To answer your question - Definitely Not!
If you watch it on your TV you do.... We don't need a licence fee to see Corrie. ...
I think the public service licence fee should be paid to content providers of Irish interest programming. Programming that wouldn't have international appeal to justify big budget productions but would be relevant to Irish audiences.
It's a tax that is used to fund RTE; it's an RTE tax. A rose by any other name and all that.No consumer pays RTE a tax or licence fee of any kind. If you never watched or listened to a single RTE broadcast but possess a TV you are liable to pay the licence fee to the Minister.
Who is suggesting that the funding mechanism for RTE is the same as the BBC? I don't think anyone is silly enough to think it is. Why with the Strawman post?This is the same ill-informed discussion that arises on boards.ie regularly and gets shut down quickly. Apparently it's spreading. It starts with letters to the Times, spreads to discussion on the BBC and residents of this State assume the funding mechanism for our State broadcaster is identical to the one in the UK. Here's news folks - it's not!
If it's not broken, why try to fix it?
In the UK the licence fee is paid to the BBC.
Traditionally post offices and broadcasters fell under the remit of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs so it made sense to have the licence fee payable via the post office as agent for for the Minister. If it's not broken, why try to fix it?
But the broadcaster(s) commission and pay programme-makers and commissioning and funding for programme makers is available from other sources as well. Where is the problem?Because it (the licence fee) is used to support broadcasting. This may have made sense 30 years ago, but with the revolution in technology it would make more sense to support programming making today.
The money is collected by the state and given to RTE. Ergo it's an RTE tax.In the UK the licence fee is paid to the BBC. Ill-informed people in this State, having picked up this information on the air-waves, assume their fee is paid to our State broadcaster too, which of course is nonsense. Just read the licence document, the Minister is named, RTE is not. Anyone who refers to the licence fee as an "RTE tax" is operating on the false assumption that RTE is funded like the BBC.
If the state wants to fund RTE they should do so out of general taxation. Everyone, just about, watches TV. Why the cost of this separate funding mechanism?Speaking as a former TV Licence Inspector I recommend that the Licence should be killed off and leave RTE to its own means (i.e. advertising for revenue). We don't have the large population to financially support a BBC type provider. Prosecuting for non possession of a TV licence is not easy. There are several "musts" before you can make a case for a court appearance. Anybody worth his/her salt could easily evade any of these laws. Even if you go for prosecution (and spend heavily in the process; An Post must have a solicitor for example who usually remains quiet throughout and collects the fee later) you face people who will offer every reason why they won't pay e.g. not enough Irish on RTE, too many US made programmes, etc.
Leo pointed out that An Post is a commercial business and can do without the negative image of prosecuting people.
Circumstantial Issue:- There was a time when Irish people needed a Radio Licence and even another Radio Licence for their car radio. People became affluent in the 1960's and bought TV sets and watched speckled black and white almost oval screens between 5.30pm to 11.10pm. To fund programming a TV licence was dreamed up as advertising was pretty basic. The TV licence while a money spinner from the likes of me who every year just pops a cheque in the post to An Post. But, the collection of lost revenue because of non possession of TV licence is probably costing as much as the income. I think it is time to kill off the TV licence fee as there is little need for it.
TV3 are already doing some great docs on Irish 'culture' from what I can seeDefine the requirements, say, X many documentaries about Irish culture
TV3 are already doing some great docs on Irish 'culture' from what I can see
Lets hope RTE don't follow any time soon
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?