Im not sure if international readers will be aware of the BBC/TV
licence schemethere may be similar setups in other countries. To put it simply, every household with a TV
set capable of receiving broadcasts must pay a yearly TV licence fee. This fee then funds the BBC which makes and broadcasts free programs,
some mainstream and movies, but also some subsidised programs of limited
interest but defined as specialist/niche and therefore good for diversity. A lot of people are opposed to having to pay
this when they already pay £40 ($70) for monthly cable/satellite subscriptions
and have no interest in viewing BBC broadcasts.
It seems things may be getting worse; I recently came across an article
on theregister which
suggests that this could be replaced by a generic PC Tax!!! Why?
Well apparently because a PC has the ability to receive a live or almost
live video broadcast, it can technically be defined as a TV. Obviously the BBC are looking for ways to
ensure their survival, being non-commercial they need to have some way of
forcing money out of as many people as possible. We wont see this happening any time soon, The
Government reckons changes to the license fee will not be needed until 2017,
when the BBC’s next royal charter expires.; Im not sure what the public
reaction would be to this, maybe something similar to the Poll
