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Dealing with TV Licensing - the TV licence "police" Last updated: 13thJuly 2008 How those with no TV are treated by TVLicensing™. This site is about TV Licensing™ (the"television licensingauthority") . . . . . . and how they treat those whodo not have television.I have not had a television for many years. One would thinkthat would be an end to it, but it isn't. One cannotsimply refuse this entertainment service, without appearingto be dishonest in the eyes of TV Licensing™ (a.k.a.the Television Licensing Authority or TVLA). The non-viewerdoes not fit into their framework. To TV Licensing™there are licence-payers and licence-dodgers and thenon-viewer (with whom they really have no business) istreated as a suspect licence-dodger. Whether there should bea licence-fee at all (or the present organisation to collectit) an interesting topic; however, this site is primarilyconcerned with how the mechanism of BBC funding unfairlyaffects those who do NOT have television. How the British televisionlicensing system unfairly affects those who do NOT haveTV. Matters involving the author of these pages: Book Review. A review of IanWishart's book Beating Big Brother, How people powerturned off the T.V. tax! An account of the run-up to theabolition of the TV licence in New Zealand. (Added: 21/05/05)"Nowhere to hide". An excerptfrom the article by Bryan Appleyard published in the SundayTimes Magazine of the 15th of April 2001. This article isprimarily about invasion of privacy, but mentions TVLicensing™'s powers in the section quoted.DCMS – BBC Charter Reviewpublic consultation – submission. This document isalso available in PDF. Aselection of others' submissions may be found here (Last updated 25/09/04).FAQ . . . orquestions you might ask me. (Last updated: 08/04/07)Correspondence with myMember of Parliament Andrew Lansley ,CBE, MP. (Last updated: 24/12/02)Correspondence with TVLicensing™. (Last updated: 30/01/01)Internet resources:Personal accounts of dealings with TVLicensing™ (last update: 22nd June 2008)Opinions, on the web (last update:5th August 2006)Media articles. (last update: 13th July 2008)News items. (last update: 13th July 2008)Sites campaigning for the abolition of theTV licence (last update: 25th September 2004)How the British TV licensing systemis viewed by those from other countries (last update:22nd June 2008)TV licensing systems in othercountries (last update: 9th February 2008)UK Parliament and government links (last update: 22ndJune 2008)Government agency links (lastupdate: 24th December 2003)NGO links (last update: 17th January2004)Politics (last update: 26th June2004)Information on TV licensing (last update: 20thOctober 2007)Forums discussing TV licensing and relatedmatters. (last update: 22nd June 2008)Blogs mentioning TV Licensing™(last update: 22ndJune 2008)Anti-TV links (last update: 20thOctober 2007)Mentions of TV licensing in advicepages (last update: 1st April 2007)Miscellaneous links (last update: 31st March 2007)10 DOWNING STREET: E-Petition. "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister toAbolish the UK TV licence and permit advertisingand other means of finance generation to the BBC.Independent economic research analysis andinvestigations by consumer protectionorganisations such as the National ConsumersCouncil have consistently concluded, for manyyears, that the UK TV licence is a levy which isregressive in its financial impact on the poor.This gross iniquity is perpetuated in essence bythe UK Government upon its most vulnerablecitizens. This situation is even more outrageousin an age when the poor may receive only 5terrestial TV channels, for which the TV licencecontributes to the cost of only BBC output, yetthe more wealthy within the UK tend to enjoydozens, or even hundreds of digital or satelliteTV channels at comparatively little extra cost tothem per channel. This petition accordingly urgesthe Government to abolish the UK TV licence andallow the BBC to make use of all lawful,reasonable, modern means of capital and revenuegeneration including share issues, property equitystakes and loans and advertising on BBC TV, radioand internet broadcasts." (added: 28/10/07)Sites campaigning for the abolition of the TVlicensingAbolishthe TV Licence: www.tvlicensing.biz andwww.bbcresistance.comErik Oostveen's excellent site; it contains a wealth ofinformation including disturbing insights into the internalworkings of TV Licensing™. This shares the commonobjective of hoping to end the iniquitous behavior of TVLicensing™. (link updated: 23/04/05)Media articles*** ARTICLE *** Bexhill-on-Sea Observer: I have a confession to makeby Lynda Turner "I do not own, nor do I have any intention of owning, in the foreseeable future, a TV - and the TV licensing board can threaten me all they like but I won't be giving them the pleasure of knocking on my door" . . . "who needs Big Brother when I have the real thing in the form of the TV licensing board watching me?" . . . "Their threatening letters were waiting for me from the second I took up residency in my new home - a soon-to-be building site with no aerial socket in any event - and proceeded to arrive on a regular basis thereafter and have continued to do so for over two years." (added 13/07/08).