8mm Forum: End of Swiss tv ?

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Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on February 18, 2018, 12:58 PM:

The Swiss citizens will have to decide (by a votation in March) if they accept to keep on paying the tv licence (I don't know if that exists in the US where I'm not sure There are public channel . It seems that, at the moment, 60 % of the people wish to keep the public tv and radio but the debates showed that among the young generation, many don't watch tv anymore and don't accept the concept of a public donation for a service they don't use. Should the tv licence end, so would the tv programms in this small country where it is not viable to run tv channels. The future may be a pay for what you see system, which would means the end of all local programms.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on February 18, 2018, 03:33 PM:

I don't watch live TV here in the UK, so no need for a TV licence. Looking at the rubbish that's on even with all those channels it looks poor. And I hate the on screen logos. I realise that its dumbed down, but sure people know what they are watching.

Posted by Gary Sayers (Member # 5545) on February 18, 2018, 05:30 PM:

I wish we in the UK could have a vote on scrapping the TV licence!

Obviously, we would be bombarded with the usual propaganda about how wonderful the BBC is and how it is the best in the world, etc, etc but I think the vast majority would vote to get rid of it.

With so many other providers showing that they can produce the goods just as well as, if not better than the BBC, without a penny from the TV licence (Netflix costs around half of the licence fee) then it can surely be only a matter of time!

Of course, Netflix doesn't have to pay an army of presenters and 'celebrities' on every other inane 'entertainment' show!

And I can CHOOSE to have Netflix.

But I have to have a TV licence (by law) to view none BBC via Freeview or sky.

I don't know if people outside the UK are aware that citizens here have been sent to prison for not paying for a TV licence.

Okay, rant over.

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on February 19, 2018, 02:40 AM:

They should at least scrap the prison sentences, as they are a left over from when a portion of the licence went to the government as a tax. However the loss of votes from pensioners who would have to buy new equipment if it was all pay per view, or subscription with conditional access would put any politician off doing it.

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on February 19, 2018, 03:10 AM:

The Wireless Telegraphy Act in November 1923 was introduced 1n the UK to cover radio sets at a cost of 10/- per annum (£0.50). Today, that figure stands at £147 for a colour licence which includes radio reception. However there are concession rates for the blind and care home residents. The licence is totally free when you reach the age of 75.

You don't need a TV licence if you:-

* Never watch or record programmes on any channel as they are being shown on TV or live on an online TV service
* Never download or watch BBC iPlayer - live, mobile phone, tablet, games console, digital box, or DVD/VHS receiver

As you see from the above the Government has got it quite fully sown up!

Posted by David Hardy (Member # 4628) on February 19, 2018, 09:42 AM:

I think that the TV Licence Fee here in the UK should be abolished to get in line with the 21st Century.

The B.B.C. should become a by subscription only company.

I never watch it these days due to its political bias and fake news. That should end its monopoly on the TV Licence fee going to this scandalous company and all who sail on her.

As of now however I think that all persons
of pension age should be exempt from paying the £ 147.00 fee.
[Big Grin]

Posted by David Roberts (Member # 197) on February 19, 2018, 12:50 PM:

I watch very little tv,it bores me to death.
however,BBC 4 has programmes that interest me sometimes,and I love radio 4.
If there is anything worth watching,then its worth the licence fee not to have the adverts.
In that respect,less than £3 a week seems reasonable.I would object strongly to paying for subscription tv,and then being bombarded with adverts every few minutes.

Posted by Trevor Adams (Member # 42) on February 19, 2018, 04:05 PM:

We use a KODI box and avoid dated local TV.Watching 2011,Escape to the Country and The Chase can be quite soul destroying......

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on March 04, 2018, 12:51 PM:

71 % of the people who voted choosed to keep the existing system as it is.

Posted by Gary Sayers (Member # 5545) on March 04, 2018, 02:59 PM:

Just over 54% voter turnout is appalling but I guess a larger turnout wouldn't have changed the result.

Would be interesting to see how a similar vote would go down in the UK, where the licence fee is less than half of the Swiss one.

I wouldn't expect the turnout to be much different here either.

[ March 04, 2018, 04:18 PM: Message edited by: Gary Sayers ]

Posted by Maurizio Di Cintio (Member # 144) on March 05, 2018, 10:03 AM:

Interesting complaint about BBC – strange, it’s regarded as one of the most authoritative TV Company in the world. In Italy we used to have a system whereby you were supposed to pay a yearly “subscription” to lawfully watch the 2 channels “Mommy RAI” had during the fifties and sixties (along with part of the seventies). Then private investors started their own nationwide TV networks following constitutional bills which decreed the end of state-monoply for all things-broadcast (radio&TV). Someone started arguing with the broader offer paying a “subscription” was pointless: it was just like paying for a magazine subscription in particular when you could easily and freely pick up any other magazine from the newsagent (for free); so about the end of the nineties such “subscription” was turned into a “possession tax” whereby everyone had to pay that tax for the simple detention of a TV set; not complying with this would entail tax fraud with all that comes with it (at least theoretically, being in Italy….).

Now, although I think our national state-controlled TV company is not so bad (some good films show up not too rarely, and there are very good news programmes and documentaries which have benefited from the “BBC-style lesson”), I understand in this day and age it wouldn’t be that complicated to encode those channels and let them be viewed with a decoder; it’s called payTV and it’s been around for decades now – so what prevents RAI or BBC or whatever from doing so (in the name of freedom of choice) really puzzles me. Of course in the case of a State TV from a nation as small as Swiss, it might be different because there might be not enough backers….

Posted by Simon Wyss (Member # 1569) on March 17, 2018, 03:11 AM:

I happen to have participated in the poll and have given a Yes. Result was a No. So no change to the state of things, the broadcast company continues to bill licence fees. Had the voting been positive, the money would be taken from the regular household. That’s all. Either direct pay or tax pay. This is a money country, the most boring things go on here. Please don’t mind any swiss controversies, they’re most always only about money.

Posted by Mark L Barton (Member # 1512) on March 18, 2018, 10:52 AM:

Im going to say it, but the BBC is the finest broadcaster of its kind. Yes it uses our licence fee to pay in exorbitantly high 'star' fees, but many A list Hollywood stars want to appear on BBC Produced shows etc. Technically the BBC are way ahead in both broadcast technology and programme production. And I believe the competition from the likes of Netflix et al has made the BBC get of its smug high chair and actually cater for the masses, across both its broadcast and internet channels. Do I agree with the fee, yes, do i agree you must have it (no option out) no. I no longer watch scheduled programming unless its time shift recorded, Victoria and the X Files. I watch Netflix/Amazon/Now TV and make up my own tv schedules.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 1183) on March 26, 2018, 01:19 PM:

There are no required fees to watch broadcast television in the USA. If you are within range of their signal, it is free. The commercial channels are funded by advertising, and what money they can squeeze out of cable/satellite operators for re-transmission licensing of their signals. Non commercial public broadcasting channels (PBS) are funded, to some extent by the government, but mostly by corporate and personal donations. Three to four times a year, they interrupt their regular programming with a week to two weeks of a fund raising Beg-A-Thon, where they televise nothing much beyond asking people to donate money. There is also, though not related, a public radio network that works the same way.

Before the BBC started the BBC America cable channel (which has advertisements throughout the programming), BBC programming was public broadcasting bread and butter. Now that the BBC is keeping their best programming for themselves, PBS has been forced to up it's programming game with various degrees of success.

Is there ever going to be another season of Dr. Who?

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