Tv in the U.K and we thought we had it rough!

[Blindowl1234]

I thought I'd look at what we could be watching today if we lived in the U.K. I googled Freesat and some other stuff in the U.K. Then I saw this link to info on the tv license I'd heard about...yes you need a license to watch tv...lol..Here's the link
Television licensing in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
One license per household it appears
Looks like for a black and white set its roughly $72.oo a year or $230 for a color set. They actually have vans that monitor your compliance. Talk about big brother watching you! Thought some would find this interesting....Blind

 

[toucan-man]

Draconian enforcement has existed in this country as well. I recall someone in Wisconsin going to jail for having an unauthorized extension phone on his telephone line, but this would have been back in the 1960s, early 70s.

The IRS enforces its taxation, your local county enforces theirs (with guns drawn, if needed), not sure why the BARGAIN television that UK viewers get shouldn't have its revenue stream enforced.

 

[Lak7]

And our system is better?

 

[Chickwalla]

In Scotland we used to have to put Shillings in the TV to keep it running. And Ive seen those vans when i was a kid

 

[Mr Tony]

yeah but look at all the ITC free to air they have

 

[rogerduncan100]

In most of the developed world, including the UK, when TV started it was thought of as a public service and as such, the public should pay for it. Consequently the UK issued TV lisences (just a form of tax).
In the USA there was none of that. It was immediately a commercial medium with minimal government involvement. TV producers create content which they think will appeal to advertizers (that would be shows that the maximum number of people will watch). Advertizers are the customer. Viewers are the third party in this system.

 

[rogerduncan100]

In Canada, the CBC has always had advertizing but gets tax money too.

 

[Lak7]

It was immediately a commercial medium with minimal government involvement.

Except that the Govt decides what is suitable to watch, but that's another debate.

 

[Sadie]

I never liked the compulsory nature of the TV license especially as the was a lot of Independent Television stations supported by advertising, but the saving grace of the BBC was that it had no advertising and was a quality product, I've never been able to enjoy watching TV over here until ad stripping software came out it just wasn't worth the bother, and as for paying for satellite or cable stations with adverts in them you have got to be joking.

The vans monitoring for compliance were a bit of a joke on the rare occasion they tried to prosecute it was all about publicity, I knew lots of people without a license and never knew of any people that were prosecuted.

When I look at what the BBC puts out now and the stuff available on Freesat the $230 a year looks like a bargain compared to any thing we have over here.

 

[Mr Tony]

When I look at what the BBC puts out now and the stuff available on Freesat the $230 a year looks like a bargain compared to any thing we have over here.

BINGO! We have a winner

 

[pjcl]

BINGO! We have a winner

Yes, we do!

 

[LocutusOfBorg]

I thought I'd look at what we could be watching today if we lived in the U.K. I googled Freesat and some other stuff in the U.K. Then I saw this link to info on the tv license I'd heard about...yes you need a license to watch tv...lol..Here's the link
Television licensing in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
One license per household it appears
Looks like for a black and white set its roughly $72.oo a year or $230 for a color set. They actually have vans that monitor your compliance. Talk about big brother watching you! Thought some would find this interesting....Blind

They've been doing that for a long time. I was stationed in London in the mid-70's.

 

[Blindowl1234]

I wouldn't mind some of their programming over here though. BBC used to have some decent stuff...Blind

 

[Anole]

...Looks like for a black and white set its roughly $72.oo a year or $230 for a color set.

When you compare to what some US users pay for cable or satellite ($100..150 per Month!), it doesn't seem so bad.

I wouldn't mind some of their programming over here though.
BBC used to have some decent stuff...

PBS used to be the main buyer of their programming, here in the US (so far as I know)
With the advent of cable channels like BBC America, and BBC Canada, much more of their content comes here.

It's not all universally "good", and some of it has content that you can't show OTA here.
Does make for quite a pleasant change from American TV, though.

Recently, some of the more popular UK series are being re-made for the American audiences.
And in a reverse spin, they are now producing one of our shows as: Law and Order UK! -

 

[Diamond Jim]

Draconian enforcement has existed in this country as well. I recall someone in Wisconsin going to jail for having an unauthorized extension phone on his telephone line, but this would have been back in the 1960s, early 70s.

I remember in the early days of cable when splitters and cable were just becoming available to the public it was the big thing to have cable and then extend it to other rooms yourself. But....if you had problems and had to have a tech come out you had better disconnect it and hide it because if they saw it they would rip it out and take it.

When I was in the Air force before cable was available to the public we would move into a place find where the cable came in at and put the TV at the farest place from it. When we would move (GIs did that a lot) we would take the cable and the joints with us. When we went to the new place we would do it all over again. Over time we had enough cable and joints to take the TV any place we wanted to in the house.

Another way we found to beat the cable company was to take regular antenna wire and screw it to the back of the TV with the converter that connected the cable to the antenna screws, run the wire to different rooms. The reason for doing this was when you had 3 or 4 guys living in one house we could watch different channels on each TV. The quality was usually pretty good. Ahhhh....the good old days.

 

[rogerduncan100]

Some of you are saying the quality of BBC programming is good and I agree. I think it is partly because the program producers can make programs for the audience directly instead of for the advertisers. (Reminds me of Neil Young's song "Ain't singin' for Pepsi, aint singin' for coke.......this note's for you.......)

 

[Mr Tony]

heh...I dont know about you but if I had a fixed dish at 28E for $230 a year I'd be happy (thats what under 20 bucks a month)

Eurobird 1 & Astra 2A/2B/2D at 28.2°E - LyngSat

and the freesat list of channels (easier to read)
http://www.freesat.co.uk/files/6412/8886/8874/freesatChannelGuideNovember.pdf

 

[Keith Brannen]

heh...I dont know about you but if I had a fixed dish at 28E for $230 a year I'd be happy (thats what under 20 bucks a month)

Eurobird 1 & Astra 2A/2B/2D at 28.2°E - LyngSat

and the freesat list of channels (easier to read)
http://www.freesat.co.uk/files/6412/8886/8874/freesatChannelGuideNovember.pdf

And that is just one orbital position! Can you imagine the channels you could get with a motor (or in my case multiple dishes and LNBs).

Also note some of the obviously US based channels that are free over there, and NOT free here (examples: CNN International UK, CBS Drama, CBS Reality, CBS Action, CNBC, etc.)!

 

[Mr Tony]

yep its crazy how far advanced they are for FTA in Europe

 

[Bob2011]

List of free-to-air channels at 28°E - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

OMG look at how many channels ! I counted 28 porn channels ... FOR FREE :up