TV licenses in the UK?

Quixoticish · Post by **Quixoticish** » 19 Oct 2006, 01:49

I remember the TV license folks trying it on with the people in my halls during my first year at uni. We were fully briefed by the warden, "there's a reason we give you corridor door locks and spyholes and a swipe card on the villa door, to keep out the people in suits with clipboards!"

airboatr · Post by **airboatr** » 19 Oct 2006, 02:00

Maybe You all in the UK could revolt and throw a bunch of Tea in a Harbor?..

It work in this country a few hundred years ago...
well for a while anyway.

.....
sorry I'll be going now

jamesstables · Post by **jamesstables** » 19 Oct 2006, 09:47

I've got a digital tv reciever for my laptop, you don't actually have to pay if you don't plug the laptop in and only watch off the battery, the only problem is that you can't watch more than about an hour. Its classed as a portable TV or something. :dance: :dance: :dance:

Reheat · Post by **Reheat** » 19 Oct 2006, 10:34

What really gets my goat about TV these days is Sky!

Not only do I have to pay Â£130 a year for a TV license for channels I never ever watch (bar Top Gear - which is worth the fee alone)

But I pay Â£65.90 a month for Sky TV, As well as the Â£200 I paid for the box and Â£50 for the installation yet STILL I am subjected to 15 minutes of adverts for every hour of programming.

A great example of this is one of my favorite progs, Mythbusters - on discovery it is an hour long program with 4 breaks.

They port it over to BBC two with no breaks and its actually a 38 minute program! Thats 22 minutes of advertising you watch and 38 minutes of actual TV!!!

One thing I pride myself on is being able to make a toasted cheese sandwich and a cup of tea in the break of any UK TV Gold program. Surely you just shouldn't be able to do that!

Oh and regarding the TV licenses in Universitys you can't get away with it any more, my girlfriend was at Uni in the halls last year and the warden conducted a TV License inspection 14 days after "Move in" - If you didn't have one you were fined by the Uni and given 7 days to get one or THEY would report you to the TV Licensing authority!

*Sigh*

speedbird591 · Post by **speedbird591** » 19 Oct 2006, 10:50

Reheat wrote:But I pay Â£65.90 a month for Sky TV, As well as the Â£200 I paid for the box and Â£50 for the installation yet STILL I am subjected to 15 minutes of adverts for every hour of programming.

A Sky+ Box is the answer. Either record the program on the hard drive and watch it later, FFing over the ads, or using the Live pause facility start watching 20 minutes later, FF over the ads and you catch up with yourself at the end in real time. It gives amazing freedom over your viewing.

BTW - further to what DaveB said about using the Post Office online, you know you can now buy postage online. I tried it out the other day. Bought 32p worth of First class postage (by credit card!). Put the address in a box and printed out a pre-franked, addressed envelope. OK - it takes fifteen times as long as sticking on a stamp and you still have to walk up the road to post it, but it gives you a sense of achievement!

Ian

Reheat · Post by **Reheat** » 19 Oct 2006, 10:56

Ian,

Yes I have been considering that but I can't justify it to the other half yet, although the ability to record proper programs while she is watching utter crap would be useful, however I can't word it that way without getting in the bad books!

I have also used the new online stamp facility - brilliant, I did somehow feel that id got some additional reward for doing it all myself online, strange feeling, all over a stamp!
So much so I let myself drive to the post box rather than walk as a little treat :redface: