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There are free to air tv channels in the USA which you do not need a licence to watch, or pay any kind of fee, with the exception of the purchase of the TV set. (granted, not many, but they exist)
The adverts are not paid for directly by the viewer, neither are the programmes
That, in my book anyway, qualifies as free.
You are confusing "quality" with "cost". Not the same thing.
Maybe the joke was your post ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianH
I re-read that OP hoping it was a joke .....
How the hell is TV free in the US ? 15 minutes of ads for every 3 minutes of TV it feels like.
To answer the question of the OP, yes, a TV licence is required to watch TV in the UK, but the TV can still be activated without one. If you buy a TV from a shop, you give details which will be sent to the TV licensing people who will check if a valid licence is in force at your address.
It's quite possible to watch without paying. There are checks, and detector equipment, but I don't know how likely you are to be caught.
Personally, I'd imagine most of the stolen TV's will wind up being sold in dodgy deals at local sales, or in pub deals, rather than kept for personal use.
There are free to air tv channels in the USA which you do not need a licence to watch, or pay any kind of fee, with the exception of the purchase of the TV set. (granted, not many, but they exist)
The adverts are not paid for directly by the viewer, neither are the programmes
That, in my book anyway, qualifies as free.
You are confusing "quality" with "cost". Not the same thing.
Maybe the joke was your post ?
To answer the question of the OP, yes, a TV licence is required to watch TV in the UK, but the TV can still be activated without one. If you buy a TV from a shop, you give details which will be sent to the TV licensing people who will check if a valid licence is in force at your address.
It's quite possible to watch without paying. There are checks, and detector equipment, but I don't know how likely you are to be caught.
Personally, I'd imagine most of the stolen TV's will wind up being sold in dodgy deals at local sales, or in pub deals, rather than kept for personal use.
That is what I wanted to know. I thought that TV in England was like satellite is here and that you had to buy a license to watch the TV much like we have to subscribe to satellite before they will give us the signal to watch it. What you are describing sounds more like an honor system where the government just assumes that if you watch the TV that you will comply and buy the license. I guess the English feel better about their country and leaders because such a system would be a joke here in the USA. Nobody would pay it unless at the point of a gun.
That is what I wanted to know. I thought that TV in England was like satellite is here and that you had to buy a license to watch the TV much like we have to subscribe to satellite before they will give us the signal to watch it. What you are describing sounds more like an honor system where the government just assumes that if you watch the TV that you will comply and buy the license. I guess the English feel better about their country and leaders because such a system would be a joke here in the USA. Nobody would pay it unless at the point of a gun.
Well not really as they do attempt to enforce it. Can recall years ago when they would advertise on tv the fact that enforcement of this law was conducted by vans doing various neighbourhoods able to zoom in on tv waves and visit houses in order to inspect licenses and a fine would follow if unable to produce one.
If you buy a TV from a shop, you give details which will be sent to the TV licensing people who will check if a valid licence is in force at your address.
Yes and no. These days ownership of a television is so universal they simply keep checking addresses without a license. There have been stories of people who choose not to have television being bombarded with letters from the licensing authorities, some of them quite threatening.
One interesting development is that with things like iPlayer, it is possible to watch programmes via computer which requires no license. And as more pay for satellite and cable, it will become harder to justify a compulsory poll tax for channels and local radio that many never use.
There are free to air tv channels in the USA which you do not need a licence to watch, or pay any kind of fee, with the exception of the purchase of the TV set. (granted, not many, but they exist)
The adverts are not paid for directly by the viewer, neither are the programmes
That, in my book anyway, qualifies as free.
You are confusing "quality" with "cost". Not the same thing.
Maybe the joke was your post ?
To answer the question of the OP, yes, a TV licence is required to watch TV in the UK, but the TV can still be activated without one. If you buy a TV from a shop, you give details which will be sent to the TV licensing people who will check if a valid licence is in force at your address.
It's quite possible to watch without paying. There are checks, and detector equipment, but I don't know how likely you are to be caught.
Personally, I'd imagine most of the stolen TV's will wind up being sold in dodgy deals at local sales, or in pub deals, rather than kept for personal use.
Thank you for answering the OPs question without a bunch of silly sarcasm or getting all offended about it. The OP was asking a question using information he understood, but wasn't sure, hence the question.
TV is NOT free here in the US. Most of us can't get more than one or two channels without paying. Also, we can't choose our channels cafeteria style--we have to buy the entire package of channels, including channels in Spanish (have to be PC, you know) and channels we never watch. OP, someday you might want to compare the cost of using a mobile/cell phone here to the UK. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Where I live, we get about ten channels through an antenna. The TV and antenna cost money but we don't pay for those channels. Much better than the four channels we had back in the 1970s. We also have satellite TV. We have the antenna (indoor) for those rare occasions when we loose satellite signal, like during a hurricane. One recent hurricane knocked out cable tv for weeks. My satellite tv was back up the next day.
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