channels for free.
thanks,
dizzy

[The_Doctor]

we don't have to pay for tv, we can watch all our free to air channels for free.

But it is Australian TV programmes.

We get some of them here. Thing like "All aussie adventures" and the "double fist".

Do you guys really watch this stuff or do you just hate the rest of the world?

[Laridus Konivaich]

I solve the problem by not owning a television. It is cheaper, and removes one more distraction from drawing on my time.