Last updated: 13th July 2008

 . . . and how they treat those who do not have television.

I have not had a television for many years. One would think that would be an end to it, but it isn't. One cannot simply refuse this entertainment service, without appearing to be dishonest in the eyes of TV Licensing™ (a.k.a. the Television Licensing Authority or TVLA). The non-viewer does not fit into their framework. To TV Licensing™ there are licence-payers and licence-dodgers and the non-viewer (with whom they really have no business) is treated as a suspect licence-dodger. Whether there should be a licence-fee at all (or the present organisation to collect it) an interesting topic; however, this site is primarily concerned with how the mechanism of BBC funding unfairly affects those who do NOT have television. How the British television licensing system unfairly affects those who do NOT have TV.

Matters involving the author of these pages:

Book Review. A review of Ian Wishart's book Beating Big Brother, How people power turned off the T.V. tax! An account of the run-up to the abolition of the TV licence in New Zealand. (Added: 21/05/05)

"Nowhere to hide". An excerpt from the article by Bryan Appleyard published in the Sunday Times Magazine of the 15th of April 2001. This article is primarily about invasion of privacy, but mentions TV Licensing™'s powers in the section quoted.

DCMS – BBC Charter Review public consultation – submission. This document is also available in PDF. A selection of others' submissions may be found here (Last updated 25/09/04).

FAQ  . . .  or questions you might ask me. (Last updated: 08/04/07)

Correspondence with my Member of Parliament Andrew Lansley , CBE, MP. (Last updated: 24/12/02)

Correspondence with TV Licensing™. (Last updated: 30/01/01)

Internet resources:

Personal accounts of dealings with TV Licensing™ (last update: 22nd June 2008)

Opinions, on the web (last update: 5th August 2006)

Media articles. (last update: 13th July 2008)

News items. (last update: 13th July 2008)

Sites campaigning for the abolition of the TV licence (last update: 25th September 2004)

How the British TV licensing system is viewed by those from other countries (last update: 22nd June 2008)

TV licensing systems in other countries (last update: 9th February 2008)

UK Parliament and government links (last update: 22nd June 2008)

Government agency links (last update: 24th December 2003)

NGO links (last update: 17th January 2004)

Politics (last update: 26th June 2004)

Information on TV licensing (last update: 20th October 2007)

Forums discussing TV licensing and related matters. (last update: 22nd June 2008)

Blogs mentioning TV Licensing™ (last update: 22nd June 2008)

Anti-TV links (last update: 20th October 2007)

Mentions of TV licensing in advice pages (last update: 1st April 2007)

Miscellaneous links (last update: 31st March 2007)

10 DOWNING STREET: E-Petition. "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Abolish the UK TV licence and permit advertising and other means of finance generation to the BBC. Independent economic research analysis and investigations by consumer protection organisations such as the National Consumers Council have consistently concluded, for many years, that the UK TV licence is a levy which is regressive in its financial impact on the poor. This gross iniquity is perpetuated in essence by the UK Government upon its most vulnerable citizens. This situation is even more outrageous in an age when the poor may receive only 5 terrestial TV channels, for which the TV licence contributes to the cost of only BBC output, yet the more wealthy within the UK tend to enjoy dozens, or even hundreds of digital or satellite TV channels at comparatively little extra cost to them per channel. This petition accordingly urges the Government to abolish the UK TV licence and allow the BBC to make use of all lawful, reasonable, modern means of capital and revenue generation including share issues, property equity stakes and loans and advertising on BBC TV, radio and internet broadcasts." (added: 28/10/07)

Sites campaigning for the abolition of the TV licensing

Abolish the TV Licence: www.tvlicensing.biz and www.bbcresistance.com

Erik Oostveen's excellent site; it contains a wealth of information including disturbing insights into the internal workings of TV Licensing™. This shares the common objective of hoping to end the iniquitous behavior of TV Licensing™. (link updated: 23/04/05)

Campaign Against Licensing: www.cal.org.uk currently at: www.spiderbomb.com/tv

An interesting, if largely static, site. Sections include: The Licence and the Law,   Criminalising Television Licence Evasion and Prison Statistics

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Personal accounts of dealings with TV Licensing™

J. Lyndsay: "An example of these enforcement methods was experienced by an elderly neighbour of mine when she was confronted at her back window by an enforcer who wasn't aware that she didn't own a TV set. It's the kind of thing you expect in a police state." . . . "The BBC defend themselves, claiming that they're a genuine public service broadcaster, but it's impossible to justify using totalitarian tactics to force people to pay for junk like this." (added 22/06/08).

John Fulton: "[M]y own correspondence file over the years with TV Licensing - about half-an-inch thick now" ... "This holiday home does not have a TV installed and this I have declared, year after year. What effect has this had? Absolutely none. Increasingly threatening letters have been received from TV Licensing over the years, despite the fact that I have had many assurances from the head of TV Licensing that this property's records had been updated and that we would not be troubled again - all total hot air." (added 22/06/08).

William Dixon Smith: "Every so often I receive letter from an institution called TV Licensing, coaxing me to watch television. Sometimes they even send a rep round to hard sell the idea, but as I have never yet figured out how to work my car radio, I'm not ready to face another technological challenge." (added 22/06/08).

Peter G. Hill: "[A]s soon as an address is seen to be unregistered in respect of a TV licence, the occupant is subjected to an unending stream of letters, the constant message being that you are guilty of harbouring an unregistered TV. In the early stages, the letters are just accusatory but rapidly become bullying, insulting and finally intimidating and highly offensive. What other government organisation, business or even court of law would send out a letter in an envelope adorned in large print with the message 'Notice of impending prosecution' or 'Your next appearance could be in court'? This, when no evidence whatsoever of TV possession exists." . . . "Persecution is not too strong a word to describe the actions of TV Licensing and it beggars belief that such practices should be acceptable in society today." (added 22/06/08).

Barry Hughes: "[O]ver the past eight years my son has had a steady stream of communications accusing him of not having a valid licence. Initially, he wrote back, politely explaining he had no TV and did not intend to obtain one. However, this did not stop the flow of letters, which ultimately threatened that he would be visited by an investigator, could be interviewed under caution and might receive a severe fine. He tried phoning or returning the letters, by now covered in large red warnings, but to no avail." (added 22/06/08).

Michael Ayton: "For two years now I've had no television and the TLA has known this clearly, yet, despite my complaints, it's still bombarding me with insulting letters peppered with glaring phrases like 'official warning – this property is unlicensed', unashamedly advertising their own prejudice that everyone uses a TV and so people who say they don't are probably lying." (added 03/02/07).

Philip Dean: Personal experiences of denying "implied right of access" and other useful information. (added 29/12/06)

Letters from BBC Television Licensing: "The only fly in the ointment has been aggressive letters from TV Licensing (TVL), which collects the licence fee on behalf of the BBC. TVL/BBC sends millions of letters every year to people who do not watch broadcast television, demanding payment. For many people, these letters can be frightening. But the letters are a bluff; they are computer-generated. TVL/BBC have none of the powers their letters imply. With a little knowledge, people can stand up to the bullies. The purpose of this website is to share my TVL/BBC letters as I receive them, and to provide useful information for people who have no time for the BBC." (updated 24/06/06).

Alan V. Harrison: "totally insulting missive from TV Licensing", and follow-up "I received an apology by telephone on May 25." . . . "On May 27, however, a further letter arrived, bearing the endorsement 'Final Notification'. In addition to a miscellany of threats, the letter states, 'We may inform the court of the protracted length of time you have been unlicensed, and also the number of times you have failed to respond to our efforts to contact you.'" (updated 24/06/06).

Douglas Nisbet: "It's the letters of course. It's the letters that get you in the end. They combine mind-numbing stupidity with calculated nastiness in equal measure. You know they're computer generated, automated, nothing personal, it's just the system, but my God they're nasty. Nasty, intimidating, bullying, and, well, did I mention they were nasty?" (added 10/06/06).

Armin Grewe: TV Licensing wasting money and TV Licensing Jubilee. Also How Soon Is Now - For TV Licensing? (updated 10/06/06).

Dr Steven Taylor: a Great Yarmouth GP writes about his experiences dealing with TV Licensing™. (added 28/02/06).

Robert Hertner: . . . taking TV Licensing™ to Court for alleged trespass . . . (added 06/11/05).

Pete Fryer: "For the second time in six months the TV licensing people in Bristol have sent what can only be described as threatening letters to the pensioner who lives with me.... his only 'crime' was to buy a new video for my parents golden anniversary, and recently a new TV for our use" ... " aforementioned licence is in MY name, something they find totally impossible to comprehend" (added 22/05/05).

Mark Langford: "[T]hirteen increasingly menacing demands from the TV licensing people, whose previous indication that harassment will cease once you assure them that you have no TV at this address (we did, twice, and now three times) proves to be a lie." (added 10/04/05).

Mark Leggate: "Yay! Yet Another Threatening TV License Letter" – "Dear TVL: It is possible to live without a TV!" (added 10/04/05).

Anthony Daniels: "Every few months, I receive a letter from the TV licensing agency, who do not believe that I do not have a television. Once again I am threatened with a £1000 fine, and also warned that my house will soon be spied upon unless I buy a licence." (added 10/04/05).

Peter Fairbrother: "I guess they feel they can be as nasty as they like to people who do not have a TV, as they aren't paying customers." (added 10/04/05).

Beezly: TV Licensing Fun – "[G]ood luck TV Licensing... wasting the license payers money and your time on tracking my non-existant television down. Harass me some more and I may consider suing you." (added 10/04/05).

B10g: "TV Licensing demands Money with Menaces" and 2nd Letter from TV Licensing. (added 10/04/05).

Ted Harrison: "increasingly hostile letters" (added 05/03/05).

M. Denyer: TV Licensing Authority: "You see everyone owns a television. Those who don't are liars who 'will be caught'. Frankly I find that quite offensive, I mean I know not to take the threat letters personally, but their approach is still despicable." . . . "the mechanism which gives them the right to invade peoples' property on a whim seems as immoral as it does insulting. Not only that but the blind assumption that everyone owns a TV and anyone who says otherwise is a liar is bloody annoying." (added 08/01/05).

Paul Oldham: TV Licensing Madness. A collection of letters. (added 19/08/04).

Graham Smith: BBC Television Licence. For a while now I have been one of the 2% of the population that doesn't, let me make that very clear doesn't, have a television. ... (added 12/08/04).

Erika Sigvallius: A complete set of correspondence beginning in 2001. Also a memorandum submitted as written evidence to the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport. (updated 22/6/04).

