←back to thread

Please do not write below the line

(www.bbctvlicence.com)
362 points dcminter | 2 comments | 21 Oct 24 18:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.538s | 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 #
kamaitachi ◴[21 Oct 24 19:43 UTC] No.41907726[source]▶
It’s not just a U.K. thing. Many European countries have something similar, although it might be called something else.

It’s a form of tax that pays for public service broadcasting, including radio stations.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licence#

replies(3): >>41907906 #>>41907932 #>>41911409 #
busterarm ◴[21 Oct 24 19:58 UTC] No.41907906[source]▶
Yes, but the UK is the only country with a license ridiculous enough to offer you a 50% discount _if you're blind_.
replies(6): >>41908015 #>>41908055 #>>41908265 #>>41908859 #>>41909034 #>>41912638 #
gs17 ◴[21 Oct 24 20:09 UTC] No.41908015[source]▶
It sounds weirder than that to me:

> colour TV: £169.50 per year; monochrome TV: £57.00 per year; blind people: 50% discount

People who can't see their color TV at all pay more than people who can but have an old black-and-white one?

replies(6): >>41908139 #>>41908216 #>>41908301 #>>41908487 #>>41909049 #>>41909516 #
Xophmeister ◴[21 Oct 24 23:10 UTC] No.41909516[source]▶
Since the switch to digital, presumably there’s no longer and signal for B&W TVs.
replies(1): >>41911835 #
manarth ◴[22 Oct 24 06:49 UTC] No.41911835[source]▶
There has rarely (if ever) been a separate broadcast signal for B&W vs colour. Broadcasts began in B&W, over time upgraded to colour, but there wasn't a need to broadcast Channel <whatever> in B&W and broadcast the same channel in colour on a different frequency.

One single broadcast signal, and different capabilities of receivers.

replies(1): >>41917245 #
1. Xophmeister ◴[22 Oct 24 18:31 UTC] No.41917245[source]▶
But surely B&W TVs only exist with analog tuners?
replies(1): >>41922742 #
2. manarth ◴[23 Oct 24 07:39 UTC] No.41922742[source]▶
Oh, I misunderstood the point you were making.

I guess you _could_ have a modern digital receiver with SCART-out (if such a thing exists) to a B&W TV. This BBC article (2018) claims 7,000 people watching TV with a B&W licence – whether they were actually watching it in B&W is not known :-D

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46125741