TV LICENCE FEE

People wanting to watch TV on their mobile phones have been warned they may need to fork out for a TV licence, or face a £1,000 fine. Those who have a TV licence for their homes will not have to pay extra but officials are set to pounce on anyone using their computers to watch television. Mobile phone and electrical dealers have started passing on their customers' deals to the authorities in case they start watching programmes on the devices without a licence. The TV Licensing spokesman added most foreign visitors would be covered by the licence for their hotel or host. Visitors from abroad watching TV on their phones could be charged the annual licence fee. A spokesman for TV Licensing said, "It does not matter where the programme is being broadcast from. If you are watching live TV in Britain, you need a licence." (Source: Daily Mirror, Feb/06)

The television licence fee is to rise by 4.2% to £131.50 from 1 April 2006. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said it would enable the BBC to continue to provide a "strong and distinctive schedule" and to remain at the "forefront of broadcasting technology".

In June 2002, Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, indicated that the BBC will continue to be funded by the licence fee for at least 14 more years. She said that privatisation, favoured by some politicians, was not an option when the BBC's royal charter came up for renewal in 2006. Her comments suggested that Labour, if still in power, would try to renew the charter largely unchanged for 10 years after that. If this turns out to be true, those who are against the licence fee are left with two main avenues. Firstly, to try and get the law changed, either by lobbying Parliament, demonstrations, or civil disobedience (refusing to pay the licence). Secondly, to try and get the law changed by challenging the BBC and its funding in the courts.

Over the years many keen minds have studied the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949, and its various amendments, to try and discover any flaws or loopholes in it. The general consensus is that there are none to be found. Many anti-licence campaigners are now turning to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The UK is a signatory of the European Convention of Human Rights, and this has recently been incorporated into UK law with the passing of the Human Rights Act 1998. This allows for the provisions of the Convention to be applied directly by the UK courts. The relevent part of the European Convention of Human Rights is Article 10, and here's the first bit of it:

"Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers."

This appears to be saying that a TV Licence contravenes the Convention, but then it goes on to add..

"This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises."

This get-out clause will make it very difficult to win a legal case against the Licence Fee based on Article 10, but as the old saying goes, who dares wins... The BBC takes huge amounts of money from the public purse, money that is badly needed elsewhere, and yet rarely is this criticised in the UK media. It seems that the lid is kept very tight on any form of dissent or objective reporting about the TV Licence. The question is, why..? The obvious answer is that the BBC itself forms a large part of the British media, and the BBC does not report anything that's negative about the TV Licence (bang goes their reputation for unbiased reporting!).

As for the rest of the media, well, perhaps commercial television does not voice dissent against the TV Licence because they know that if the Licence is abolished the BBC would have to become commercial, in direct competition to themselves (there's barely enough advertising revenue to go round as it is). A large number of the UK newspapers are owned by people who also have interests in commercial television, so no help there. It could, perhaps, be a fact that it's in the vested interest of certain people in positions of power in this country to keep the BBC and the Licence Fee exactly as it is.

You see, there's huge amounts of money involved here (and I mean huge - most of it screwed out of the British public under threat of imprisonment) and an awful lot of people have their snouts in the trough. This could, perhaps, be everyone from the lawyers who prosecute people for Licence evasion (there's 200,000 prosecutions every year), to TV Licensing, who make big bucks out of enforcing the Licence (which is why they're so ruthless against Licence evaders), to the Post Office, who have a very profitable contract to sell TV Licences, to the BBC itself, which has more than 23,000 employees and other assorted hangers on and is deeply ingrained in the British establishment.

If you dare to raise a voice against the TV Licence you're up against some very powerful people. The recent changes to the Licence Fee are purely cosmetic and a public relations exercise. Nothing's really changed, but what it shows is that the Government knows how much resentment there is against the Licence Fee, and they know how unjust and ridiculous it is for British citizens to have to pay to watch television under threat of imprisonment, but as long as those with vested interests manage to keep the lid on any dissent this state of affairs will continue. (Source: Spiderbomb)

According to a report commissioned by the government, people would be willing to pay an extra £31 a year for the BBC licence fee. While those surveyed agreed they would pay more for the BBC's current and future services, such as more local news, 75% said they would prefer planned new BBC services to be funded by subscription while keeping the licence fee at its current level.

The survey, compiled by the Work Foundation, questioned nearly 7000 people for the report which was commissioned by the Department for Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS). The report also found that of the BBC's proposed services, new digital and online learning for 14 to 18-year-olds was most popular, with 67.7% in favour. Most of those surveyed agreed that the "BBC makes a moderate contribution to British life". (Source: BBC News, Sep/06)

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