Quote Frisonic:

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Proud to have never watched a single reality television programme ever. In fact I've just decided to not bother having television again. I've lived without one on and off over the years, even before we had the internet and always found it easy to do. It will be difficult for aesthetic reasons to have a digital ariel for freeview in our new place, which was the plan, and I just don't see the value in pay for view cable anymore (500 channels of what to me is drivel for £50 per month - I'd rather give the money to a worthwhile cause). Presumably its still the case that you can't have a DVD player hooked up to a screen without paying the license fee? Which I think is outrageous but then the BBC are still an all powerful monopoly... (I know some of the money goes elsewhere). So perhaps I'll simply get rid of the television set and watch any films I want to see on line/from my Mac disk drive. Or is that illegal without paying the license fee too? And what about visiting the BBC website and using iPlayer for example? Is that legal without a television license? I honestly don't know. The regulations seem to assume that everyone has a television.

If anyone knows of a way around this dilemma please tell it up. I am still using BT as my landline provider in the new place but I've dumped them for the broadband, along with Virgin for the cable. If that means you can't have television in the UK anymore without either paying premium prices for pay for view or attaching a dustbin lid to the outside of your abode then I'll happily regard television as a redundant media.

As for celebrity big brother...

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I think you've only ever needed a license for live TV so I'm not sure where you get the DVD player thing from? The link below confirms you don't need a license for iPlayer as long as it's catch-up TV and not live.

http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/playing_tv_progs/tvlicence


I think TV licensing is a good thing. It'd be awful if every channel was commercial and despite the unforgivable crime of destroying the BBC radiophonic workshop I think the BBC is generally a positive entity. It provides some balance to the right wing rags in newsprint and all the dumbed down content of the likes of ITV.

I wouldn't want to stop 'making use' of a television set but I truly wouldn't care if I never saw another advertisement again. I am convinced advertising (on television in particular) is utter evil!

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Edited by jellyjim (03/08/11 06:18 PM)

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