Television tax benefits India

[NoddY]

Tucked away in yesterday's Guardian:

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1927927,00.html

..and it IS a television TAX, just you try not paying if you don't have a TV:

http://www.marmalade.net/lime/

Expect the full machinery of the state to come down on you.

[mcquiggd]

That should have been an 'Oh dear : ....' really

Classic - we are forced to pay tax to watch output from the supposedly British Broadcasting Corporation, who continue to offer an enormous variety of uneccessary output to virtually every country on the planet for free, and then we end up paying indians to handle the finances.

I could move to mainland Europe (which I might well do) and watch it for free via satellite.

Why are we paying for free news output to foreign countries when they have multiple sources in their own language? I doubt people are heavily influenced by http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/arabic/news/ to stop suicide bombings, especially as the BBC tends to reinforce their view of us as American stooges.

Yet again another 'British company' wants to distance itself from the country it supposedly represents.

[AtW]

I doubt people are heavily influenced by http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/arabic/news/ to stop suicide bombings, especially as the BBC tends to reinforce their view of us as American stooges.

The purposes of non-english reporting like the above is to give chance to people in those countries to have source of info without having to know the language: such service costs fraction of the BBC budget, but in any case it should be supported by the State.

I don't pay BBC tax now because I do not have a working TV - the only set I had is in the garage.

[BarbarianAtTheDoor]

I just loved freeloading on BBC programming back at home. You people should think about the less privileged ones with crappy local TV.

[mcquiggd]

Why?

[AtW]

You people should think about the less privileged ones with crappy local TV.

They should work their arse off instead of watching TV.

Understanding what's going on in the world is important, but the Internet provides news faster than TV and it's free too.

[mcquiggd]

The purposes of non-english reporting like the above is to give chance to people in those countries to have source of info without having to know the language: such service costs fraction of the BBC budget, but in any case it should be supported by the State.

I dont give a toss about the qaulity of TV in other peoples countries, just as they don't about my countries TV. And I dont give a toss if they don't speak English (a proportion of the UK doesn't either). It is not a fraction of the BBC budget - there is a vast array of web sites, TV and radio stations broadcast across the globe at our expense, in so many different languages. It is unneccessary and should not be funded by the taxpayer.

Where are the all the foreign channels broadcasting in English for free if it's such a worthy concept??

[BarbarianAtTheDoor]

We all paid for BBC programming via the cable company. As luck would have it, I know the guy who bought these rights for a certain cable company. BBC prime -for example- is only included in the premium category for a reason.

[AtW]

Where are the all the foreign channels broadcasting in English for free if it's such a worthy concept??

This is a democratic country with independent courts, real opposition and free mass media: there is no point for authoritarian countries to try to broadcast their crap here because it won't convince anyone.

It's much cheaper to broadcast stuff about democracy and freedom than try to invade another country trying to bring in these values by force.

[mcquiggd]

This is a democratic country with independent courts, real opposition and free mass media

Alexei, stop taking advantage of increased poppy production in Afghanisatan, dude.

there is no point for authoritarian countries to try to broadcast their crap here because it won't convince anyone

Al Jazeera seems to be doing quite nicely.

It's much cheaper to broadcast stuff about democracy and freedom than try to invade another country trying to bring in these values by force.

But completely innefective. I doubt the BBC has made potential suicide bombers stop and think.. 'hmmm, well, that BBC article did say that America had been stupid and arrogant... nah, I wont kill em after all. Lets have a nice cuppa instead'....