Heartland

...tv detector vans?

there's a fierce debate somewhere else as to whether or not these things actually exist. or more to the point, do they actually do anything?

so, what's the heartland take on this emotive subject?

Forgive my ignorance Mr. James, but what is a tv detector van? What are they supposed do?

aah yes. for any poor souls forced to inhabit those dark regions outside of uk jurisdiction a quick precis...

the uk has one public (and several private) broadcaster - the world famous british broadcasting corporation (bbc) - in order to pay for this fine service every household with tv receiving equipment must purchase an annual "tv licence" at a cost of £100+ (can't remember the exact figure). there's an entire organisation devoted to chasing up those who don't pay and they claim to have "detector vans" which contain equipment capable of detecting the location of any secret televisions in the locale.

the question is, therefore, is this technically possible? and, if it is, do they really do it or is it just a scare tactic?

I would guess yes. I onced lived in a flat with no licence (not that you need a licence to live in a flat ...) and a van came round and parked outside in the street. Five minutes later there was lots of door knocking and bell ringing downstairs but nobody answered to let them in the main door.

Just in case though, I threw a blanket over the telly and hid behind the sofa.

Would I be right in thinking that whenever you buy a new Television that you have to prove you have a TV licence.

Havent bought a new telly in a long while.

Btw the licence fee is going up again next year by a fiver so it will be £120 +

Paul

zaltys7 wrote: Btw the licence fee is going up again next year by a fiver so it will be £120 +

To pay for the extra Digital Channels that the huge majority of licence payers do not have any access to!

Thank you Richey.

We pay $50 per month, or around 85gbp for what we call basic cable tv. Here, if you are recieving cable without paying you're a cable pirate. Highly illegal. They Say they know who's pirating... and will catch you. But generally every so often Amnesty is offered to those who come forward and fess up.

Now the question is, why offer amnesty if they Really do have the capability to sniff you out and catch you?

Good God! You must be licensed to watch tv in UK? We need a license to drive here...but not to watch telly.

Yeh, we get the same sting in dear ol' Oirland, and yeh, I've been caught once.

It's a dreadful rip-off, but that's public service broadcasting for you. You pay to buy a telly, pay for the electricity, pay yr annual license, pay for yr extra channels, pay for yr pay per view, it's a wonder any of us can even afford beer!!!

zaltys7 wrote:Would I be right in thinking that whenever you buy a new Television that you have to prove you have a TV licence.

you don't have to prove you have a licence to buy a telly but i think the shop you buy/rent from have to notify the tv licensing people. which strikes me as a far more likely way of catching non-payers than some sort of mystical technology...

Black Planet wrote:Thank you Richey.

We pay $50 per month, or around 85gbp for what we call basic cable tv. Here, if you are recieving cable without paying you're a cable pirate. Highly illegal. They Say they know who's pirating... and will catch you. But generally every so often Amnesty is offered to those who come forward and fess up.

Now the question is, why offer amnesty if they Really do have the capability to sniff you out and catch you?

Good God! You must be licensed to watch tv in UK? We need a license to drive here...but not to watch telly.

You need a license here as well, it's for financing the state television channels. Not many of those around in the US, I suppose. Very few people are actually prosecuted for not paying this fee, so I suppose they are content with people paying their share. The TV detectors here are hand-held and look like a TV antenna with an attached oscilloscope, which is probably what it is, come to think of it.

You need to work on your USD<->GBP conversion, btw. Or tell me where you buy your sterling.

@ Mugabe

LOL I guess that should be around 35 gbp not 85! You would laugh your ass off if you knew what I did at work! It deals heavily with ....numbers!

I have never gotten a good exchange rate for gbp! If I could I'd be in London 5 December for that Zodiac gig. Unfortunately, I can't afford it.

We do have federally funded public televison. It receives an annual appropriation out of the income taxes collected by the government rather than a separate assessment for it. It is also subsidized by private donations. It's called Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and it's not bad tv.

I guess that's a difference in our tax structures. We pay one large sum over time, and Congress divides it up as they see fit, rather than a lot of smaller fees for this and that.

<-------watching the telly