Kevin Boone: "I live in one of the two million or so households in the UK that does not own a television. The television licencing authorities would have us believe that not owning a television is aberrant, bizarre behaviour, and only a handful of people would be so perverse." (added 26/04/04).

Keith Parkins: "I have no TV, do not watch TV and have no wish to obtain a TV. If past experience is anything to go by I will shortly be visited by an investigative agent who will insist on searching my home for an illicit TV. If I refuse to grant permission he will return with a search warrant." (added 10/04/04)

'Cosmictigger': "Yesterday I received a letter from the TV Licensing Authority, threatening me with a visit from an Investigations Officer and/or 1000 quid fine, because I don't have a TV Licence. All well and good, but I also don't have a TV." (added 10/04/04)

Laszlo Gaspar: "They [TV Licensing™] seem to have two categories; either you have a licence or you're guilty as sin. They don't seem to be able to conceive of a third possibility." (added 26/12/03)

Adam Killeya: "if someone would explain why the TV Licensing people had to write me three letters if they weren't going to believe me anyway I would be most grateful!" (added 24/12/03)

ComplaiNET: "I find their [TV Licensing™'s] correspondences accusatory and insulting" (added 24/12/03)

David Lomax: "When I stopped my TV Licence on my empty house, they sent me letters literally every 4 weeks threatening me. It was horrible." (added 24/12/03)

Reg Holmes: A very brief account of a twenty-year long exchange of letters with TV Licensing™. (added 24/12/03)

Life Less Literary: Considered a lunatic for not having a TV? (added 24/12/03)

John Hammond: has been pursued by TV Licensing for 20 years, despite not owning a television set. He pleads to TV Licensing™ to leave him alone. (added 24/12/03)

Rob Fisher: Not Owing a TV Licence is a Crime – Even if you don't own a TV. Rob Fisher writes about non-viewers' harassment by TV Licensing™. Update posting here, also update 2 and TV Licensing sends false invoice. (updated 26/06/04)

Hal C F Astell: TV Licenced to Kill (added 27/09/03)

Cambridge2000:The Cambridge 2000 Memos: BBC Television License. (added 20/07/03)

Matt Mueller: A New Zealander's set of letters to and From the "TV Police" between January and April, 2000. (added 18/01/03)

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Opinions, on the web

Robert Henderson: "I have just received the piece of bureaucratic impertinence below from the TV Licensing Authority. Of course they have absolutely no legal right to force an entry without a warrant and they can only get a warrant if they have reasonable grounds for believing an unlicensed set is on the premises. Merely not having a license is not reasonable ground." . . . "I have not owned a TV set since 1969 and have been regularly harassed because of it." (added 05/08/06).

Horse Sanctuary UK Limited: "There is no doubt in our minds that the methods used" . . . "are purposely designed to be intimidating and threatening. These tactics are clearly a misuse of authority, a breach of your human rights and a gross intrusion into your private and family life". Also – The Face of TV Licensing. (updated 21/05/06).

Fully Informed Jury Association: "The BBC Licensing Authority Have No Legal Authority Unless Unanimous Juries Grant It." . . . "The FCDAE-FIJA campaign for the re-implementation of the Juror's legal Right and Duty to judge on the justice of law and every act of enforcement; and to annul the enforcement of all injustices against citizens by finding the Not Guilty Verdict." . . . "This relates directly to the TV licensing authority issue, because with the Trial by Jury operating correctly, one can safely say that the TV License would have been abolished years ago, along with numerous unjust statutes." (updated 25/06/05).

Garry Bushell: "This out-dated poll tax on viewers made sense when the BBC was Britain's only broadcaster. But in our multi-channel future, a tax on watching TV makes as much sense as a tax on windows — and there used to be one of those as well" (added 30/05/05).

Henry R. Bliss: "The BBC web site proclaims: 'Trust is the foundation of the BBC: we are independent, impartial and honest Audiences are at the heart of everything we do...' I wonder how anyone can seriously call themselves honest when their very existence is based on force and coercion?" ... "The audiences of the BBC are indeed at the heart of everything the BBC does. The BBC chooses to employ very hard to believe GESTAPO type methods to support ITSELF." (added 02/10/04).

Robert Swales: "How far will the BBC go to ensure that everyone will cough up money for the television licence tax? In my opinion, as far as mob-style protection rackets go, but just short of grievous bodily harm." (added 25/08/04).

Bill Murray: "Some of you probably think we have no Gestapo operating in the UK. Think again." ... "And some of you harbour sentimental delusions about nice, respectable 'Aunty Beeb'. Think again please." (added 25/08/04).

Michael Morris: BBC's license fee - "Get one or get done!" (added 14/03/04)

Jake Gordon: Should The BBC continue to receive large amounts of public money through the licence fee? (added 21/02/04)

Mrs Joan .A.F. Horton, J.P.:. Letter to The Times. "The BBC is a public service. As such, it could receive a grant directly from the Exchequer, with its editorial independence guaranteed by statute. With the millions saved on collection and enforcement, the compensating adjustment to income tax would be tiny." (added 02/01/04)

Richy's Soapbox: Time to Abolish TV Licensing? "In Merrye Olde Englande TV Licencing has been a feature of life for as long as anyone can recall. It's one of those things - like the now-repealed 'Windows Tax' - which go to further corroborate the sheer greed and stupidity of our leaders." (added 24/12/03)

Andrew Sullivan: "No wonder that George Orwell used his experience at the BBC to model the Ministry of Truth in 'Nineteen Eighty-Four.'" (added 24/12/03)

Metrophage: "You're on the net, surfing around and go to the BBC's website and watch a webcast of one of their programs, according to them you now owe them for that - you should really buy a TV licence! However, if you were over in Canada or the US and watching the same webcast, that's perfectly fine - carry on as usual..." (added 24/12/03)

Keith Dunn: "The Television License, in my opinion the most outdated and irrelevant and out of touch tax that exists in the United Kingdom." (added 24/12/03)

iConservatives: The BBC's licence fee is a poll tax — pull the plug. "If television were invented today in its current multi-channel format, it is inconceivable that it would be funded in the same way." (added 24/12/03)

Frank Sensenbrenner: "I'm looking forward to having my door beaten down by TV licensing officials after receiving yet another threatening letter from TV Licensing... despite the fact that I've never had a TV." (added 24/12/03)

Gaallen: Bank rolling the BBC. "For those of you who thought this organisation was about providing entertainment etc. think again." (added 24/12/03)

Rory Ewins: TV licences. "The licence fee is a pre-war relic that persists only because of government inertia." (added 24/12/03)

Chris Longhurst: Come To New Britain (added 24/12/03)

David Sheldon: TV Licencing."It is my opinion that the Licencing people intentionally mislead people and use threatening language in order to maximise revenues. It may well be true that the majority of households in the country have a television and use it, however that is no excuse for assuming that everyone has one." (added 24/12/03)

Daryll Watts: "This ancient statute still exists because no-one actually bothers to dispute it!" . . . "The general (and typical) apathy of the U.K. public — they moan, and then pay!" (added 24/12/03)

Adrian Midgely: A Devon GP's views on the current system of television licensing.

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How those from other countries view the British TV licensing system

HeraldNet: TV with strings attached by Jon Bauer. "A TV tax? How un-American: If you think the IRS can get a little nasty, let us introduce you to Great Britain's TV Licensing agency, responsible for collecting the $274 annual tax on anybody who owns a TV." (added 22/06/08).

The Heights: Becoming a sitcom-viewing fugitive by Kathryn Dill. "Imagine my surprise two weeks later when I received a letter in my mail slot from TV Licensing UK stamped "Official Warning." "We have previously informed you that it is an offense to watch TV programmes at your address without a valid TV License. You should expect a visit from an Enforcement Officer shortly." The accompanying pamphlet didn't contain too much information about my rights, but it did state very clearly that I could face a court appearance and a fine of up to the equivalent of $2,000. If, after I paid my fine, I still wanted to watch TV, I would need to purchase a license, at the bargain price of $263." . . . "one important fact remained: I did not own, or have personal access to, a television set." (added 31/12/05)

A reader of the Seattle Times: "While the BBC is a great institution, it is far from immune to bias, and it is funded by draconian legislation that could not be enacted today in the UK. The British public put up with the TV license because it's all they've ever known and they grudgingly acknowledge the quality that the BBC turns out as being worth it." (added 31/12/05)

An Australian UK resident: "For those of you who don't live in the UK, you may be interested in the phenomenon that is the TV License – I was truly surprised by it a year ago. Essentially, if you have a TV or receiving equipment, you are obliged to pay the government £121 per year to view the BBC channels. Don't watch the BBC? I'm afraid that TV Licensing doesn't believe you. EVERYONE who owns an operational set must watch the BBC. They're compelled to. There's something in the water." ... "Brits give FAR too many of their rights away without a peep." (added 22/05/05).

Columbia News Service: Turn on, tune in, pay up: In England, you can't watch TV without a license by Mark Binks. "This is not some kind of weird reality show soon to hit the United States, but rather the everyday reality of Britain's system of television licensing." (added 13/03/05)

New York Times: No Telly in the House? Expect an Official Warning. by Sarah Lyall: " in its enthusiastic execution of its appointed task, the agency can sometimes be overzealous. It often seems unable to recognize the distinction between shirkers and non-television watchers" (added 09/01/05)

Le Québécois Libre: A Pernicious Invasion of our Privacy by Ralph Maddocks. "Perhaps most astonishing to North Americans is the fact that TV licence inspectors have the power to obtain and execute search warrants of private houses. Some 3000 such warrants are issued each year and yet the public seems to accept this heavy-handed and fascistic conduct with little or no reaction."

The Weekly Standard: The Disgrace of the BBC by Josh Chafetz.

