TV licence dodgers may no longer face prosecution
- Thread starter philip2009
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Caporegime
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Will the BBC face prosecution for spending license fees on kiddy fiddlers wages and reality TV?
Associate
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I haven't paid for a TV license for 10+ years
Why would they?
yes same as tv license can all that he wants to change is instead of wasting a criminal courts time you waste a civil courts time
reality tv really should be a human rights violation.
your road duty does go into the main pot, it hasn't been ring fenced for years now. iirc practicaly nothing is ring fenced any more due to the utter shambles of our governments accounting.
Soldato
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I pay mine fortnightly and forgot for the first time ever a couple of weeks ago. Reason being I had been in hospital to have a lump removed for a biopsy the day I pay it.
The amount owed was £6.50. I received 16 phone calls in a day, some left messages and others just didn't update the system. The latest call was 9:30pm on a Friday night.
I threatened them with a telephone harassment complaint to OFTEL. They just laughed saying as they are a Government agency it wouldn't apply to them.
I am utterly disgusted with TV licensing and its bully boy tactics. Sooner it goes or is made worthless the better.
The amount owed was £6.50. I received 16 phone calls in a day, some left messages and others just didn't update the system. The latest call was 9:30pm on a Friday night.
I threatened them with a telephone harassment complaint to OFTEL. They just laughed saying as they are a Government agency it wouldn't apply to them.
I am utterly disgusted with TV licensing and its bully boy tactics. Sooner it goes or is made worthless the better.
Lol, virtually nothing is ring fenced, road fixes comes out of the national pot. Everyone pays lots of tax for things they don't use. So pretty silly statement. Especially as the vast majority watch TV, the few that don't are a reliable. far less than those who don't drive.
Think how much would be saved in letters, administration, court cases (civil or criminal) it makes zero sense collecting it individually.
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I love how these threads always bring the crazies out. Just pay it if you watch TV, or write to them that you don't if you don't.
To get back to the OP, making it a civil offence and not a criminal one is probably appropriate, and if it saves court time even better.
They should definitely still hound people though IMO. Almost everything I watch is on BBC channels and most of the radio I listen to is also BBC (which many people don't realise also comes from TV licensing). They're the broadcaster with by far the lowest amount of cack, and watching without adverts is so nice.
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they're not a government agency and it most certainly would apply to them.
they are a company nothing more.
So why should people who don't watch the bbc subsidies your viewing?
why not just lock the bbc off unless you pay a fee? frankly the TV license should be equally distributed to all TV broadcasters or non.
heck BBC sells the programs on to the international market anyway.
why do we not get a return for our investment? basically they're being funded by us to make a product and then sell it on, but do not give us our share of the profit from the venture.
You think I don't know libraries are free?
However not everyone can get to libraries (transport costs, physical access, underfunding etc), so TV is really a significant cultural resource.
Like Badger Watch? Can't think where that would be freely available.
I don't watch TV but I'd appreciate the possible saving. You could probably make the same case for road tax as even people who don't drive still indirectly benefit from it.
Soldato
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TV LICENSE - LoL
there's no road tax any more it's "vehicle emissions duty" hence why eficent cars dont pay
It'll be better once the BBC channels are encrypted and license payers get a smart card to view them. It'll just be like your Sky set-top box. The technology isn't completely pirate proof and not established enough yet to implement. Everyone would need a to buy a viewing box with a smart card reader which would be a logistical nightmare to pull of now but I can see it happening at some point if the BBC is still around.
Badger watch isn't an essential educational or social tool is it? And to be honest, it is freely available. Anyone can go and sit outside a badger den.
You also don't need to say to walk to places. Those with disabilities generally have transport solutions provided.
Soldato
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As more people move onto TV-on-demand, I have a feeling that the license will eventually get absorbed into the Virgin Media bill, along with other ISPs. There will be a new option on whether you want live TV to be included in your internet package. If you don't take it, then you'll still get TV-on-demand, just not live TV. I would be ok with that as I left home over a decade ago without a TV and simply got used to not having one. I've got a good 150 or so films that I can watch on the computer though in DVD and blu-ray format. A few VHS tapes as well via SCART-to-USB 
I live in a rural area, I really wouldn't have a clue where the nearest sett was, possibly someone from the East End would not know what a badger even looked like without such programmes.
And since when does any particular topic have to be essential? Culture implies the exact opposite.
Not really feasible though is it? If you are going to provide an educational and cultural resource (as per the BBC charter), then it's going to be the telly and not the library that provides it.
Therefore it should be made available to all, even if some can't afford the full licence fee.
Don't use your ignorance as a defence for others.
How the hell is walking not feasible?! You see those two things below your backside? It's what they're for.
By your logic all educational and cultural resources should be free. No charge for books. University. Theatre. Cinema. Concerts. Need I go on?