Don wrote:
Stan Barr wrote:
Hi,
Jules Richardson said:
Given that the licence is only for the BBC
channels, and I'll perhaps
watch 2-3 hours of them per week, it works out as quite an expense
per programme!
Not quite - the licence is for having _any_ equipment installed in your
home capable of receiving broadcast tv - _any_ broadcast tv. The money
goes (mostly) to the bbc, but a licence is required for any broadcast
tv equipment including, but not limited to, a tv set, video or dvd
recorder with a tuner or a computer with a tuner. You still have to
pay even if you never watch the bbc :-(
So, the *tuner* is the gotcha? I.e. if you used a component
DVD player/recorder, a video *monitor*, etc. *they* would be
exempt?
Actually, the way I always understood it is that the licence fee funds the BBC
and isn't used for anything else (such and funding general transmitter
install/upkeep). But the Government call it a "TV licence" even though all the
cash goes to the BBC, and therefore you need to pay for the licence if you
want to watch any channels, not just the BBC.
I don't know how well it's been challenged in court - but as the BBC transmits
on slightly different frequencies across the country it'd be hard to market a
device that was guaranteed not to be able to receive the BBC now or in the
future, whilst being able to receive anything else.
If you use a DVD player and hook it up to a display that otherwise has no
tuner, then you should be safe without a licence.
If so, has this "fact" influenced the types
of products
offered there? (e.g., tunerless products?)
Not that I know of.
I do like the BBC - their programme quality on average is far better than
anything I've seen on satellite/cable or on the other terrestrial channels,
but it does mean paying a lot for the 95% of programming that I don't actually
watch!
--
A. Because it destroys the natural flow of conversation.
Q. What's wrong with top posting ?