Because what they actually broadcast is wa/\/k.

Sorry thought you missed that last part off

As an aside as you may know I don't live in the UK and receive UK channels as part of a piped in cable service that's free to everyone in this country. I don't pay a penny for them and there is no licence fee whatsoever for having a TV. That being the case I'm sure you lot will be happy to know that you are effectively paying for me and tens of millions of other people to watch BBC channels for free.

Cheers!

Before you get too comfortable in my thread Vapey, can I just point out that this thread wasn't meant to be a debate on the rights and wrongs of TV licences, it was meant to point out that the government are of the opinion we all support a RAISE in licence cost.

This is obviously complete and utter cack.

I'm not sure where that leaves your points, but FYI anyway!

You get the full Cable service entirely free?? Seriously?

I know a lot of people tap into the BBC without paying the UK licence, but i didn't realise there was a free Cable service provider that included it. France still, right?

The points still stands, we're unhappy being made to pay the current charges let alone any rise.

It isn't a full cable service, there is no analogue broadcast signal here and as part of the agreement for ending it the government legislated for a basic piped in service for all homes. BBC 1 + 2 are included in that presumably by a deal from the national broadcaster. It isn't France though........

Not me, boyo, I get all my TV free, too.. and no its not hookey.. its all legit and above board

Fair enough. I'm happy enough to pay the fee, if that's the right word, as i do view BBC programmes, but it does annoy me that there's no element of choice in it. One day we'll look back and wonder how the arrangement lasted as long as it did. I hope.

Well that's not strictly true.... The prison will be paying for the licence fee but thanks for your valuable input as always fcuktic!

Why does no other country have a TV licence?(that i know of)

Go on then, hectic, enlighten us. I'm all for saving £125 or whatever it is...

yeah.. pays for my network connection too ****face ....

Tel, Its no secret .. i Work for Sky

And that means you dont have to pay the Governments tax? Wouldnt have thought that would be a perk, yes getting sky and all the channels for free but would have expected your household to need a licence otherwise that van will be coming down your street looking for you

I used to wonder how the van picked up an individual signal in a multi-storey block of flats, then I thought 'I'll never live there anyway' and gave up thinking about it.

Yep that's what i would have thought, davegtt. Are you officially exempt, hectic, or are you just assuming that's the case?

Yes but the thick **** wouldn't have thought about that whilst he was busy telling lies to try and impress us!

*looks furtively from behind net curtains*

I was offered a job as IT Manager at Sky and the package actually stated you got - free sky TV and associated equipment. Nothing about a waver of the governments licence fee

theres no vans there,.. safe for yet another day. phew!

My grandparents have never had a TV licence in the whole lives until last year when my Grandad bought a DVD player from Comet without thinking and a week later they had a letter saying we notice you dont have a TV licence needless to say my Gran gave him a thick ear

Can't wait until they turn analogue TV off. We don't use our freeview receiver so that will be sold on. We'll end up with a TV set that can't receive broadcasts so according to the letter of the law, we can stop paying the TV licence. We don't watch the thing anyway, well maybe one or two programs, but we can easily do without them. We just use it for watching rented films.

I have to pay €45 a quarter to the German TV licencing people and that is only needed for 2 channels, all the rest are sponsored by adverts, when I moved here I had my UK TV with me and could not receive German PAL TV as it is on a slightly different PAL frequency to the UK, I argued the toss saying I could not get German TV and also did not watch it as it is dire crap and I don't understand it anyway. But they said it does not matter you have a TV in your house and even if you receive TV via satallite from abroad you still need a TV licence. They threatened me with a €1000 fine if I did not pay for TV licence. Also if you do not have a TV but do have a radio then you need to pay for the licence, a mate of mine was woken up one morning by the licence people knocking on the door, he said he did not have a TV they then said do you have car as that has a radio in it, fortunately he can not drive and does not have a car so they were not impressed that they couldn't stitch him up.

Also when my girlfriend moved into my appartment the TV licencing people started sending her letters demanding payment for a TV licence even though the address has a licence. The problem here is you need a licence PER TV not just one per household.

So I pay €180 a year for 2 German TV channels that I never watch, my flat has central cable and I get BBC world on it.

Also if you get a digital satallite and point it at 28.2 Astra D then you can pick up all 6 BBC channels. I can do it on my German Digital receiver aswell as my sky box.

There are *so* many reasons to love Germany, aren't there?

You're not including karl the ******* in that generalisation, are you ?

Here's a thought

Freeview boxes, are exactly that FREE

So, if they are free, why dont we all **** off the TV license, plug in a free view - & get free TV

Go on then name me some and I will name you twice as many reasons why it is a crap hole

I have no problem with the tv license, nor the fact that the money taken is used to fund Auntie.
Auntie provides us now with 4 Entertainment Channels providing the very best in new comedy, dramas and factual programmes. It gives us the best 24 news channel in the world and probably the greatest webpage of any tv company ever packed with news and sports information along with so much more...
Edited to add oooooo and about 30 radio stations including the local ones too....
No adverts in the middle of your favourite shows, no pop ups on their web pages, match of the day puts itv sport coverage to shame and Gabby Logan is a man
To make the license fee fair, it should be measured on how big your telly is
I would pay double this fee if it meant that tv adverts were removable from my viewing time... Saves me watching everything on a delay on Sky+ so I can fast forward them

really thought that was meant with tongue *firmly* planted in cheek

quality post I'll respond in an equally silly tone

Freeview boxes are not free because you have to buy them
You would still have to watch via a television
You would therefore need a television license
If you fcukd off the license you would be fined up to £1000 and or sent to jail where you would be anally intruded

Quality