Trail of Thoughts TV Licensing. "What's with the Brits and the TV Licensing thing? I've been receiving warning letters alleging I've been watching TV in my room without a licence. The problem is; I don't even have a TV in my room!" (added 24/12/03)

An Australian's views on life in the UK. "Probably the most absurd concept I've encountered thus far in the UK is Television Licensing." (added 24/12/03)

The Internal Revenue Service (USA): defines regressive taxes. The example given is the British TV licensing system. (added 24/12/03)

England's Must-Pay TV and England's Must-Pay TV, Revisited – An American considers the British Television Licensing system. (added 13/12/03)

Viewcrime: Paul Jacob (Senior Fellow at U.S. Term Limits) considers the British television licensing system and compares it with George Orwell's 1984. "No, it's not quite the bleak vision of George Orwell. But it's close enough." (added 10/11/03)

Viewcrime follow up. More from Paul Jacobs. (added 24/12/03)

The BBC Television Licence: A TV Ownership Tax That Is Not So Easily Avoided. An article by Ron Kaufman (from www.turnoffyourtv.com). An American's view of the British television licensing system and describes the difficulties faced by non-viewers in the UK. (added 19/07/03)

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Media articles

*** ARTICLE *** Bexhill-on-Sea Observer: I have a confession to make by Lynda Turner "I do not own, nor do I have any intention of owning, in the foreseeable future, a TV - and the TV licensing board can threaten me all they like but I won't be giving them the pleasure of knocking on my door" . . . "who needs Big Brother when I have the real thing in the form of the TV licensing board watching me?" . . . "Their threatening letters were waiting for me from the second I took up residency in my new home - a soon-to-be building site with no aerial socket in any event - and proceeded to arrive on a regular basis thereafter and have continued to do so for over two years." (added 13/07/08).

*** ARTICLE *** The Times: Watch out, the Gestapo are about — The sinister TV licence advertisement shows how we have become slaves of the database state. by Eamonn Butler "I'm here and now, in the UK, watching the latest advertisement from the BBC as it tries to make us pay our licence fee. But however fine and well-spoken the words, this Orwellian campaign - with its menacing soundtrack of licence-dodgers being rounded up by airborne police dog-handlers - is complete thuggery. (The effete BBC doesn't of course wield the cosh itself. It contracts such persuasion to TV Licensing, a consortium of Capita and other private businesses.)" . . . "In just 40 seconds, this sinister advertisement shows how far we have become the slaves of the database state, rather than its masters. You thought we lived in a free society? In a free society, no government could tell its citizens, with such quiet condescension and with no hint of embarrassment: 'We are spying on you. We know all about you. Just watch your step.'" . . . "It's time we citizens stood up against this state-sponsored intimidation, particularly now that anti-terror legislation is being used to spy on whether our dogs are fouling the pavement and that we're closing our wheelie-bin properly." I'd like to see the BBC funded by some mechanism - like taking adverts that don't actually terrorise the general public." [Dr Eamonn Butler is Director of the Adam Smith Institute] (added 22/06/08).

*** ARTICLE *** The Guardian: Somebody somewhere is selling you fear by Lucy Barrett "TV Licensing, which has pinned past advertising on quirky and amusing themes, has decided to take a similar big brother approach. I am not sure why. Circuit City, created by AMV BBDO, is a rather sinister ad that explains - in no uncertain terms - that towns, streets and homes are on its database: licence evasion is impossible. I'm not sure whether or not licence-fee dodgers will feel scared by this message, but I sure as hell feel intimidated. I have a licence - but that ad doesn't make me feel good about it. Instead, it makes me worry about exactly what information TV licensing is holding about me, who has access to it and how secure it is. What next? A taskforce dedicated to spying on suspected licence-fee evaders? Most of us would think not - but, unfortunately, the ad suggests the opposite." (added 22/06/08).

*** ARTICLE *** The Daily Reckoning: Taking on Big Brother by Stuart Goldsmith "TV licensing? Well this is a hobby horse of mine anyway so don't get me started. How dare an entertainment company threaten us for not buying their service? Outrageous. After going through a fistful of hysterical bluster from the licensing authorities" . . . (added 22/06/08).

*** ARTICLE *** The Daily Telegraph: Tom Hodgkinson launches his new column by switching off the television "'Free baby-sitting' is how the TV is often described by harried parents" . . . "Despite these undoubted advantages, I've come to the conclusion that it is best to unplug. Yes, disconnect from the state-funded image stream (the BBC) and from the commercial ad-filled pap providers (Sky TV)." . . . "The only problem you face is the enormous wrath of the TV Licensing Authority, whose employees seem to find it impossible to believe that you might voluntarily decide to refuse telly and assume instead that you must be out to defraud the State. Hence their letters become increasingly heavy and threatening in tone." (added 22/06/08).

*** ARTICLE *** The Times: Forget MPs, what about our privacy? by Alice Miles "Most individuals will not have felt personally stung by the darts of hidden surveillance. But the increasing amount of upfront electronic surveillance, from speed cameras through congestion charge monitors to the aggressive letters from TV licensing cautioning that they are 'watching you', has struck all of us." (added 22/06/08).

*** ARTICLE *** The Sunday Times: Invasion of privacy by Richard Girling. "The BBC simply cannot believe that anyone would not want to watch its programmes. Anyone eschewing the pleasures of television, and thus also the price of a licence, will be presumed guilty until proven innocent. Owners of unlicensed properties can expect a leaf-storm of increasingly nasty pro-forma letters threatening visits by inspectors – enforceable by warrant – and criminal prosecution. As I personally can testify, it takes great forbearance and persistence by the victim to get the harassment stopped." (added 24/06/07)

*** ARTICLE *** BusinessBricks: TV Licensing Officers will soon be visiting Prince George Road by Matt Weston. "I've got a confession to make; I forgot to pay my TV Licence. But I'm glad I didn't pay on time, as I got this inspirational 'Pay up now, or else' letter through the post yesterday." . . . "Big Brother Corporation is watching you in other words. We know where you live, and we're coming to get you. "Big Brother Corporation is watching you in other words. We know where you live, and we're coming to get you." . . . " TV Licensing changed its tack a few years back after unsuccessfully playing the shared-responsibility card ('all this is possible because of the unique way the BBC is funded'). Now it uses a much blunter instrument to get people to pay: fear. Fear is a uniquely powerful motivating force; being penniless in retirement, getting left behind our peers, failure – all these things terrify us, and make us buy." (added 24/06/07)

*** ARTICLE *** The Sunday Herald: News Diary by Alan Taylor Long-suffering readers may recall my ongoing battle to convince the TV licensing oiks that I do not have a television and therefore have no need of a licence. This does not, of course, stop them from harassing me" (added 31/03/07)

*** ARTICLE *** The Daily Telegraph: If the BBC is so good, we will give it money by Charles Moore [Using a television] "is a criminal offence without a licence. And the licence pays for the television work of a single corporation – the BBC. It also supports the BBC's wider empire – since it makes us pay for radio programmes, whether or not we own a radio, and websites, whether or not we are on the internet. This legal obligation is fiercely enforced. On an oppressive guilty-until-proved-innocent theory, the TV Licensing authority persecutes the public. In my London flat, I do not have a television (we have one in the country). TV Licensing cannot envisage this possibility, so it keeps threatening me with prosecution." . . . "The BBC's relation to our culture resembles the old British Rail's relation to our means of transport – it is an over-centralised, expensive, unresponsive, obsolescent, occasionally magnificent but mostly squalid enterprise whose faults the managers do not see because they travel first-class." . . . "It is time for a big political party to argue for the abolition of the licence fee. None will, of course, because all are frightened of the power of the BBC to do them in. That, too, shows how, by its very existence, the BBC acts against the public interest. Time for a revolt." (added 21/01/07)

*** ARTICLE *** The Sunday Times: Dawn of a new television age by Alex Pell "Why the writing is on the wall for the TV licence — The pace of change is threatening to make the historic television licence fee redundant, or at least unenforceable. Viewers currently need a licence only to view live broadcasts but not for catch-up or on-demand TV services, or those downloaded over the internet, regardless of how they are viewed. " (added 23/12/06)

*** ARTICLE *** International Herald Tribune: As TV programs find new outlets, the tax man follows by Doreen Carvajal "New technology has pushed governments to a point where they must examine whether to expand fees to computers and mobile telephones that have access to television programming." (added 23/12/06)

*** ARTICLE *** Contractor UK: Database at TV Licensing 'relies on moaning Brits' "Brits we've wrongly asked for cash must get in touch to say they've already paid - so the e-database at the heart of our operation can be updated, TV Licensing has declared." . . . " "Despite the majority of its administration being run by Capita, the IT services expert, the group's database relies on your protestations for the accuracy of its 28 million records." . . . "In line with its Big-Brother-style advertising, TV Licensing implied a tough approach often yields better results for its business aims – to administer the collection of fees and enforce the TV licensing system." (added 05/08/06)

*** ARTICLE *** Charlton Athletic: Bent won't miss World Cup now by Gary Haines "A new crackdown on care home television licences means Darren's namesake, Ron Bent, a former chair of a Charlton Athletic fan club, must cough up a yearly fee of £131.50 when he moves into Wayfarers Home in Sandwich, East Kent, for a fortnight from Saturday." . . . "Bent, 81, suffered a massive stroke 12 years ago and is a regular short-term visitor to the home – and although he qualifies for a free licence at home he risks a whopping £1,000 fine if he watches from his new room." . . . "The TV Licensing Authority has recently ruled that short-stay customers are liable for the annual three-figure fee – even though prisoners have the green light to sit back and watch the action from their cells thanks to an exemption from the Crown." (added 11/06/06)

*** ARTICLE *** Daily Telegraph: I won't pay to be abused by the BBC by Boris Johnson (MP for Henley and editor of The Spectator). "I want to save myself the price of a stamp or a phone call today by writing an open letter to Mr Richard Goodbody, the regional manager of the Swindon enforcement division of the TV Licensing Authority." . . . "Goodbody has just sent me one of the rudest and stupidest letters I have ever received." . . . "All this, of course, because he suspects that I have a television in the house. As it happens, we do not have a television in the house, and nor do we want one." . . . "We have, in fact, written to the TV Licensing Authority to say that we do not have a television at this address, and yet this little tin god Goodbody is so drunk on power, and so crazed with the assumption that all human beings in Britain must want a TV, that he has obtained authority to surround my premises with electronic snooping devices until he obtains proof that a signal is being received. Is this Britain, my friends, or is this some Central American dictatorship, circa 1970?" (added 28/05/05)

*** ARTICLE *** The Times: And suddenly it's got easier by Alice Miles. "[T]he repeated proforma letters from TV Licensing, which repeatedly harass householders with accusations of lying about not having a television: all the rude demands for more information, more proof – the easy and crude assumption that people are lying about everything all the time. And never, ever an apology when they are proved wrong." (added 28/05/05)

