UK Dopers, tell me about TV licences in your country

Factual Questions
1

UK Dopers, I know that you have to pay a hefty licence fee every year in order to have a TV. I was wondering …

  1. How much is the fee?

  2. Do you pay just one flat fee per household, or do you have to pay more if you have multiple TVs in your home? If so, how do you prove the number of TV sets in your home? Do you invite someone from the local licencing authority to tour your home, clipboard in hand, counting your sets?

  3. I understand that every home is charged for TV service. What about the minority that don’t own TV sets? How do they prove a negative?

  4. What happens if you don’t pay the fee? Does someone from the TV licencing authority enter your home with a warrant to seize your set?

2

Too much :stuck_out_tongue:

£131.50 for a colour licence, £44.00 for a black and white. There’s some concessions for blind people, OAPs and students, IIRC.

Flat fee.

You can be prosecuted and given a fine. I’ve never understood why anybody lets them into their house, though.

3
4

1, 2 & 4 already answered.

3 - That’s incorrect. You have to apply for a TV Licence, every household is not automatically charged. No TV = No TV Licence = No problem.

However, i could be wrong here but i think it used to be the case that you needed a radio licence if you have one but no TV. Not sure if that’s still the case.

Bottom line is it’s a historical system used to fund the BBC which at one point in the early days was the only organisation who broadcasted anything in the UK.

Now we have quite a few commercial stations as well funded by advert sales. In case you aren’t aware, the BBC is banned from advertising so programs on BBC channels run from start to finish without a single interuption and no commercials in between.

5

Not since 1971.

That’s a point of debate, not an answer - see the earlier threads!

6

Are computer monitors taxed since they can show programs?

7

From ‘About TV Licensing’ (see this link)

So you wouldn’t need a license for just a basic computer monitor, with no tv tuner, but you would if you have a tv card for the computer, or if it was a monitor with a built in tv tuner, so you could watch tv on it.