Some Facts About The History Of The TV Licence
The United Kingdom is not the only country that has or still uses the TV Licence system to fund television. Countries like Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Iceland, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, have all used the TV Licence system but have all Abolished it.
Italy has severe problems with the system of with as many as 40% refusing to pay.
The TV Licence in Australia was abolished in 1974 by the Australian Labor Party and as a result is funded by the governement and has not suffered as a result of abolishing the Licence and makes up a lot of its revenue from selling TV programs abroad to other countries.
Finland abolished its television fee on 1 January 2013 and replaced it with ring fenced so-called "Yle tax". Unlike the previous fee, the tax is progressive, meaning that people who earn less will pay less and vice versa - from €50 to €140, depending on income. However the tax is per person so many people have ended up paying more as a result. Very low-income earners are completely exempt from the Yle tax.
Malaysia abolished the TV licence at the end of 1999 and is no funded by tax and advertising.
New Zealand abolished the TV Licence fee in 1999.
Singapore abolised the TV Licence in 2011 fees saying that they were "losing their relevance"
In the UK there has been not one single prosecution for TV licence evasion based upon evidence obtained using detection equipment, and there is no technical evidence supporting claims that such detection equipment is capable of carrying out the specific task of locating television sets accurately; indeed, detection equipment used even at the perimeter of a dwelling cannot specifically pinpoint receiving devices based upon the equipment's I.F. (intermediate) frequency. This frequency is too low down the frequency spectrum (very low wavelength) to allow such capabilities of any equipment, handheld or otherwise. An effort to compel the BBC to release key information about the television detection vans (and possible handheld equivalents) based on the Freedom of Information Act was rejected.
There is an argument that people in the UK are paying to watch TV twice because Television funded by advertising is not truly free of cost to the viewer, since the advertising is used mostly to sell mass-market items, and the cost of mass-market goods includes the cost of TV advertising, such that viewers effectively pay for TV when they purchase those products.
The experience with broadcast deregulation in Europe suggests that demand for commercial-free content is not as high as once thought and the large majority have taken to advertising.
The BBC is spending a staggering £11million every year sending out licence fee letters. Read Story