*** ARTICLE *** The Times: Editorial – As technology races ahead, so must the BBC. "in the modern age, dealing with digital delivery is almost as complex as creating the programmes. Alerted in The Times this week to the possibility of increasing numbers of people consuming BBC content without paying the licence fee by watching television on their computers, the corporation said that no such evasion was legally possible" . . . "This newspaper, likewise, upholds the law and urges its readers to do likewise. Yet it also knows an ostrich with its head in the sand when it sees one. The plain fact is that TV licensing regulations are not enforced and probably not enforcible insofar as they apply to the personal computer." . . . "If two million people in Brazil and twenty million in China watch a BBC broadcast on a PC are they watching television? And should British viewers be subsidising their pleasure?" . . . "The BBC should be considering a brave new future funded partly by subscription and partly, if necessary, by a lower, fairer statutory levy. Instead it has been granted £28 billion of stability over ten years, without enough incentive fully to embrace the technology that will transform its commercial rivals over the same period." (added 05/03/05)

*** ARTICLE *** Wired: Inventor Rejoices as TVs Go Dark by Steven Bodzin (added 08/01/05)

*** ARTICLE *** East Anglian Daily Times: Business Editor Duncan Brodie translates some TV Licensing™ propaganda. For example the statement – our experience over the last financial year has shown that almost half of all people who claimed not to have a television were found to be using one can also be shown to mean Most of the people who claimed not to have a TV were telling the truth. (added 09/10/04)

*** ARTICLE *** The Times: Don't flush life down the tube by Bruce Morton. "Television licensing has already written. Six days after I cancelled my direct debit instalments, the manager of customer services has sent me a letter advising on the ways, means and benefits of direct debit. The last of the seven paragraphs advises: 'If you do not purchase a television licence . . . a criminal prosecution may be instigated.' Nowhere in its list of options and threat is there a mention that the customer may no longer require the service. I turned the letter over looking for a PS along the lines of: 'If you have decided to live without television because you get fed up with it then good luck and thanks for your custom.'" (added 02/05/04)

*** ARTICLE *** Observer: Will the BBC go the way of BR? by Will Hutton. "Key members of the Ofcom board, charged with regulating broadcasting other than the BBC, declare darkly that, although the corporation could once have made a case that it existed because the broadcasting market 'failed' to deliver high quality programmes, the BBC is now so powerful, bullying, and monopolistic—echoing the Murdochs' view—that it is a cause of market failure, inhibiting the growth and development of virtuous private sector companies. And it does this off the back of the licence fee—a regressive flat-rate impost that is coercive and immoral. No other public body in Britain gets a hypothecated tax; why should the BBC? The argument goes on that the BBC could hardly be justified in an era of spectrum scarcity; in an era of digital plenty, it is anachronistic." (added 03/01/04)

*** ARTICLE *** The Sunday Times: Ten years of Beeb wars by Beatrice Newbery. Lynne and Steve Lawrence have been fighting the BBC's agents over their TV licence for a decade. Despite the threat of prosecution, they fought on and won. (added 24/12/03)

*** ARTICLE *** The Daily Telegraph: A free country by Stephen Robinson. (added 24/12/03)

*** ARTICLE ***Bucks Free Press: Journalist Stephen Cohen considers how TV Licensing™ treats non-viewers in terms of cash wastage. "The premise always appears to be that anyone without a licence must be a cheat, because everyone has a telly these days." (added 24/12/03)

*** ARTICLE *** This is the North East: Journalist Alan Wright discusses the "lunatic licence". (added 24/12/03)

*** ARTICLE *** Eastern Daily Press: Journalist Ian Collins enjoys life without TV in his Southwold cottage. TV Licensing™ have other ideas. "last Saturday I was summoned by a card demanding my attendance at the local post office. I'd been out when the postman called and my signature was 'required' for an important document. So, in pursuit of this missive from God, I queued in Southwold's post office. When my turn finally came I signed dutifully and received a plain envelope addressed to The Present Occupier of my house. Clearly, I'd been conned. Inside was a red-edged piece of insolence with the slogans "You are due to receive a visit from a TV licensing officer" and 'Your address is high on our list'" (added 24/12/03)

*** ARTICLE *** The Spectator: Taking liberties by Michael Yardley. This describes Yardley's bitter experience of how licensing people get their information about who owns a TV set. "This whole system is hostile to liberty." ... "several warnings that had been sent to my television-free home. They become increasingly nasty. The assumption is that every right-minded person must have a television." ... "the argument against TV licences is deeper. It is not just about the nature of the BBC and the way in which broadcasting is funded in the UK. It is about the centralised authority that has been created to collect the money, and the deceit practised to do so. Orwellian is an overused expression, but it applies in this case. Big Brother is watching and he wants you to watch and pay. You can't opt out." (added 14/12/03)

*** ARTICLE *** Broadcast Engineering: A license to cheat. A North American view of the British TV licensing system. (added 27/09/03, link corrected 21/10/06)

*** ARTICLE *** Football365: John Nicholson writes - "If the BBC really thinks it's good value and really thinks its work is worth our money, then let them compete in the open market and then see how many people buy it without the threat of the coppers hauling you off to choky if you don't cough up." ... "It's only familiarity with the licence fee that stops us being outraged by it." ... "I remember telling an American mate about the concept of the TV licence. He was genuinely amazed. "I'm not sure if that's Communism or Fascism but either way, it's gotta be wrong.'" (added 9/08/03)

*** ARTICLE *** Privacy International: Capita (a.k.a. TV Licensing™), again, wins "MOST INVASIVE COMPANY" category in The 2003 UK Big Brother Awards. (added 9/04/03)

*** ARTICLE *** This is York: Bryan Marlowe — A sign of the TV times. "one of their spies may turn up at your the house at any time of the day or night to inspect your television licence" . . . "When you finally convinceff your interloper that you haven't a hidden television anywhere in your home, he will go away shaking his head, with a look of disbelief on his face."

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News articles

*** NEWS *** Daily Telegraph: BBC to investigate bully tactics for television licence collection by Tom Peterkin. "The BBC Trust, the corporation's governing body, has called for the inquiry amid complaints about the heavy handed approach to licence collection taken by TV Licensing" . . . "Some people have reported receiving dozens of threatening letters from TV Licensing even though they do not have a television set." . . . "Last year Gary Streeter, the Tory MP for South West Devon, put down an early day motion, signed by 60 MPs, objecting to the behaviour of TV Licensing." . . . " Mr Streeter said: 'This is a serious matter. A surprising number of people - particularly elderly people - don't have a television and I don't see why they should be bullied and harassed in that way.'" David Maclean, the Tory MP for Penrith and The Border, said the system was 'shambolic' adding: 'The BBC can't hide behind this. TV Licensing is acting under their instructions as a contractor and it is time to call the dogs off.'" (added 13/07/08).

*** NEWS *** Southern Reporter: TV Licensing comes under fire after OAPS receive court threats by Mark Inchley. "Elderly television viewers have been left angered and distressed after receiving threatening letters and even doorstep visits from enforcement officers for non-payment of the BBC licence fee, despite being exempt from the charge because of their age." . . . "Borders MP [Michael Moore] has hit out at TV Licensing for sending what he sees as heavy-handed and distressing payment demands to pensioners." . . . "He said: 'TV Licensing seems to completely disregard the notion of "innocent until proven guilty". Rather than continually harassing these individuals with ever more threatening letters, which is a total waste of time, effort and money, they should be rethinking their strategy and focusing on the people who are genuinely trying to avoid paying. Their tactics are causing a great deal of anxiety and distress, and I sincerely hope they will urgently rethink their entire approach.'" (added 13/07/08).

*** NEWS *** Daily Mail: TV licence fee collectors under investigation over 'bully-boy' tactics on people with no sets by Paul Revoir. "Stung by accusations that bully-boy measures are often employed on innocent people, the BBC Trust will investigate whether procedures are 'appropriate and proportionate'." . . . "The corporation's governing body has acted after scores complained about being harassed. Some have received dozens of threatening letters even though they do not own a set." . . . " [Gary Streeter] MP for Devon South West said: 'I don't see why you should have to prove a negative. If you don't have a TV set, I don't see why you should have to answer these letters.'" (added 13/07/08).

*** NEWS *** Belfast Telegraph Manhunt for TV licence offender by Deborah McAleese "A prisoner at the centre of a high-profile manhunt after he escaped from police custody last week has revealed that the dramatic six-hour chase was over an unpaid TV licence." (added 22/06/08).

*** NEWS *** Glasgow Evening Times: Woman gets TV licence bill for her dead husband by Catriona Stewart "Helen Weir's husband James passed away five years ago. But last week the great-grandmother received a demand from TV Licensing that she pay £139 on her husband's behalf. The 71-year-old, from Bridgeton, Glasgow, was doubly confused as she already has a TV Licence for her home in her own name." . . . "'I told the television licence people when my husband died and you would think that would be enough.'" . . . "'I expected that TV Licensing would have written to apologise or at least admit their error by now but I haven't heard anything yet.'" (added 22/06/08).

*** NEWS *** The Mail on Sunday: BBC herald the end of the television set with live broadcasts over the internet by Paul Revior. "While the BBC claims people watching programmes via their computers will still be liable for the annual charge, many say it will be powerless to enforce this on the internet. Others fear those who carry on paying their licence fee to watch shows on TV, will end of subsidising those who go on-line to avoid the payment." . . . "Tory MP Philip Davies, who sits on the culture, media and sport select committee, said: 'This seems to be the beginning of the end of the licence fee without a shadow of a doubt'" . . . "'it's completely impractical and unenforceable.'" (added 22/06/08).

*** NEWS *** The Independent: Which? names 30 firms in its 'hall of shame' "Banks, utility firms and government agencies are scooping millions of pounds each year from their customer helplines" . . . "More than 30 organisations were named in the Which? "hall of shame", including British Gas, Barclays and Tiscali, as well as the Government's [sic] TV Licensing and Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)." (added 22/06/08).

*** NEWS *** This is Money/Daily Mail: Revealed: Worst high-rate helpline culprits by Paul Sims "Customers who call helplines are being ripped off by premium rate phone charges, according to the consumer group Which?" ... "A spokesman for TV Licensing said: 'If we provided free phone calls, less money would go to BBC programmes and services.'" . . . "The worst culprits (average cost of 10-minute call)" . . . [TV Licensing's call costs:] 0844 (50p), 0845 (60p)." (added 22/06/08).

*** NEWS *** Wigan Today: Police threat over £1 debt by Chris Wilkinson "A pensioner has hit out at the TV Licensing authority for what he says is the heavy-handed way they went about claiming a £1 debt. Robert Halliwell, 74, of Kingsway, Higher Ince, recieved a letter threatening him with a visit from the police if he did not pay what he owed - a sum which was not disclosed - despite having paid for his licence" (added 22/06/08).

