←back to thread

Please do not write below the line

(www.bbctvlicence.com)
312 points dcminter | 3 comments | 21 Oct 24 18:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.578s | source
Show context
cooper_ganglia ◴[21 Oct 24 19:34 UTC] No.41907633[source]▶
A "TV License" is one of those things I alway assumed people were making up to satirize the claims of over-regulation & bureaucracy in the UK.

Finding out it was real was a mixture of hilarious and sobering.

replies(19): >>41907663 #>>41907684 #>>41907721 #>>41907726 #>>41907766 #>>41907792 #>>41907811 #>>41907864 #>>41907881 #>>41907917 #>>41908104 #>>41908142 #>>41908609 #>>41908757 #>>41908807 #>>41909327 #>>41909601 #>>41909804 #>>41911273 #
TillE ◴[21 Oct 24 19:36 UTC] No.41907663[source]▶
It's basically a whole parallel tax collection system, which is truly nuts. Like the administrative overhead alone surely outweighs any abstract concerns about independence from government, which doesn't really exist in the UK anyway.
replies(5): >>41907707 #>>41907733 #>>41907775 #>>41907784 #>>41907925 #
1. owisd ◴[21 Oct 24 19:46 UTC] No.41907784[source]▶
This gets raised every charter renewal and they always find the administrative overhead of e.g. collecting Netflix subscriptions, etc. is pro rata higher than the overhead for the licence fee.
replies(1): >>41908283 #
2. stickfigure ◴[21 Oct 24 20:36 UTC] No.41908283[source]▶
I interpreted the parent as suggesting "just pay for it out of general tax revenue", which makes a lot of sense to me. No additional administration and enforcement required.
replies(1): >>41908874 #
3. satori99 ◴[21 Oct 24 21:48 UTC] No.41908874[source]▶
This is how Australia's public broadcaster is funded. But it means politicians directly decide its budget, which makes it a political football.