TV Licence Resistance

[dutchmanswife]

DH has been running a campaign for years against the TV licence and has appeared in the Sunday Times this week.

entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6797727.ece

I'm feeling quite proud of him.

the thing is though, the collection notices have to be stern because otherwise no-one would pay.

If you don't have a TV then you have nothing to worry about - all this "threatening legal action" - well yes, they are threatening legal action IF you are watching TV. If you don't, then what does it matter?

For the record I have lived without a TV (though we now have one) and got letters. And do you know what I did? Put them in the bin. Because I did not have a TV.

I really don't get this "intimidation" business.

Nope.

Once again we did for the first couple of years and found it rubbish.

Radio 4 rubbish??

Need to sit down....

I rather enjoy the "intimidating" letters and visits that we get. It is very very amusing to me that they just cannot get their heads around the fact that somebody does not want to watch television.

We do have a TV, we use it for DVDs (have a subscription to an online version of Blockbuster), we also use it for the x-box and sometimes download from i-tunes (paid for downloads) and then watch them through media player on the TV. Also have a very large collection of DVDs. This is all just too much for the licensing people.

I like commercial television. I like having breaks in programmes, I get up, throw a load of washing on, use the bathroom, make a cup of tea, start dinner etc etc.

I agree with youngvisitor 100% and TBH I really don't like the idea of subsidising people who avoid paying for their tv license.

I also think that is is a very embarrassing thing to admit that you dodge your license, it is not something to be proud of. If you watch it, pay for it like the rest of us!

You only have to spend half an hour watching tv in most foreign countries to actually realise how good our own BBC is.

i work in debt collection. it isn't right to send letters when a debt is not owed. to send speculative letters to people who they have no reason (beyond not having a current license) to believe owe them is wrong. It is also a grey area of law, as it could be classed as harrassment and causing distress.

if you are thick skinned enough to bin the letters, great. Imagine being a little old lady in the same position (or just pregnant and hormonal?)

turning up at peoples doorsteps claiming they have detected a signal is a strong-arm tactic. And threatening behaviour.

but they are not sending debt collection letters.

They are sending information letters reminding you that you must pay your TV license if you watch tv, and that if you are caught watching TV without a license then you will be prosecuted.

Nowhere does it say "we know you are watching TV and you MUST pay and you WILL be prosecuted." If they did say that I would agree that it was intimidation. But otherwise you might as well say that signs advising you of the fines for parking incorrectly are "threatening" and "intimidating".

The letters simply state the law and penalties for not following the law.

HolyGuacamole "You only have to spend half an hour watching tv in most foreign countries to actually realise how good our own BBC is."

To you maybe.

Sci-Fi channel all the way!

Though I do agree that turning up on the doorstep is a little OTT. However as the article shows, plenty of people are deliberately not paying and are only found out by checks such as this.

Is it really better to allow the law-abiding to subsidise non-payers and do nothing about it?

They do get much more intimidating as time goes on theyoungvisitor.

We have written to them, called them, been inspected multiple times and they still don't get it.

For me it is quite funny, but as oneopinionatedmother says if you were more vulnerable it might not be so much fun. I pity the people who move into this flat after we leave!

i do sort of agree with this post on the link:

We are constantly being told how the BBC is amongst the best broadcasters in the world and that people would pay more for it, so there should be no shortage of subscribers should there now?

WelliesandPyjamas, haven't seen you post for a while. Are you back cartref?

Well all I can say is, I only ever got letters, and my Dsis who has lived without a TV for many, many years gets an annual letter but has never had so much as a sniff of a visit.

Perhaps it depends on your postcode. POssibly also if you own a TV then it may raise alarm bells, in that they feel they have to check that you haven't reconnected it. I didn't own a TV at all so it was quite obvious I wasn't watching.

i agree with morloth and sea!

apart from the cbeebies i can't think of one thing i watch on the bbc! i can't stand the sycophantic newsreaders so i watch Sky news and if im bored in the evening i watch the discovery or comedy channels.

I agree it should be subscription like sky is.

I think it is because it is a flat. The people upstairs most definitely do watch telly (all bloody day as far as I can tell, they are also apparently deaf).

