09-06-2020, 12:35 PM
1
Paying for tv watching ?
I believe I read somewhere that in the U.K. people must pay to watch television in their homes. Is that true ? Seems incredible. In the U.S. we do not pay a penny for watching TV. However, if we want premium movie channels, like HBO, Cinemax etc. then we must buy a subscription.But all local channels and National channels are free. Where I live, we get 21 channels all broadcast for free. That includes the 4 major networks and "PBS". If I wanted to watch BBC it would be broadcast on PBS channel. Some few of the channels are of exceedingly high quality. Naturally, there is much trash, especially daytime TV.
Major sporting events like: the Olympics, baseball, American football, hockey, basketball, auto racing etc are all for free. However, if I wished to watch world championship boxing then I'd have to buy a subscription.
I don't understand why people in the U.K. must pay to watch the same thing that I get for free ????
09-06-2020, 01:11 PM
3
Re: Paying for tv watching ?
Originally Posted by Bruce
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People in the UK do pay a licence fee to watch TV, I don't understand it either but then in Australia there are people who pay for Foxtel pay TV which has ads - fancy paying to be allowed to watch ads?. Thank god for the ABC and Netflix!
09-06-2020, 09:03 PM
5
Re: Paying for tv watching ?
Originally Posted by bakerman
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So, if I understand it correctly, TV in the UK is advertisement free ?How much does a TV "license" cost/month ?
They charged a Licence fee. No adverts.
Over the years other channels came along, who took no revenue from the public via the Licence so had to survive by becoming commercial channels.
It's really blown it wide open since subscription TV with Sky, and now Netflix.
But still ... the BBC are entitled to Licence fee even if you only possess a TV, or any web means of viewing.
A great many people think it's archaic and should be abolished and the viewing public should just pay for which channels they watch.
It used to be a criminal offence to not have one and you could go to jail. I'm unsure if they've changed that just lately.
I never realised some channels were free in the US. I thought you had to pay for everything.
09-06-2020, 09:31 PM
6
Re: Paying for tv watching ?
Originally Posted by Morticia
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The first channel to broadcast in the UK was the BBC.They charged a Licence fee. No adverts.
Over the years other channels came along, who took no revenue from the public via the Licence so had to survive by becoming commercial channels.
It's really blown it wide open since subscription TV with Sky, and now Netflix.
But still ... the BBC are entitled to Licence fee even if you only possess a TV, or any web means of viewing.
A great many people think it's archaic and should be abolished and the viewing public should just pay for which channels they watch.
It used to be a criminal offence to not have one and you could go to jail. I'm unsure if they've changed that just lately.
I never realised some channels were free in the US. I thought you had to pay for everything.
09-06-2020, 09:34 PM
7
Re: Paying for tv watching ?
Originally Posted by Morticia
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The first channel to broadcast in the UK was the BBC.They charged a Licence fee. No adverts.
Over the years other channels came along, who took no revenue from the public via the Licence so had to survive by becoming commercial channels.
It's really blown it wide open since subscription TV with Sky, and now Netflix.
But still ... the BBC are entitled to Licence fee even if you only possess a TV, or any web means of viewing.
A great many people think it's archaic and should be abolished and the viewing public should just pay for which channels they watch.
It used to be a criminal offence to not have one and you could go to jail. I'm unsure if they've changed that just lately.
I never realised some channels were free in the US. I thought you had to pay for everything.
I hate ads, specially as most commercial channels seem to put them on for 3/4 minutes every quarter hour & the same ones over & over again. Crazy when you are getting into a program. I record most of those now & skip through the ads but you can't always do that as they are fixed.
BBC TV channels can run much longer programs as a full hour is an hour. On commercial channels an hours program is just short of three quarters of an hour.
09-06-2020, 09:39 PM
8
Re: Paying for tv watching ?
I've just cancelled my TV licence as I rarely watch TV in the first place. I stream TV shows and films from Amazon and sometimes use the catch-up services both of which don't need a TV licence to view. (The exception is the BBC iPlayer which you still need your licence for). You only need a licence if you watch or record TV shows as they are broadcast.
10-06-2020, 03:39 PM
9
Re: Paying for tv watching ?
The annual TV licence fee for this current year is £157.50, which I pay by monthly direct debits. As for the BBC not advertising, I don't think so, lately much of the time between programmes is taken up with either self-promotion or advertising up-coming programmes (yes, I know its not commercial advertising but it's still advertising IMHO).10-06-2020, 04:26 PM
10
Re: Paying for tv watching ?
Originally Posted by Percy Vere
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The annual TV licence fee for this current year is £157.50, which I pay by monthly direct debits. As for the BBC not advertising, I don't think so, lately much of the time between programmes is taken up with either self-promotion or advertising up-coming programmes (yes, I know its not commercial advertising but it's still advertising IMHO).
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