*** NEWS *** Daily Telegraph: BBC wants happy new image for TV licence fee by Chris Hastings and Beth Jones. "How do you win public support for an unpopular tax? Simple, just give it a new name and a fancy emblem. The BBC is contemplating a radical revamp of the television licence fee to make it more acceptable to the public. Corporation bosses and TV Licensing, the authority that collects the money for the BBC, believe the existing name and logo are old-fashioned and unattractive." (added 9/2/08)

*** NEWS *** Manchester Evening News: Dead man fined over TV licence. "A man was fined for not having a TV licence —six weeks after he died." (added 9/2/08)

*** NEWS *** Rochdale Observer: Dead man fined by Bethan Dorsett. "A Kirkholt man has been fined for not having a TV licence – even though he is dead." (added 9/2/08)

*** NEWS *** Daily Post: TV licence shock by Steve Bagnall. "A grieving widow hit out at TV licensing chiefs yesterday after they prosecuted her dead husband. Maureen Davies, 47, was stunned to learn a court had fined her husband £180 in his absence for not having a licence, five months after his death. The widow, of Townhill, Swansea, South Wales, claims she was all the more angry because their home had a valid TV licence, in her name. She claims the error should never have happened because she has repeatedly informed TV licensing officers of their mistake." (added 20/10/07)

*** NEWS *** Chester Chronicle: Homeowner blasts TV licence 'sadists' by Richard Fletcher. "A housebuyer pushed open the door to his brand new home and found almost two years worth of threatening letters from TV Licensing. Dr Ron McCulloch, of Seller Street, Chester, opened more than 20 letters, many of which were identical, despite being the first person to move into the flat in the new complex." . . . "'I couldn't believe it - the apartment was vacant and there was no owner. Bear in mind I've just turned 65. Anyone in their 70s would be intimidated. It was rather hostile.'" (added 20/10/07)

*** NEWS *** Shropshire Star: Sell BBC and give back fee – MP by John Hipwood. "Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard has called for the BBC to be broken up and sold off and for the £135 licence fee to be refunded. The Tory MP urged the Government last night to privatise the state broadcasting corporation following a series of humiliations and mistakes for which no one has paid the price." . . . "Mr Pritchard said the Metropolitan Police should investigate allegations of 'serial deceit and mass deception', adding: 'I cannot ignore the irony that TV licence-fee dodgers are more likely to face a custodial sentence than any BBC employee who might subsequently be convicted of deception or fraud.'" (added 20/10/07)

*** NEWS *** The Independent on Sunday: People without TVs 'intimidated' by licence reminders by Martin Hickman. "MPs have finally raised the matter in Parliament with a Commons motion that demands an end to such letters – and criticises the outsourcing company Capita." . . . "Early Day Motion 1289 says householders receive 'intimidating' letters without any evidence that they own a television, and refers to 'many constantly reported cases of non-television owners being distressed by such threatening letters'." . . . "Gary Streeter, the MP for Devon South West, tabled the motion after being contacted by a constituent, Derek Cheesbrough, who has received 48 letters from TV Licensing, which he has refused to answer. 'The duress and oppression they inflict on innocent citizens, who often live alone, is causing widespread mental worry,' complained Mr Cheesbrough" . . . "Mr Streeter, whose motion has been signed by 54 MPs, said: 'I think that he's got a very good case. I don't think this should be happening.'" (added 24/06/07)

*** NEWS *** Belfast Telegraph: Licence threat student with no TV by Sam McBride. "An Ulster man has hit back at a series of 'threatening' letters from TV Licensing claiming he is in danger of prosecution for not having a licence – even though he doesn't even own a television." . . . " Timothy Patterson (22) a second year computer science student at the University of Ulster in Coleraine, said the frequent letters made him feel intimidated. "I find it quite threatening, especially when they say 'the consequences of such an investigation can be serious'," Mr Patterson said." . . . "A Lithuanian man living in Newtownabbey also said he was confused by the letters, as he only used his television set to watch DVDs – something he does not require a licence for." (added 24/06/07)

*** NEWS *** SurreyOnline: Man angry at cost of TV licence sent death note in post by Mhairi Macfarlane. "A television viewer was so incensed at the cost of his TV licence that he sent a death threat to the Government department that issued it." (added 24/06/07)

*** NEWS *** News & Star: TV Licence 'threat' alert "Penrith and the Border MP David Maclean has hit out at the TV Licensing Authority after complaints from constituents about threatening letters." . . . "He said the authority makes the 'arrogant assumption' that every home has a television. 'Even the initial letters are intimidating'" (added 05/04/07)

*** NEWS *** Press Dispensary: Costs Mount in Texas Ambassador's TV Licence Court Battle "TV Licensing officials have so far run up a GBP £27,000 bill in their long running legal battle with a London-based, Texan-born film maker, Robert Hertner, who took them to court after insisting he is not liable for the TV license tax" . . . "Mr Hertner alleges that TV Licensing breached court rules on February 16 this year when it sent two inspectors to his flat while with the civil case still active and awaiting an appeal hearing by the European Court of Human Rights." (added 30/03/07)

*** NEWS *** 4NI: Woman injured in 'mail bomb' blast "The woman was injured by what is believed have been a letter bomb which was found in the Capita building in Victoria Street." . . . "Capita is responsible for managing a number of services for the government, including the congestion charge in London and collecting revenue from TV licensing." (added 30/03/07)

*** NEWS *** The Times: The Andrew Davidson Interview: Capita bats away the charges "Aldridge resigned last year, in another press stink, after admitting he had made a personal loan to the Labour party – not a smart move when Capita gets half its turnover from the public sector." (added 03/02/07)

*** NEWS *** The Daily Telegraph: From brickbats to matchstick cats by Simon Goodley "Rod Aldridge, former Capita boss, has another job – chairman of The Lowry after the death of Charles Levison. The Salford gallery views the appointment as a coup." . . . "It leaves no room to talk about another part of his career – being embroiled in the cash-for-peerages scandal and quitting Capita last year after claims his £1m loan to the Labour Party landed the group government contracts. At the time he said any such claims were 'entirely spurious'." (added 03/02/07)

*** NEWS *** BBC News: Unveiled – Labour names Lenders "Labour has published details of the almost £14m in secret loans from wealthy businessmen. The list was unveiled after it emerged that some of the lenders were later recommended for peerages." . . . "Rod Aldridge – £1m Executive chairman of IT support firm Capita [currently contracted by the BBC to run TV Licensing™], which has won millions of pounds worth of public contracts. He said the borrowing was at commercial rates, adding that it was a 'personal decision on my part'." (added 03/02/07)

*** NEWS *** The Sun: TV licence should be for TV by George Pascoe-Watson "GRUMPY Beeb bosses have a Bloody Big Cheek moaning about the size of their Government handout for the next six years. The billions they are guaranteed will still make life as cosy as a pair of old slippers. Their state funding should have been SLASHED to force them to compete in the real world – or close down." . . . " Which other firm could survive sending costs sky high while losing customers?" . . . "All of the BBC's rivals are united by one feature – NONE gets a single penny piece from taxpayers. They exist because they have taken a huge gamble with private cash and ensured efficiently-made and entertaining shows are the order of the day." (added 21/01/07)

*** NEWS *** Evening Standard: TV licensing authority try to collect fees from cemetry 'residents'. "About 225,000 people are buried in Brompton Cemetery, from Emmeline Pankhurst to Bernard Levin, and whatever the realities of the afterlife it is moderately certain that none of them spends much time watching television. That, however, did not stop the TV licensing authority from sending the residents a threatening letter warning that they would be in line for a £1,000 fine if they do not buy a £131.50 licence." (added 23/12/06)

*** NEWS *** The Register: TV Licensing abandons case against TV owner "A former prisoner at the forefront of prison law advocacy has overturned a TV licensing conviction on appeal. John Hirst said he used his television only for watching videos, DVDs and CCTV footage of his own house but was found 'technically guilty'." . . . " Despite the fact that Hirst was discharged, he took the appeal on a point of principle. 'The TV Licencing Authority assume if you say that you don't watch your TV for live broadcasts you're a liar,' Hirst told OUT-LAW Radio. 'It's still down to the prosecution to prove guilt, not for the assumption to be there that you are guilty and you need to prove innocence. 'As far as I am concerned there is nothing such as 'technically guilty' in English law, you are either innocent or you are guilty,' he said.'" (added 23/12/06)

*** NEWS *** East Anglian Daily Times: Blind man's fear over TV licence by Will Grahame-Clarke "[A] severely disabled blind man was left in fear of going to jail after he was confronted by an official at his sheltered home. The 'extremely shaken' bed-ridden 58-year-old, who lives on his own in Bury St Edmunds, is believed to have been approached over an unpaid £5 bill by a representative of the TV Licensing Authority." . . . "an authority representative was believed to have 'talked' his way into the man's home" . . . "The incident was yesterday criticised as 'heavy handed' by members of the West Suffolk Voluntary Association for the Blind" . . . "Our intervention has restored some sanity to this case. It was obvious that some fundamental error had been made along the line. I think the moral of the story is don't let anyone in your home even if they have ID." (added 28/10/06)

*** NEWS *** Bloomberg: Europe's Television Taxes Can't Survive Internet by Matthew Lynn " Browsing for a snazzy, new personal computer that allows you to watch and record television shows? Then watch out. In much of Europe, you might be about to commit a criminal offence. In countries such as Germany, the U.K. and Sweden, governments are imposing taxes on the most up-to-date computers and cellular phones. Even by the standards of overregulated, overtaxed Europe, that is crazy. The most elementary economics course teaches that if you tax something, you reduce the demand for it. Either Europe turns itself into a technological backwater, or else the TV taxes will have to be abolished." . . . "You can't hope to hold the line against technology. Computing is changing broadcasting fundamentally. Not only can you watch broadcasts on a range of different devices. You can also watch programs from just about anywhere. To take the U.K. example, why should British taxpayers be paying 3 billion pounds a year to create Web sites, radio and television that can now be enjoyed by anyone in the world?" . . . " TV taxes look about as sensible as the levies the U.K. government used to impose on windows in the 17th and 18th centuries. Not surprisingly, the British responded by bricking up their windows. Now people may respond by getting rid of some high-tech devices. What good will that do?" (added 05/08/06)

*** NEWS *** Guardian: Yesterday in Parliament "The government is to press the BBC to stop TV licensing officials hounding people who do not own a television. Creative industries minister Shaun Woodward pledged to raise concerns about letters sent by inspectors arriving in envelopes suggesting the recipient is breaking the law and the practice of regularly contacting homes without a TV. But he insisted that with half of claims not to own a television being found to be false, it was now necessary for inspectors to visit everyone using the explanation to avoid paying a licence." (added 05/08/06)

