By my understanding, the BBC license fee is only required if you get television service, if not you can opt out.

You'd think if someone was unable to heat their home they wouldn't be paying for TV, and thus wouldn't have to pay the BBC tax either.

There is a small chance they send someone over to check. They normally show up between 9-5, so if you're at work, chances are you'll never see them to let them in.

If you are home and they knock, you don't have to let them in. You can politely tell them to leave.

Or you can show them your TV and that it's not hooked up to an aerial. They'll ask if you use iPlayer, you say no and they leave you alone.

Source: lived in the UK, never paid for TV license. I let them in once to see what would happen.

(I lived on the Isle of Man for a while, and the local newspaper would be alerted by the ferrymen when the van was shipped over, and run a warning for everyone to turn their TVs off for a few days).

It's only easier to evade now because flat-screen TVs don't emit radio signals they can detect from the street.

If enough people opt out then they'll do what they do in Germany: everyone pays it regardless of whether you have a TV or not.

This one was amusing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_nRsnd2-Lo

More laughs here: https://www.youtube.com/@fu4nvf/videos

Well no they're not because most of them don't pay tax as they're below the threshold.

That's an assertion not an argument.

I disconnected and stopped paying when Jimmy Saville made posthumous headlines.

You may not watch Fox News and Murdochs other trash propaganda companies without paying the BBC.

That is the premise of taxes, yes. I may not get sick enough to justify a hospital visit this decade, yet I contribute to socialized healthcare all the same.

Nobody should go to jail for refusing to contribute to the local "Pravda". Governments shouldn't be in that line of business at first place.

Finally it's not a tax, it's a fee.

It's not perfect, but it's not Pravda and describing it as such is quite ridiculous

Of course if you agree with the BBC editorial line, you'll find nothing wrong with the BBC. Just like Fox News audience don't see any problems with Fox News bias. What is ridiculous is thinking that only Murdoch controlled media lies.

> thinking that only Murdoch controlled media lies.

I mentioned the various Murdoch properties because they're the most egregious and shameless. There's bias everywhere, and I never said there wasn't

I think you are certainly showing how little critical thinking you do when it comes to judging the BBC reporting quality if you keep defending it as somehow "superior" to rags and tabloids.

No you're mistaken - it is actually legally a tax and has been since 2006.

You still have to pay it IF you have a TV. That doesn't change my first point as there is absolutely nothing "dramatic" about pointing out the dangers of a media directly controlled by the government. Stop acting like government controlled press isn't prone to manipulating their audience.

it was spelt like that on the van!