Do American's have to have a TV licence or is that just a UK thing???

Question

We have to pay the bbc £130 a year (approx 240 dollars) just to watch our TV's......multiply that by 60 million people......

Answer 1

Have you ever watch US TV? Fecking irritating; you think ITV is bad, every US TV show is riddled with adverts, so frustrating. :-/

Also, the TV license is not just for TV, its for Radio too.

Answer 2

A TV licence? So, you have to obtain some kind of certification record to watch Tv in the UK? No, typically in the U.S you just buy a TV, plug it in the outlet and then have the cable or satelite company hook it up. That's about it.

Edit: I would have to agree. There are tons of adverts on our TV. It usually takes about 4 hours to watch a 2 hour movie on the family channel due to way too many adverts.

Answer 3

I live in the U S A  and No we dont have to have Licence for any T V,s

Answer 4

no but goodluck watching the national channels

Answer 5

No they don't the programs are funded by the advertisers which brings with it all the inherent dangers.

Americans don't have the luxury of the BBC, which is respected and trusted worldwide.

Answer 6

Nope = it's just a UK thing.

And it's by house hold - so divide the 60,000,000 by just over a half.

Other countries fund their TV stations other ways, which the tax payer would pay.  However, they would generate a considerable sum by advertising and sponsorship.

The downside to this is the number of adverts - which is much, much worse than we get on the commercial channels.  They're also less likely to fund big projects like the Blue Planet and Planet Earth.  

And of course, that means we get BBC 1,2,3 and 4 without any adverts.

Oh yeah; don't forget that the TV license also funds radio; so that's the main radio channels plus all the local ones (Radio Cornwall, Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham, etc.) - all of which are advert free.

Answer 7

TV licensing is common around the World, it's not just the UK, but in the UK we aren't really paying to watch TV, all the money goes to the BBC and not a penny goes to the independent channels.

Television in the USA is diabolically bad, there are good shows (on Cable anyway) but the bulk of it is an insane mass of really bad shows and the commercials are absolutely relentless; if you think commercials are annoying in the UK you'd despair at the length and frequency of ads in the US; 10 minutes of show followed by 10 minutes of commercials is not uncommon.

I support the idea of paying to watch TV but I resent being forced to pay for other people to watch Eastenders and Homes Under The Hammer.

It's a bad, snobbish system.

Edit*

BTW, the BBC does run commercials for it's own products, sometimes I find myself switching over until the BBC ads are over. It shouldn't be allowed.

Answer 8

No T.V. License.....

There are some channels you can receive via antennae for free. These channels are all paid already by advertisement. There's very few of them though.

Then there's cable companies, such as Comcast, Northland, etc.

They come set it up for you, choose your channel package (40 channels, 80, 120,etc) They charge you for service accordingly. You get a monthly bill, if you signed a contract for a year, then this payment must be paid every month.

Then there's satellite dish, which is much better.  (Dish Network, DirecTV, etc.)

The quality is much better, and they have High Definition channels.

Also, they have more channels. You can get International channels that come from different countries, including the UK.

So... unless you guys don't have to pay for service, that seems right.

Answer 9

It's an Irish thing too

Answer 10

I dont know but i wouldn't be suprised if it were just a UK thing as this country rinses you for everything! I'm fed up here!!!!

Answer 11

Its just a UK thing  , every other countrys TV companys gets it funding through advertising.

Answer 12

It`s just a UK thing but if you get your

granny or grandad to come and live with

you it will be free if they are 75 yrs old.

So save money and get your gran & gramps

living with you now guys.