So half of the address has and needs a TV Licence (well I assume they have one) but the other half doesn't.

It is probably a pretty common problem. We are up to our 6th visit in the 2 years since we have been here. One day I shall tell him to sod off.

The BBC absolutely refused to believe that my dad didn't have a TV.

I don't mind the BBC. However, I watch very little of it. IMO, it needs to trim itself back. Doesn't really need a massive web site? No.
Does it really need 24hr news? No.
Does it really need all day childrens channels? No.
IMO, it needs to refocus and start making quality programmes that are aimed at a British audience. Not dumbed down so it can be sold globally.

Youngvisiter - we believe in selective funding, too.

My licence fee pays for the Afternoon Play on Radio Four.

Whoever it is paying for the Weakest Link - they can stop!

I'm pro BBC, and wish they could play to their strengths more with high quality programming for margin audiences, but appreciate that collecting the licence fee would be more difficult with the less mainstream programming.

I'm another who has lived overseas, and as a result I am quite happy to pay yhte licence fee now I'm back in the UK. I'd love it though if the BBC could enable folks who live overseas to pay an annual subscription to get iplayer (giving them a PIN to access it or something like that) - it would raise a bit of cash for the BBC, and would be great for all those who really miss british TV! Oh, and my licence fee pays for Top Gear and Have I got News For You wish those who paid for sport, sport, and more bloody sport would sod off though...

The letters from the TV licence people are quite scary to start with, but I found that when I called them and explained that we were new to the area and didn't have a TV yet, hence no licence, they were really nice - very helpful, said they may send someone out just to check, but not to worry. I was surprised actually.

what the letters do is demand a response in order to avoid legal action. this would be appropriate if you owed them money. it is not appropriate when you don't owe them money. it isn't incumbent on any person to prove they don't owe cash, (unless there is a bunch of evidence that they do owe it)

i often send letters threatening legal action/ sue people. for valid debts though. if we sent them to people who we had no reason to think owed us, demending a reply to avoid court that would be outside our code of practice.

(note our letters are phrased if this debt isn't paid ..' etc etc, it's still a threat, and still very distressing when for whatever reason the person doesn't in fact owe the money.

moondog sut mae??
yes, cartref for a little while, came back before ds2 was born and are staying until the spring.

Radio 4 is worth every single penny of the licence fee in MVHO.

Since sky came out I have never watched anything on the BBC, ITV, C4 or Five, but I still have to pay for a TV licence and I have to pay via 'costs' for independent tv channels when I have already paid for a full subscription to sky and multiroom with HD boxes, I also Never listen to any radio station at home, work or in the car, I prefer music I choose, so why should someone like me pay for other peoples viewing? I don't ask anyone to contribute to my sky payments.

It should be an opt in service, if you want these channels they should be tuned in, if not you can't get them, just as sky and the bbc must then cut their cloth to the finances they bring in.

atlantis's post has made me want an opt- in as well now. The very idea of someone only watching Sky makes me want to keep the BBC just for those who appreciate it.

Well when the BBC can make shows like national geographic, the discovery channel, animal planet, national geo wild, the history channel that actually teach children something whilst also being entertaining, it might be worth the money, but eastenders and dancing shows really aren't everyones cup of tea and I understand that's why the bbc commissioned shows like young, dumb and living with mum because of the state of the British children who watch slob tv in this country.

I like my children to have quality tv not in the night garden and teletubbies.

Those would be series like Life on Earth, The Living Planet, The Trials of Life, Life in the Freezer, The Private Life of Plants, The Life of Birds, The Life of Mammals, Life in the Undergrowth or Life in Cold Blood, then?

Or Planet Earth or The Blue Planet.

Or Wild In Your Garden or Wild Down Under or Jungle or Britain Goes Wild or British Isles - A Natural History (OK, that one makes my teeth itch because it has Alan Titchmarsh presenting it, but so do plenty of National Geographic or Discovery Channel series) or Europe: A Natural History or How to Watch Wildlife or Coast or Galápagos or Wild Caribbean or Saving Planet Earth or Ganges or The Nature of Britain (more itchy teeth) or Wild China or Lost Land of the Jaguar or Nature's Great Events or Yellowstone.

Or Springwatch or Autumnwatch.