*** ARTICLE *** The Times: Watch out, the Gestapo are about — The sinister TV licence advertisement shows how we have become slaves of the database state.by Eamonn Butler "I'm here and now, in the UK, watching the latest advertisement from the BBC as it tries to make us pay our licence fee. But however fine and well-spoken the words, this Orwellian campaign - with its menacing soundtrack of licence-dodgers being rounded up by airborne police dog-handlers - is complete thuggery. (The effete BBC doesn't of course wield the cosh itself. It contracts such persuasion to TV Licensing, a consortium of Capita and other private businesses.)" . . . "In just 40 seconds, this sinister advertisement shows how far we have become the slaves of the database state, rather than its masters. You thought we lived in a free society? In a free society, no government could tell its citizens, with such quiet condescension and with no hint of embarrassment: 'We are spying on you. We know all about you. Just watch your step.'" . . . "It's time we citizens stood up against this state-sponsored intimidation, particularly now that anti-terror legislation is being used to spy on whether our dogs are fouling the pavement and that we're closing our wheelie-bin properly." I'd like to see the BBC funded by some mechanism - like taking adverts that don't actually terrorise the general public." [Dr Eamonn Butler is Director of the Adam Smith Institute] (added 22/06/08).*** ARTICLE *** The Guardian: Somebody somewhere is selling you fearby Lucy Barrett "TV Licensing, which has pinned past advertising on quirky and amusing themes, has decided to take a similar big brother approach. I am not sure why. Circuit City, created by AMV BBDO, is a rather sinister ad that explains - in no uncertain terms - that towns, streets and homes are on its database: licence evasion is impossible. I'm not sure whether or not licence-fee dodgers will feel scared by this message, but I sure as hell feel intimidated. I have a licence - but that ad doesn't make me feel good about it. Instead, it makes me worry about exactly what information TV licensing is holding about me, who has access to it and how secure it is. What next? A taskforce dedicated to spying on suspected licence-fee evaders? Most of us would think not - but, unfortunately, the ad suggests the opposite." (added 22/06/08). *** ARTICLE *** The Daily Reckoning: Taking on Big Brotherby Stuart Goldsmith "TV licensing? Well this is a hobby horse of mine anyway so don't get me started. How dare an entertainment company threaten us for not buying their service? Outrageous. After going through a fistful of hysterical bluster from the licensing authorities" . . . (added 22/06/08). *** ARTICLE *** The Daily Telegraph: Tom Hodgkinson launches his new column by switching off the television "'Free baby-sitting' is how the TV is often described by harried parents" . . . "Despite these undoubted advantages, I've come to the conclusion that it is best to unplug. Yes, disconnect from the state-funded image stream (the BBC) and from the commercial ad-filled pap providers (Sky TV)." . . . "The only problem you face is the enormous wrath of the TV Licensing Authority, whose employees seem to find it impossible to believe that you might voluntarily decide to refuse telly and assume instead that you must be out to defraud the State. Hence their letters become increasingly heavy and threatening in tone." (added 22/06/08).*** ARTICLE ***The Times: Forget MPs, what about our privacy?by Alice Miles "Most individuals will not have felt personally stung by the darts of hidden surveillance. But the increasing amount of upfront electronic surveillance, from speed cameras through congestion charge monitors to the aggressive letters from TV licensing cautioning that they are 'watching you', has struck all of us." (added 22/06/08).*** ARTICLE *** The Sunday Times: Invasion of privacybyRichard Girling. "The BBC simply cannotbelieve that anyone would not want to watch itsprogrammes. Anyone eschewing the pleasures oftelevision, and thus also the price of a licence,will be presumed guilty until proven innocent.Owners of unlicensed properties can expect aleaf-storm of increasingly nasty pro-forma lettersthreatening visits by inspectors – enforceable bywarrant – and criminal prosecution. As Ipersonally can testify, it takes great forbearanceand persistence by the victim to get theharassment stopped."(added 24/06/07)*** ARTICLE *** BusinessBricks: TV Licensing Officers will soon bevisiting Prince George RoadbyMatt Weston. "I'vegot a confession to make; I forgot to pay my TVLicence. But I'm glad I didn't pay on time, as Igot this inspirational 'Pay up now, or else'letter through the post yesterday." . . . "BigBrother Corporation is watching you in otherwords. We know where you live, and we're coming toget you. "Big Brother Corporation is watching youin other words. We know where you live, and we'recoming to get you." . . . " TV Licensing changedits tack a few years back after unsuccessfullyplaying the shared-responsibility card ('all thisis possible because of the unique way the BBC isfunded'). Now it uses a much blunter instrument toget people to pay: fear. Fear is a uniquelypowerful motivating force; being penniless inretirement, getting left behind our peers, failure– all these things terrify us, and make usbuy."(added 24/06/07)*** ARTICLE *** The Sunday Herald:News Diary byAlan TaylorLong-suffering readers may recall my ongoingbattle to convince the TV licensing oiks that I donot have a television and therefore have no needof a licence. This does not, of course, stop themfrom harassing me" (added31/03/07)*** ARTICLE *** The Daily Telegraph:If the BBC is so good, we will give it money byCharles Moore[Using a television] "is a criminal offence without alicence. And the licence pays for the television workof a single corporation – the BBC. It also supports theBBC's wider empire – since it makes us pay for radioprogrammes, whether or not we own a radio, andwebsites, whether or not we are on the internet. Thislegal obligation is fiercely enforced. On an oppressiveguilty-until-proved-innocent theory, the TV Licensingauthority persecutes the public. In my London flat, Ido not have a television (we have one in the country).TV Licensing cannot envisage this possibility, so itkeeps threatening me with prosecution." . . . "TheBBC's relation to our culture resembles the old BritishRail's relation to our means of transport – it is anover-centralised, expensive, unresponsive, obsolescent,occasionally magnificent but mostly squalid enterprisewhose faults the managers do not see because theytravel first-class." . . . "It is time for a bigpolitical party to argue for the abolition of thelicence fee. None will, of course, because all arefrightened of the power of the BBC to do them in. That,too, shows how, by its very existence, the BBC actsagainst the public interest. Time for a revolt." (added 21/01/07)UK Parliament and Government linksDepartment for Culture, Media and Sport: Freedom of Information Request — BBC Funding and TV Licensing - Case 56427.Includes letter from Shaun Woodward MP to Michael Grade (BBC chairman) and from JamesPurnell MP to Dr Andrew Murrison MP. (added 22/06/08).Broadcasting (Television Licence Fee Abolition) Bill 2007-08: Private Members' Bill (Presentation Bill) introduced byChristopher Chope. Second reading on 17/10/08. (added 22/06/08).PIMS (parliamentary information managementservices: Early Day Motion. TREATMENT BY TVLICENSING OF PEOPLE WHO DO NOT OWN TELEVISION SETS18.04.2007. Streeter, Gary, "That this House noteswith concern that despite not owning or using atelevision set over one million people (two percent. of the population) nonetheless receiveletters from TV Licensing demanding informationand a response to prove non-use; is concerned thatin the absence of any such response such citizensreceive further chasing letters intimidating intone; recognises that there are many constantlyreported cases of non-TV owners being distressedby such threatening letters; is further concernedthat these letters are sent without any evidencethat a TV is owned; notes that Capita plc, thecompany that operates the collection of the TVlicence fee for the BBC, reported a 22 per cent.jump in profits before tax in 2004 to £148 millionand a further jump in 2005 by 19 per cent. to £177million; and calls upon TV Licensing to introducea new system for collecting licence fees that ismore sensitive to those citizens who legitimatelychoose not to have a television; and further callsupon TV Licensing to be required to usesophisticated non-intrusive detection technologywhich they presently refuse to use as theyconsider it more cost effective to harass innocentnon-television owning citizens by unsupportablethreatening letters."(added 24/06/07)10 DOWNING STREET: E-Petition. "We theundersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stop the TVLicensing Authority threatening those who have notelevision. TV Licensing sends regular accusatory andthreatening letters to all who have no licence.However, many people have no licence because they haveno television reception. We petition the Prime Ministerto support the right of those who do not receivetelevision signals to do so without being hounded."(added: 23/12/06)Return to top of page.Miscellaneous 18 DOUGHTY STREET.COM Bias at the BBC. We wantyour ideas for a campaign to abolish the licencefee: "four reasons why the licence fee should go" . .. "1. It is biased" . . . "2. It crowds out themarket" . . . "3. Freedom of Choice" . . . "4. Ithits the poor hardest" (added 31/03/07) NO2ID: "If you've nothing to hide, you've nothing tofear" "I got a letter once from the TV licensingpeople. It was awful. I'd bought a TV for my son forhis room. It was me that paid for it, so when theyasked my name and postcode I unthinkingly just signedaway. The next thing I know, TV licence people arewriting to me saying they KNEW I was stealing fromthem, and that I could be prosectued, etc. It was avery nasty letter (I'm usually a very forgiving person,but it really was worded very strongly)" . . . " I'dbeen sent a threatening letter based on my name,without ANYONE checking to see if the address alreadyhad a licence." (added 12/08/06) BBC Charter Renewal error message Humour . . .(added 08/01/05) A non-viewer inScotland."My sister in law is a strange fish by anymeasure. One thing she was clear about that she does notwant to watch television. So she does not have one. At all.Nada. Each week she gets a threatening letter from theTelevision Licensing Authority, insisting that she must havea television" . . . (added 24/12/03)On-line Petition: Scrap the BBC Licence Fee. (added08/03/03)Return to top of page.Hidden words for search engines to find. If you use abrowser that shows this to you - I apologize! TV Licensing TV Licensing TV Licensing TV Licensing TVLicensing TV Licensing TV Licensing TV Licensing TVLicensing TV Licensing TV Licensing TV Licensing TVLicensing TV Licensing TV LicensingTelevision Licensing Authority Television LicencingAuthority I don't have a television No televisionAnti-television Anti-TV Threatening letters TV Licensing TVLicencing Envision Licensing Ltd Capita Group EnforcementOfficers Intrum Justitia Agents of the BBC Capita BusinessServices AMV Consortium Enquiry Officers BBC fundingTelevision free TVL BBC Licence BBC License BBC LicensingBBC Licencing TVLA Revenue protection license fee TV licenceauthority TV license authorityDetector vans |
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