*** NEWS *** Guardian: It's TV, but not as we know it "The European Commission and the UK are once again set on a collision course" . . . "[t]hat will put stress on the UK's TV licence, which is already undergoing frantic reinterpretation as a result of internet technology" (added 05/08/06)

*** NEWS *** Guardian: Yesterday in Parliament — TV Licenses. "Women fleeing domestic abuse are being unfairly treated by the TV licensing system which gives concessions to hotels while targeting refuge centres for fines" (added 20/05/06)

*** NEWS *** Wandsworth and Putney Guardian: 'My identity has been stolen by television licence conman'. "A police staff worker wants compensation after claiming he is at the centre of an identity theft scam that has landed him in trouble for an unpaid TV licence." (added 20/05/06)

*** NEWS *** News & Star: 12 part-time soldiers face Iraq mission by Dave Gudgeon "A dozen of Cumbria's part-time soldiers are heading off to southern Iraq in the next few weeks." . . . "The company will fly out to Iraq in May for a six-month tour of duty. The man in charge will be Major Richard Goodbody, who is a regional manager with TV licensing." (added 08/04/06)

*** NEWS *** MedialBulletin: Neophile Beeb is risking licence fee by Raymond Snoddy "It will be really interesting when the first prosecution is mounted against someone for illicitly watching BBC News 24 on their mobile phone. Even if such prosecutions do actually stick - a moot point in itself - the real problem would be one of detection. " . . . "The obvious problem is that both computers and mobile phones have primary functions that have nothing to do with watching television. The mischievous will take delight in using them to avoid paying the licence fee. Hackers are already avoiding it and the ongoing campaign to ensure students pay their licence fee could gradually be undermined." (added 08/04/06)

*** NEWS *** Belfast Telegraph: Look away now: Not everyone watches TV by Matt Salusbury "For me, along with just over one in 50 of the UK population, complying with Turn Off the TV Week won't be a problem - I don't have a telly in the first place." (added 08/04/06)

*** NEWS *** Guernsey Press and Star: TV licence fee law 'does not technically exist' by Tom Bradshaw "THE island's TV licensing fees are collected under a historic legal loophole rather than an official Guernsey law. The BBC licensing authority maintains that islanders' fees are collected under the Communications (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Order, 2004, which binds the Bailiwick to the UK's Communications Act 2003. But technically, such a law does not exist." (added 08/04/06)

*** NEWS *** Silicon.Com: Capita chairman made £1m loan to Labour Party by Andy McCue "The list shows Capita chairman Rod Aldridge gave the Labour Party a commercial loan of £1m. Aldridge's donation has come under scrutiny in the media because Capita runs many high-profile government IT projects, including the London Congestion Charging scheme, TV licensing and the Criminal Records Bureau." (added 08/04/06)

*** NEWS *** Mail on Sunday: Got a licence for that mobile? by Simon Fluendy "[TV Licensing] are warning that anyone caught watching streamed programmes over the internet or on their phone without a licence will face the same £1,000 fine" . . . "The rules apply to people watching any broadcaster's programmes - not just the BBC's. And licensing authorities warn that it could even affect foreign businessmen travelling into Britain who use laptops to catch 'streamed' programmes from anywhere in the world.". . . "'It does not matter where the programme is being broadcast from. If you are watching live TV in Britain, you need a licence,' said a TV Licensing spokesman." . . . "Officials are so serious about enforcing the rules that mobile phone and computer shops are passing on personal details about customers - just in case they start watching programmes on their 3G handsets or via broadband." [Editorial comment: I understand this means that TV Licensing are saying that the licence no longer applies solely to the the use of a television receiver for the reception of broadcasts from UK broadcasters but is required for the use of any device that is used to receive any broadcast from anywhere – even if that broadcaster is not in the UK and has nothing to do with the BBC, and where no TV tuner is involved, at all. That is, regardless of where the broadcast originated, what medium was used to convey it, or what was used to receive it – the BBC must still be paid.] (added 19/02/06)

*** NEWS *** Guernsey Press and Star: 'As long as it's a tax, I won't buy a TV licence' by Will Wachtmeister "The Housing minister announced yesterday that he would not pay for his TV licence as long as the charge was classified as a tax." . . . "'I will simply refuse to pay it until it is clarified whether or not it is a service charge' . . . "he stopped short from calling on other residents in the Bailiwick to do the same. 'As a minister, it would be irresponsible for me to do that but I will say to them that it is a stand that is worth taking. " . . . "The UK's Office of National Statistics explained that it had reclassified the former service charge because the TV licence fitted more closely with its definition of a tax. But a spokesman for the quango did not know where this left the independent fiscal status of Guernsey, Jersey or the Isle of Man but pointed instead to a paragraph in the reclassification report that said: 'The television licence is also required in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.'" (added 11/02/06)

*** NEWS *** Evening Telegraph and Post: Pensioner's dismay over TV licence wrangle by Laurie Watson "A Dundee pensioner, who was recently forced to leave her long-serving family home, has found her new start blighted by the overbearing threat of legal action from the TV Licensing board" . . . Mrs Smith has found her existing licence lost by TV Licensing and her previous efforts to transfer the licence to her new home ignored" . . . "I wrote to them explaining the situation and told them I had several copies of my previous licence. In fact, I got so fed up with their persistence, I sent them one of the copies of my licence to prove I had qualified." . . . "Mrs Smith's prayers seemed to have been answered last week when she received her new licence – only for a final demand letter to arrive on her doorstep this week threatening a heavy fine and prosecution under the Criminal Act (1984)." . . . "They even had the cheek to send a letter asking me to take better care of this licence, even though it would appear they lost my previous licence. They've treated me disgracefully." (added 15/01/06)

*** NEWS *** Daily Mirror: Carry on Clamping by Bob Roberts "Wheelclampers could be allowed to seize millions of cars in a new crackdown on fine-dodgers under plans announced yesterday. Ministers said they wanted to use clamping and vehicle impounding orders against people not paying TV licences, council tax or committing minor motoring offences. The aim is to cut the number of cases going through magistrates' courts by more than a million." . . . "Conservative spokesman Oliver Heald claimed the plans raised 'serious concerns'. He said: 'The administration of justice is a matter for the state, not independent organisations with a financial interest like the BBC.'" (added 11/12/05)

*** NEWS *** Welwyn & Hatfield Times: Commons Told of Philomena's Plight. "The plight of a [Welwyn Garden City] grandmother who was summonsed to court for not having a colour TV licence for a black and white set was the subject of a parliamentary question. " . . . "MP Grant Shapps highlighted the problem in the House of Commons on Thursday. He asked the leader of the house, Geoff Hoon, how it was possible that despite having a black and white set, because she had an NTL signal it was deemed that she must receive a colour picture." (added 27/11/05)

*** NEWS *** Welwyn & Hatfield Times: TV people are just bully boys. [Another reader responds to the previous article]. "TV Licensing (and that name is not right — they licence broadcasts not televisions) are real bully boys on behalf of the BBC." . . . "I have everything I need in my home to distil whisky (or whiskey), but I don't need a licence unless I am actually distilling the stuff. Nor do Customs & Excuse have any right to hassle me just because I have this equipment. So how is it that the mere possession of television equipment means that the BBC has a right to send their bully boys round to hassle me?" . . . "like Mrs Moran, am continually hassled by TV Licensing and threatened with fines, court, visits and so on, and on. Over four per cent of people in the UK don't watch television. That's a lot of people. And we're all harassed by the BBC/TV Licensing. OK, if you don't have a television you can let someone from TV Licensing into your home to show them - but why on earth should you? (Some of these people are very unpleasant, quite apart from anything else.)" (added 27/11/05)

*** NEWS *** Welwyn & Hatfield Times: Licence threat sparks TV court drama by Kelly-Ann Kiernan "A Grandmother was saved from a court appearance at the 11th hour, after a little help from a councillor." . . . "Philomena Moran owns a black and white TV but was summonsed to court for not having a colour TV licence." Cllr Dr Dennis Lewis commented: "It defies logic that someone using a black and white set should be required by law to buy a colour TV licence at over £100, when the black and white licence is only £42" . . . "When my constituent brought this to my attention she was very upset indeed, having to go to court for the first time in her life – and standing a chance of having a criminal record." Dr Lewis contacted TV Licensing™ on behalf of Mrs Moran and commented that their response "smacked of Alice in Blunderland". . . "They were adamant that because the householder was using an NTL cable, she could have a colour set and therefore was required to have a colour licence." Stephen Prower, a Stevenage resident, responded to the Welwyn & Hatfield Times. (added 19/11/05)

*** NEWS *** South Wales Echo: AM not a TV licence dodger by Martin Shipton "David Davies, the Tory MP and AM for Monmouth, was astonished to receive a stern letter from TV Licensing after recently buying a TV for his office at the National Assembly." (added 06/11/05)

*** NEWS *** Guardian: Now it's the TV cops who are in the dock by Rupert Jones "Could the TV licence police have met their match in Robert Hertner, the self-styled Texan ambassador to Britain? Mr Hertner, a Texas-born, London-based writer and filmmaker, is seeking up to £4.5m in damages in a lawsuit against TV Licensing and Capita, the company which collects the licence fee." (added 15/10/05)

*** NEWS *** South Wales Echo: TV licence worker guilty of pay scam by Paul Maunder "A tv licence evasion investigator has been found guilty of forging customer signatures to obtain bonus payments. Richard John Llewellyn, 50, of Limeslade Close, Fairwater, Cardiff, stood trial accused of making up interviews with customers so he could get a bonus through completing doorstep forms." . . . "Cardiff Crown Court was told the statement - dubbed a code eight - could lead to possible prosecutions and formed the basis of a staff bonus scheme. Officers had to complete 38 code eights per week to be eligible for a bonus and the biggest monthly bonus received was £716. Llewellyn, who earned a basic salary of £11,000, completed the code eights and signed them on behalf of four people, in order to trigger the bonus payments." (added 03/10/05)

*** NEWS *** South Wales Echo: TV licence man cons customers by Liz Keen "A TV licence investigator eager to get a bonus landed his customers in court after signing them up to easy payment plans without their knowledge. Cardiff Crown Court heard Richard Llewellyn, 50, of Limeslade Close, Cardiff, made up interviews with customers so he could get a bonus through completing doorstep forms." . . . "TV licensing fraud officer Roger Spidell was called in because of customer complaints. He said people had to be cautioned before being interviewed about their licences and asked to sign anything. He confirmed investigators, at the time, received bonuses for each person seen and then signed up to a payment plan." (added 01/10/05)

*** NEWS *** Daily Telegraph: 0870 helplines number makes millions for state agencies by David Derbyshire. "Although 0870 numbers are mistakenly described as 'national rate', they cost twice as much to call as a 01 or 02 number. Unlike conventional phone numbers, the owners can take a share of the revenue generated." ... "TV Licensing, which contracts out its call centres to Capita Business Services, said its 0870 number was called by seven million people last year. A spokesman said: 'The BBC and TV Licensing do not receive any profit from these calls although the national rate numbers help TV Licensing to keep the costs of collection down and maximise licence fee revenue.'". Read more about 0870 numbers here: Say NO to 0870 (updated 01/10/05)

*** NEWS *** Sunday Herald: TV on mobile phones to create 'licence nighmare' by Iain S Bruce. "mobile phone television services in Britain [are] tipped to create a multi-million pound nightmare for regulatory authorities as controversy over the new gadgets' legal status prompts calls for a wholesale review of the country's TV licensing laws" . . . "the definition of what constitutes live or virtually live programming has provided a platform for dispute" . . . "created too many grey areas and questions over what constitutes broadcast television" . . . "These issues demonstrate why the legislation needs to be reviewed and updated" . . . "[the] legal situation might seem relatively clear, but most experts suggest that [current legislation] would prove virtually unenforceable" . . . "Will inspectors lurk at every corner ogling handsets, or at least the equivalent of the TV detector van adapted to mobiles? Perhaps they can subcontract it to the traffic wardens" . . . "This is almost certainly insane. It may be legally correct but will be a nightmare in implementation terms and, unless they can devise a workable solution, should be reconsidered, because having discredited laws only damages the overall system itself" . . . "If they want to avoid the sector collapsing into an uncontrolled, ungovernable mess, regulators will have to deliver a 21st-century legal framework that's up to the job". (added 18/09/05)

*** NEWS *** The Guardian: Will the telly police be coming for you next? by Rupert Jones. "evidence is mounting that in its determination to clamp down on non-payers, the authority and its enforcement officers are overstepping the mark and hounding the innocent" . . . " an avalanche of emails from readers who say they have been unfairly harassed and threatened by the licensing authority. They are infuriated by the seemingly 'guilty until proven innocent' nature of the system." . . . "Many report endless cycles of correspondence, and letters making references to court appearances, interviews 'under caution' and impending visits by heavies who will barge in looking for non-existent TVs. Several have had unpleasant run-ins with enforcement staff on the doorstep." (added 14/09/05)

*** NEWS *** Norwich Evening News: Pensioner's end to TV licence nightmare by Caroline Jenkinson. "It may have taken dozens of phone calls and help from the Home Secretary, but a pensioner has finally won a promise from TV Licensing to stop pestering him about a television he doesn't even own. Ernest Birch has been plagued with letters threatening him with legal action if he does not get a TV licence. The problem is, he does not own a television set and never has done." ... "But despite his victory, Mr Birch is not convinced that he will not hear from TV Licensing again. 'In the last line of his letter [Norwich South MP Charles Clarke] says I will not receive a visit from TV Licensing at any time. It may be that they don't visit me for the next three years but I'm still cynical about it.' Mr Birch's solicitor, Belmores, has also written a letter to TV Licensing to tell them he does not have a television." (added 03/09/05)

*** NEWS*** Norwich Evening News: Man's row with TV licence chiefs by David Bale. "Pensioner Ernest Birch has never owned a television." ... "So imagine his frustration at receiving dozens of letters threatening him with legal action if he refuses to get a TV licence. " ... "'Why should I waste my time, effort and money writing back to them, when I did not ask them to contact me in the first place?'" (added 03/09/05)

*** NEWS *** The Scotsman: Come on BBC, get real over TV licence – profit and loss by Jim Stanton. "while Auntie is happy to provide us with figures on offenders and sums involved, I can't ever recall them providing any stats on how much they spend to recoup a single dodger licence fee, or anything that tells us how many licence-less people hauled before the courts get slapped with the maximum £1000 fine - I'd guess none." (added 03/09/05)

*** NEWS *** Daily Record: We fix it for Jim – Record wins TV licence fight for star with no telly by Bob Sheilds. "The Daily Record has rescued Sir Jimmy Savile from a bizarre six-year battle with TV licensing bosses." (added 30/07/05)

*** NEWS *** Yorkshire Post: Blunder over cancer victim angers carer by Joanne Ginley. "Dorothy Hunter wrote to the TV licensing authorities to tell them of the death of her close friend Mark Stott and apply for a rebate on the time left to run on his licence." ... "Soon after notifying TV Licensing of his death, a letter was sent – to Mr Stott – responding to the rebate query. She thought this was a simple error and decided not to complain." ... [she has now] "spoken of her shock after receiving a cheque made out to 'Mrs D Cremated'".(added 23/07/05)

*** NEWS *** Leeds Today: TV Licensing in rebate apology – "clerical error" adds to grief for friend by Katie Baldwin. "A woman grieving for a close friend has been left distressed after TV Licensing sent a rebate to 'Mrs D Cremated.'". (added 23/07/05)

*** NEWS *** Guardian: BBC faces fury over bosses' bonuses by James Robinson. "The report will also reveal that the proportion of British households holding TV licences has fallen for the first time in living memory, from 97.7 per cent to 97.4 per cent. The decline comes despite the BBC's successful crackdown on licence fee evasion, which has dramatically reduced the number of people who avoid paying the tax. Although the decline in TV licences held is small, it means that nearly 100,000 fewer households have a television than last year. " (added 23/07/05)

*** NEWS *** The Register: TV licence needed for TV-to-mobile services by Tim Richardson. "According to a Green Paper published in March the licence fee could be replaced by a tax on having a PC instead of owning a TV." (added 23/07/05)

*** NEWS *** Evening Star: Tax payers foot bill for licence row. "Taxpayers today face paying out a massive £4,000 for a court row that began over a refusal to pay for a TV licence – which would have cost only £126." ... "The equivalent of 35 colour television licences, at £126.50 each, could have been bought with the money spent on the case." (added 23/07/05)

*** NEWS *** The Gazette: Berkhamsted – resident's revolt by Pete Bennett "A Berkhamstead woman is taking a stand against TV licensing inspectors who are determined to search her property – even though she doesn't own a television. Despite not having a TV set in her home for more than six years, Anne Duvall of Bank Mill Lane, has received several letters reminding that she renew her TV licence. She said: 'I keep on writing back saying I don't have a TV. Their letters are always extremely rude, offensive and with a threatening tone.'" ... "'I remember when we used to have dog licences. They didn't send people round to check for dog hairs if you said you didn't have one! They are making people feel like criminals." (added 22/05/05)

*** NEWS *** Guardian: Is the BBC losing its appeal? by Tara Conlan. "Four years ago the BBC enjoyed reach of more than 90% and 10 years ago it had a reach of 94.3%. The news is even worse for Mr Grade in multichannel TV homes. The BBC's reach is even lower, at 84.1% compared with 85.5% a year ago. Although the BBC has never declared at what percentage it would not be able to justify the licence fee, former chairman Sir Christopher Bland agreed privately a few years ago that if 20% of people were not watching then the case for the licence fee would be hard to prove." (added 22/05/05)

*** NEWS *** Cambridge Evening News: Trickster targets residents. "a woman had been spotted in the area calling at homes, claiming to be from Television Licensing." ... "would urge anyone who gets a call from someone they do not know to check ID, and not let callers in if they are in any doubt as to their identity." (added 22/05/05)

*** NEWS *** The Times: Licence to view is left in the air by technology by Dan Sabbagh "as technology changes the rules of the game, it may be the BBC that wants to start experimenting with other forms of income generation before the licence fee model begins to break down" (added 22/05/05)

*** NEWS *** Scarborough Today: "Two pensioners are being threatened with court action by the Television Licensing Authority even though they have licences and do not need to pay for them anyway." (added 12/03/05)

*** NEWS *** Suffolk Evening Star: Yes, we have no TV. "Giving up the TV was the easy part – but keeping away the detector vans and threat of prosecution has proved a tad more difficult." . . . "For Suffolk couple Michael and Nicola Hughes now feel as if they are starring in their own mini-soap and the next episode could feature a visit from an enforcement officer, unless there is a final twist in the tale." . . . "Mr Hughes, a journalist with the Let's Talk magazine said: "We didn't bother too much about the first letter, but then a second arrived and now a third, telling us we are risking prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000 and our details had been passed on to enforcement officers and they will visit us soon." . . . "But the letters do not tell you how to contact them - only how to pay." . . . "Now we feel as if we are waiting for the man dressed in black from the Milk Tray advert to come crashing through our window to see if we have a TV set!" (added 12/03/05)

*** NEWS *** The Cumberland News: Flood-hit homes get TV licence warnings by Pam McClounie. "TV Licensing chiefs have sent reminder notices to homes ruined by the floods in Carlisle – even though no-one lives there and there isn't a TV in sight." . . . "The floods were bad enough as we were left without a home and we lost most of our possessions. The last thing we need is a reminder from the TV licensing department when we're not even living in our own house" (added 12/03/05)

*** NEWS *** The Times: BBC fears new licence loophole by Elizabeth Judge. "THE BBC faces losing hundreds of thousands of pounds in licence fees because of a legal loophole that allows viewers to watch television on the internet for free." (added 05/03/05)

*** NEWS *** The Times: Computer tax set to replace TV licence fee by Adam Sherwin and Dan Sabbagh. "THE BBC licence fee should be replaced by a tax on the ownership of a personal computer instead of a television, ministers said yesterday." (added 05/03/05)

*** NEWS *** The Scotsman: BBC Should Stop 'Menacing' Public over TV Licence - MPs by Anita Singh. " The committee, chaired by Sir Gerald Kaufman, said: "We are well aware of concerns that the BBC's agent, TV Licensing, has sometimes deployed inappropriate tactics in attempts to maximise collection of the licence fee. These have included a crude and damaging assumption that every household must be in possession of a TV set or equivalent apparatus." (added 09/01/05)

*** NEWS *** The Scotsman: Call to decriminalise non-payment of licence fee. "the Culture, Media and Sport Committee said in its first report on the future of the BBC. The BBC should stop "menacing" the public with heavy-handed adverts warning of the consequences of not owning a licence. Instead it should regard the money it gets from licence payers as a "privilege'". (added 09/01/05)

*** NEWS *** IC Coventry: Would-be theives offer a 'discount'. Would-be theives posing as TV Licensing™ ask for bank information over the phone.

*** PRESS RELEASE ***   Jean-Jacques Marmont  –  EUROPEAN COURT CASE UNDERMINES BBC CHARTER REVIEW (added 07/08/04)

*** NEWS *** Lincolnshire Echo: TV turmoil of Harold, 90. "Fed-up Harold Answer (90) today told how he had been hounded by debt collectors demanding he pay his TV licence. The pensioner has been bombarded with letters and had three visits from licensing officials. In 12 months he has received 10 letters threatening legal action if he failed to pay the £121 fee. Yet Mr Answer has always had a TV licence and has been eligible for a free one for more than 15 years. " (added 25/09/04)

*** NEWS *** East Anglian Daily Times: Elderly couple's TV licence nightmare by David Lennard. "An elderly couple who have never had a television have been left distraught after the TV Licensing authority threatened to send a team of investigators and search every room in their house. " Mr Bob Blizzard, Labour MP for Waveney said "It is simply outrageous that an elderly couple can be treated in this way. I feel so strongly about this that I will bring it to the attention of the Government department responsible as this cannot be allowed to go on" (added 25/09/04)

*** NEWS *** Reading Evening Post: Blind Bill's fury over TV check. " A retired psychologist [Bill Gulliver MBE] is angry after TV Licensing inspectors said they wanted to pay him a visit – even though he's blind and has never owned a television. " ... Mr Gulliver said "'This entire issue is shameful. I will in no way have anything to do with these offensive people and will not let them into my house.' ... 'This is bureaucracy run riot and smacks at our individual freedoms and law-abiding rights. They even make me feel guilty for no justifiable reason.' ... 'This sort of intrusion erodes the fabric of democracy'" (added 25/09/04)

*** NEWS *** Daily Record: Scrap Beeb Licence Fee by Francis Traynor. "Viewers want the TV licence fee scrapped and the BBC to find new ways of getting funding. Two-thirds of those quizzed for a Government report said the £121-a-year licence should go." (added 24/07/04)

*** NEWS *** Guardian: Public doubt over licence fee for 'declining' BBC by Owen Gibson and John Plunkett. "Only one-third of the public believe the BBC should continue to be funded by the licence fee alone, according to a government report that will have far-reaching consequences for the future of the corporation." (added 24/07/04)

*** NEWS *** The Scotsman: Only One in Three Want BBC Licence Fee – Poll by Anita Singh. "Only one in three people believe the BBC should continue to be funded by the licence fee, according to a Government study published today. Less than half the public think the BBC provides good value for money." (added 24/07/04)

*** NEWS *** The Telegraph: Majority say the BBC is not giving value for money. "Less than half the public think the BBC provides value for money, according to a Government study." ... "A 'significant minority' questioned in the survey also believed that the licence fee should be abolished." (added 24/07/04)

*** NEWS *** The Times. Piffle in, piffle out: the great BBC con will go on and on by David Elstein. "New technology means that we are not far from the day when all homes have the equipment necessary to ensure that anyone who watches BBC channels will have paid for them. Thus the BBC could charge for its services in the same way as its rivals. Pay the BBC1 subscription fee, and you will get BBC1 on your television. Refuse to pay, and you will not. But the BBC is viscerally opposed to the idea of switching from the licence fee to subscription. It reckons that, in the future digital age, we ought to keep the present army of inspectors knocking on doors, threatening prosecution of non-payers and dragging hundreds of thousands of them through the courts every year because of their poverty." (added 10/07/04)

*** NEWS *** The Shetland News: Commons comeuppance for TV authority by Pete Bevington. (added 26/06/04)

*** NEWS *** The Scotsman: So is it time to switch off the licence to bill? by Ian Johnston. (added 3/04/04)

*** NEWS *** Kaufman leads BBC inquiry by Ciar Byrne. "A group of MPs led by veteran Labour backbencher Gerald Kaufman is to scrutinise the role of the BBC and how it should be funded and governed in the run-up to charter renewal in 2006." ... "Mr Kaufman last night led a charge of MPs who blasted the BBC over its advertising campaign to persuade people to pay its licence fee, which warns 'Get one or get done'." ... "He condemned the adverts as part of an 'odious licensing campaign', which gave the impression it was able to "snoop on every household in the country" and threatening a huge fine or prison sentence, the Daily Express reported today." Full details of the inquiry may be found here. (updated 20/03/04)

*** NEWS *** The Scotsman: Minister Rejects Call to Intervene on TV Licence Drive by Trevor Mason. "Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell today refused to intervene over what a senior Labour MP branded an 'odious' BBC campaign to deter licence dodging." (added 14/03/04)

*** NEWS *** HoldTheFrontPage: Newspaper ad revenues 'hit by BBC', says industry body. "The BBC's online activities are threatening the profitability of regional newspapers, says the Newspaper Society." (added 14/03/04)

*** NEWS *** dotJOURNALISM: TV debate on BBC funding continues online by Jemima Kiss. " A BBC programme on the future and purpose of the corporation triggered a massive public response at the weekend as viewers took advantage of the BBC's online feedback system." (added 14/03/04)

*** NEWS *** Guardian: Scrap BBC licence fee, says majority by Lisa O'Carroll and Ciar Byrne. "Two-thirds of the public believes the licence fee should be scrapped and the BBC should be funded by either subscription or advertising." ... "Just 31% said the licence fee was the best way to pay for the BBC." (added 14/03/04)

*** NEWS *** BBC News: Majority 'want change to TV fee'. Almost 70% of people in the UK want changes to the way the BBC is funded, according to an ICM poll for Panorama. Poll results from ICM may be found here. [Note: this poll does not consider the option of direct-grant funding or sponsorship.] (updated 14/03/04)

*** NEWS *** SLAP: The Compulsory BBC Television Licence fee – reform funding sources for public service broadcasting. A bulletin from Jean-Jacques Marmont. (added 14/03/04)

*** NEWS *** Sunday Times: Victory is nigh in my TV war by Jonathan Miller. "If ever there was a moment to declare victory on this issue, it is now, because I have thoroughly won the argument and the legitimacy of the licence fee is completely destroyed." (added 6/03/04)

*** NEWS *** Guardian: Unchartered waters – David Elstein hits back at criticism of his proposals to reform the BBC. (added 6/03/04)

*** NEWS *** The Times: Tory hitman with a TV licence to kill. Jasper Gerard talks to David Elstein. (added 6/03/04)

*** NEWS *** dotJOURNALISM: BBCi 'threatens' local papers. "This was an unjustified use of licence fee money," ... "It distorted unfairly local media markets to the public detriment." (added 6/03/04)

*** NEWS *** MediaWeek: Bid for public's view brings small response. "According to Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, the campaign inviting the public to have its say on the role of the BBC and how it should be run has prompted just 2,000 responses – which equals 0.0047% of the adult population of the UK." (added 6/03/04)

*** NEWS *** Guardian: Elstein report: at a glance. (added 28/02/04)

*** NEWS *** Daily Telegraph: Media experts urge radical overhaul for 'failing' BBC by Tom Leonard. "The BBC is failing in its public service remit and should be radically overhauled, a panel of media experts will say today." ... "'contestable funding', a system which has already proved successful in New Zealand, would be a more equitable, accountable and transparent alternative to the licence fee. (added 28/02/04)

*** NEWS *** Guardian: Scrap BBC licence fee, Tories told by Owen Gibson. "The BBC should be dismantled, its governors replaced by an independent body ruled by Ofcom and the licence fee slashed immediately by £30 and eventually phased out in radical recommendations that could form the backbone of Conservative party policy." ... "But already there is speculation that the Tory leader, Michael Howard, plans to distance himself from the report's findings, feeling it would be political suicide to come out publicly in favour of abolishing the BBC." (added 28/02/04)

*** NEWS *** Guardian: BBC Control of licence fee 'absurd' by David Smith and Gaby Hinsliff. "The BBC should lose its stranglehold over the licence fee, the Government's digital television adviser, Barry Cox, will argue this week. The BBC's privileged access to state funding, he suggests, is becoming 'more and more absurd' as the nation switches to digital, allowing households to choose between many more channels." (added 28/02/04)

*** NEWS *** The Times: BBC 'anti-competitive" by Raymond Snoddy. "The European Publishers Council is compiling 'a frank exposé' of what it sees as anti-competitive behaviour by publicly funded broadcasters across Europe, including the BBC." (added 21/02/04)

*** NEWS *** The Sunday Times: Here's another apology from the BBC by Maurice Chittenden and Nicholas Hellen. "This month, an inquiry chaired by David Elstein, the former chief executive of Channel 5, will publish recommendations that the licence fee, which rises to £121 a year in April, should be scrapped." ... "In future, the inquiry will say, purely public service broadcasting should be funded by tax and administered by a new public broadcasting authority" (added 21/02/04)

*** NEWS *** Evening Times: Warning over conmen's TV Licence hoax by Katie Smith. (added 21/02/04)

*** NEWS *** The Times. Tune in, drop out: the BBC must ditch its commercial itch by Camilla Cavendish. "the more commercial the BBC has become, and the less attention it pays to anything that can be described as public service broadcasting, the harder it is to justify the licence fee" (added 14/02/04)

*** NEWS *** The Belfast Telegraph: TV licensing body denies dirty tactics. By Brendan McDaid. Residents claims include: "14-year-old was asked for personal details, including her date of birth, after being quizzed by detectors while home alone", 83-year-old man "threatened with prosecution, despite being entitled to a free licence", enforcement officers "posing as catalogue representatives to gain access". (added 07/02/04)

*** NEWS *** The Advertiser: Licence fee threat to the BBC. "Britain's culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, has infuriated BBC chiefs by signalling the TV licence fee &ndash which helps fund the BBC &ndash could be axed following the Hutton report." (added 07/02/04)

*** NEWS *** Ananova: An ICM poll finds that 56% of the population believe they should not have to pay a licence fee. This figure is 40% up on a similar poll in October. (added 07/02/04)

*** NEWS *** Guardian: Anti-licence-fee campaigner loses court battle. Anti-licence campaigner Jean-Jaques Marmont was today told by a high court judge that he cannot appeal against an earlier ruling in which his case against the BBC and the government was thrown out of court. (added 24/01/04)

*** NEWS *** Sunday Herald: Plea for Independent BBC Board and end to Licence Fee 'Poll Tax' by James Cusick. "An end to the licence fee is among the other suggestions made in the collection of essays [by Jamie Cowling of the IPPR], entitled From Public Service Broadcasting To Public Service Communications. The TV 'poll tax' should be replaced by ring-fenced income tax" (added 17/01