FCC 15, home or office use.

[Eeyore]

Reckon the licence fee will go up any day now - someone nicked the BBC's £8M
master tape of the new Robin Hood series for which there's no backup tape,
they're asking £1M ransom!!!

Tape ?????? Someone's been had !

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

The BBC is denying the ransom demand and says there are backup tapes.
There had better be - it's high treason not to have backups! You have to
go to work for ITV for 15 years without parole.

It won't be on tape anyway ! Except as a back-up !

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

---
Not true. In the US we have PBS and many independent stations which
operate on a subscription/donation basis.

In Austin, our 24/7 PBS station is KLRU, and an excellent example of
a subscription based independent is our KMFA, a 24/7 classical music
station which offers streaming audio over the Internet at:

http://www.kmfa.org/listen.htm

Try it, you might like it... even if it is American.

Totally advert free ?

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

---
Good ones.

AIUI you all have to buy a license to operate a TV. How does the
government know whether you're operating one if you haven't paid for
the licence and you're running it illegally?

These days they simply assume a TV is being used at every address. If you're not
using one just say so and they won't bother you much about it.

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

They send out detector vehicles that pick up local oscillator radiation.

Do they actually do that any more ?

But they hardly need to do this now; they data-mine for addresses that
don't appear on their list of licence-buyers. If you change the name of
your house and it doesn't have a number, you may well get a 'polite
request' to buy a licence or declare that you don't have a TV.

Yup.

Graham

 

[John Woodgate]

Do they actually do that any more ?

Yes. As you may expect, there are areas where not so many people buy
licences voluntarily. When the density gets high enough, they send round
a very visible van. Not only do they get evidence for prosecutions but
many others are 'encouraged' to pay up.

They also target students' halls, where every student has to have a
licence and many really still do not realise that.

 

[John Fields]

Can you imagine working in that office............?

 

[Joel Kolstad]

My policy is to never argue or deny your speed. When they ask how
fast I was going I tell them. How can you deny what the COP read on
his radar gun? In this last case I did fudge a little and said "70's
??", since I knew he was at a significant angle away from head-on ;-)

Sounds like a good policy...

I got a ticket some years back and went for the "write a letter to the judge
to plead your case and -- hopefully -- get some reduction in the fine," and
spent quite some time trying to figure out how to word it such that it sounded
repentent without actually implying I wasn't going to speed in the future.

 

[ian field]

Last time I got a ticket I had a stinking cold - so I chucked all my used
tissues in a bowl with the paperwork I had to send back.

 

[ian field]

Do they actually do that any more ?

The most common source for the data mining is the retailers who sell the
gear - by law they have to record the details of everyone who purchases TV
equipment!

 

[ian field]

These days they simply assume a TV is being used at every address. If
you're not
using one just say so and they won't bother you much about it.

Graham

Until a while ago the TVLA used to send me a steady stream of threatening
letters, then I realised what was going on - due to a misunderstanding with
the supermarket my mother was getting points deducted off her reward card so
I gave her mine to use, so every time she bought a DVD or VCR my address got
flagged up at the TVLA!

 

[John Woodgate]

The most common source for the data mining is the retailers who sell
the gear - by law they have to record the details of everyone who
purchases TV equipment!

But the TVs that licence evaders typically use have not been acquired
recently from a dealer.

 

[ian field]

What if its bought to be given as a gift, and is used at another
location?


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Presumably that's where the detector vans come in - apparently they also now
have hand held detector instruments and TVLA inspectors also apparently have
powers of entry & search!!!

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

The most common source for the data mining is the retailers who sell the
gear - by law they have to record the details of everyone who purchases TV
equipment!

What if its bought to be given as a gift, and is used at another
location?


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Presumably that's where the detector vans come in - apparently they also
now have hand held detector instruments and TVLA inspectors also
apparently have powers of entry & search!!!

Funny how the nation that fought fascism has become ever more fascist.

 

[ian field]

Funny how the nation that fought fascism has become ever more fascist.

---------------

You should see the parking enforcement officers!!!!!

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

You should see the parking enforcement officers!!!!!

Don't tell me that Benny Hill was lying to us.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida