Quote:
Originally Posted by RichardCoulter
Did they ask to come in and check; if so did you allow them to?
If not, what did they say?
I ask as i've seen some horrendous videos on YouTube.
It seems shocking that they do this, it would be like Virgin Media coming and saying that they had noted that you don't appear to be paying a subscription to them. Then, upon being told that you don't use or need their services, them saying that they wanted to come into your home to check that you weren't lying or were obtaining their services illegally!
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It isn’t really like that, although a service provider can actually get a court order and send bailiffs into your house if you don’t pay them what you owe.
The BBC license fee isn’t a subscription. It has a legal status not unlike the Council Tax, which is a compulsory charge that pays for a range of services (whether you use them or not), that you have to pay by reason of occupying a house. The TVL is primarily a licence to operate a TV receiver, regardless of which TV services you choose to receive. It is backed by statute and the BBC is authorised by its charter to collect the fee and to receive whatever portion of it Parliament has determined.
The problem isn’t the TV licence - we live in a democracy and there are legal ways of campaigning for its abolition, if that’s what we as a country prefer - the problem is the large number of people who should be paying it, but are evading it, which is a criminal offence. That has given rise to a confrontational enforcement regime that then unduly affects the very small number of people who legitimately don’t have a TV licence.
TV is fupping expensive to make but the amount of money flowing into the industry in this country because of the TV license system is enormous and gives British producers international clout well beyond the natural size of the economy. It benefits many more people than just the occupants of Broadcasting House and their viewers.