People in GB please explain this to me.

I can't be sure but I seriously doubt the BBC is free for everyone else. Cable companies most certainly have to pay license fees to broadcast their programs which undoubtedly get passed on to subscribers. The only way I see people getting the BBC for free is through C-band satellites.

 

No sorry thats not all of it.

If you go and just simply buy a tv nothing else you will pay £120 and ONLY get 2 BBC channels. BBC 1 and BBC2.

To get these 10 (i dint think it was that many but ok) channels you have to either have sky/cable subscription or buy an extra new box to get these other BBC channels. A Freeview box is something like £30-50ish some are more.

 

And how many people do you think in the UK don't have radios. The majority of mobile phones have them built in, you'll need a radio licence for them which is included in the TV licence, there's another 5 channels (albeit audio only).

 

We were talking about tv channels and even the radio not that many people listen to the BBC. How many 10-25 year olds do you think get the benefit of the BBC radio service.

 

BBC t3h pwn, methinks. I watch it very often, thanks you all for paying

(and the Royal Family in the UK *and* Holland should be "decommissioned" imho, but who am I to judge)

 

Being 17 myself i listen to the radio an awful lot when i'm in a car. I'd say 90% of the population do the same.

 

And how many of these are listening to the BBC radio stations rather then the other stations...

 

You know, it seems highly unlikely that they would have the capability to drive around in a truck and tell if you have a Television in the house. How exactly would they do this? Do TVs put out some kind of unique electromagnetic radiation or something that you could pick up in a vehicle outside? Maybe it's possible, but it sounds like bullshit to me.

Just so I know, you only have 10 TV stations? Are there any local stations, networks, etc? Also, do you get more if you have cable? I have basic cable and like 500 channels. I couldn't imagine "only" ten measley channels. And you have to pay three hundred bucks for that? That has to suck.

 

Oh dear, it's not bullshit...

The licensing agency keep a record of who has a license. As numbers of non-payers builds up in an area a detector van will drive around the said area and and pick up any T.V signals that are active. Then you get a knock on the door, an investigation, usually followed by a hefty fine.

As already mentioned we DON'T get 10 channels straight off, we get two BBC channels, ITV and Channel 4 (some peeps can also pick up Channel 5)

...So for £120 you pay for two channels straight off, the other two/three are 'free'.

Whoopee doooo

 

Pick up active TV signals, what?

 

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/tvdetectorvans.jsp#link1

It's so secret, they don't even know themselves. My guess is they detect the high frequency noise generated by the TV's components.

 

if i went down the street now and put £100 for a tv on the counter i would get these channels....

BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Though aparently not everyone gets Channel 5...

So no we get 4/5 stations. If we get another box on top we get more channels. Then with sky/cable we get hundreds of channels...

 

Ok, so 2 channels straight from the Tv, but I seem to remember reading that Sky digital had 7million subscribers once, adn the cable and freeview probably takes this over 10mil. So perhaps half of all households get all 10 (Highly inaccurate approximations there of course...)

Even for the 2 channels I feel It's worth it though. Its £10/month, it costs double that for the first decent sky subscription, and theres even more shite on that than BBC, plus it has ads!

I also feel that the true test of value is what foreigners think of the BBC when they see it, as being a brit you become used to it, and once you are used to something you don't see its advantages, however foreigners who are not used to the BBC I have always heard very good things about it from

And Hawanja, The way it works is this:
Analog TV: 4/5 channels
Digital Terrestrial TV (Non-Subscription, over the air Digital TV needing a decoder box): Around 30
Digital Cable/Satellite: about 500? A fair few none the less...

And there isn't really any analog cable or satellite left...

 

Man, TV in england sucks. Even without cable you get 28 channels here, (5 networks, a few local stations, the rest wierd UHF channels or whatnot, but they all have programming.) Basic cable is like 100 channels in most areas, Satillite like 500. Five TV channels, that's fucked up. Maybe they're trying to encourage people to read more or something.

 

...It certainly does since Brookside was pulled

 

Well, the number of channels does not make it better per se - at my parent's place there's about 25 but I find myself looking at about 6 of them (public TV from Holland, Belgium and Britain respectively) most of the time, all the commercial channels seem to be the only Orwellian prediction to come true, namely 'prolefeed' - i.e. they are crap.

 

In Mexico it varies from area to area. In Guadalajara there's 6 channels. There's 7 or 8 in Mexico City. When I lived in Veracruz, there were 4 channels, I think.

One of the six in Guadalajara is not absolutely worthless. Two of seven in Mexico City.

I get like 50 channels, with cable, of which some 8 are worth the monthly TV price.

 

My thing is I don't think this is possible. Televisions just recieve broadcast signals, they don't emit any signals themselves, do they? So how could you tell if any electromagnetic radiation given off by a TV is different from any other household appliance/electonic gadget? Maybe you can, but it seems unlikely to me.

 

Check this out as posted earlier:

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/inform...rvans.jsp#link1

...Btw we have had T.V detector vans patrolling the U.K since the year dot, they are not a new thing, they are an old proven pain in the ass.

 

I liked living in Japan. Just slam the door in the guys face. There is a law saying everyone has to pay, but the penalty for not paying doesn't exist (so I've heard).