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DRAFT: Dear British Government, The BBC & TV Licensing.

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KynloStephen66515:
To whom it may concern,

             I write to you today, as an outraged British Citizen.  Since my birth, I have lived in this country, and throughout my time living here, I have been taught "Extortionw and Threatening Behaviourw" are wrong...and illegal.  However, it seems to be, that the British Governmentw, are overlooking these, so as to allow the enforced extortion of EVERY British Citizen who currently reside in the UK.  In case you are confused as to what I could be talking about, it is the TV Licensew.

How can any government who say that freedom of speech and freedom of information are 'Basic Human Rights' yet, you state, that if a person is watching a TVw, a Radiow, a Computerw, a Mobile Phonew, or, in fact, anything that could POSSIBLY, even accidentally, receive a BBCw transmission, they have to pay a fee.  If they don't, they get threatening letters (regardless of the receiver...I have known severely disabled people to receive these doorstep threats).  Not only do they receive threatening letters, they also get very nasty people from the 'TV Licensing Enforcement Teamw' visiting them (Even the name makes them sound like glorified law enforcement officers.) who harass everybody they speak to (Although, I found out personally, that they don't appreciate being laughed at while 'Reading you your rights').  On top of this, I have known several people be threatened with £1000 'Fines' and even Jail! Yes...JAIL...for owning a TV.

How can we possibly believe we live in a free country, when you blatantly laugh at your citizens, and extort over £150 per year out of every single one, regardless of how much money they have (or don't have), regardless of their health, or any other important factors.

Every other TV station in the country, generates funds by other means.  Whether this be producing (quality) content (which the BBCw do not), or advertising on their station.  So, why can't the BBCw do this?  Why don't the BBCw go to a 'subscription' service, so people can opt-outw? (The answer to that is...Because you know, that within a week of doing so, the BBCw would go bankrupt, because nobody would be stupid enough to subscribe).

We, quite simply, should not be FORCED into paying for something, the majority of us, do not use.

I, myself, opt-out (Of which I see no legal issue when I am standing on the moral high-ground) of paying the BBCw.  I pay BTw to provide me my TVw and Internet and Phone services.  I pay them, because they provide me a service, one that I actually use.  I do not, however, watch content from the BBC, yet you would expect me to pay, regardless of this, just because I might flip onto BBC1 for 2 seconds whilst flipping through channels to something remotely good (Like Sky1w, or Discoveryw...Both of which I SUBSCRIBE to get, and happily pay for).

I have already revoked permission for anybody remotely connected to the BBC, or TV Licensing, from my property.  Implied access to my grounds are no longer allowed by the BBC, TV Licensing, their employee(s), subsidiaries, and/or legal representatives.  Phone calls, text messages, and written communication (e-mail or regular mail) will be considered verbal, or written harassment, and will be passed through to my legal representatives for use in a court of law.

Other points to be made:

...householders who are caught watching television illegally are being warned they risk a £1,000 fine.-http://www.burnleycitizen.co.uk/news/2016189.bad_reception_for_tv_licence_cheats/
--- End quote ---

Since when was it illegal to watch the TV?

The high number of licence fee dodgers caught in Blackburn is evidence of TV Licensing's success in enforcing the licence fee on behalf of the honest majority who pay-http://www.burnleycitizen.co.uk/news/2016189.bad_reception_for_tv_licence_cheats/
--- End quote ---

Or is it a true sign that people really don't care about paying for the BBC, and don't do so, until the enforcement team physically and emotionally FORCE them to.

On average, about 1,000 TV licence fee evaders are caught every day across the country.-http://www.burnleycitizen.co.uk/news/2016189.bad_reception_for_tv_licence_cheats/
--- End quote ---

Caught...or threatened and forced to hand over their money, on the slight off-chance one of them might inadvertently receive a BBC signal?

Example threat from the Government Backed Criminal Gang (TV Licensing):

Official Warning - This Property Is Unlicensed

 You are hereby notified that we have authorised officers from our Enforcement Division to visit your home and interview you under caution, as our records show there is still no TV License at this address and as yet we have received no response to previous communications from you.

 Your statement will be taken in compliance with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984*, and is the first step in our action to prosecute if we find evidence that you watch or record television without a valid license.

 I feel it is my duty to inform you that if found guilty, you could receive a maximum fine of £1000, and your name will be added to our National Enforcement Database. We take this offense very seriously and last month alone we caught 21,718 people.

 To avoid an appearance in court before a magistrate I would strongly advise you to call 0870 241 7204 or buy a TV License online at www.tvlicensing.co.uk.

 Yours faithfully,
 John Robinson
 Regional Enforcement Manager

 Please see reverse for important TV Licensing Information, including exclusions and how to pay. A TV License currently costs £131.50 for colour and £44 for black and white.
 * In Scotland, interviews and cautions are made in line with Scottish criminal law.
 . . . If you buy your TV License now, you don't need to call us.
--- End quote ---



For those of you not in the UK, the following quote has been taken from here and explains a whole lot about it.

The BBC is funded by TV License fees paid by anyone in the UK who watches television. They don't have to watch the BBC but have to pay this license fee in any case. Although it is called a "fee", since you have to pay it regardless of whether you receive the service, it is actually a tax and was recently officially acknowledged as a tax.

So, my initial gripe is that by calling it a "fee", they are misrepresenting something that is a tax. But it doesn't end there by a long shot.

You see, since the BBC doesn't want to have its lovely image tarnished, it set up a separate entity called TV Licensing to deal with gathering this tax. The correspondence and advertising that TV Licensing spews out does not contain any references to the BBC but their website makes the relationship clear. So, let's understand that TV Licensing is the BBC and in the rest of this post, I will simply refer to the BBC.

If you live in London (and other parts of the UK, I'm sure), you have no doubt seen the threatening advertising that the BBC adorns billboards and Underground walls with. (One ad reads: "We have a list of every unlicensed address in Britain. Don't believe us? Fine.")

Understand what this is: It is the BBC subjecting a mass of the citizenry -- the very public that pays for it on a daily basis -- to a nasty campaign of fear, intimidation and threats.

Why should I have to read this crap on my way to work or when heading out for a movie? What right do these people have to threaten us on a daily basis? If you were to go out and threaten a single person, it's more than likely that they would complain to the police. What about threatening a carriage full of people or a whole train of people with ads? How is this even allowed?

The BBC puts out these nasty, threatening ads under the name of TV Licensing because it doesn't want its own image to be identified with them. Well I hope that that's going to get increasingly more difficult in our so-called information age and I will sure as hell do whatever I can to make sure that people connect the dots.

So in my title I asked whether the BBC employs extortion. That would be a very strong accusation to make, considering that extortion is illegal. It is my belief that the letter I was sent, reproduced above, is all the evidence you need to see that the BBC, under the name of TV Licensing, are engaging in extortion. The letter states that in order "[t]o avoid an appearance in court before a magistrate" I must either call an 0870 number or buy a TV License.

Let's review the definition of extortion for a moment:

 Extortion (n): the practice of obtaining something, esp. money, through force or threats - New Oxford American Dictionary, Second Edition

The BBC's letter threatens me that either I buy a TV License (pay them money) or I call a premium rate number (pay them money) to inform them that I don't have to buy a license or that I will risk "an appearance in court before a magistrate".

Either way, using a threat, the BBC gets money: either from the TV License or from their cut of the premium-rate 0870 number (According to a BBC spokesman: "the national rate numbers help TV Licensing to keep the costs of collection down and maximise licence fee revenue".)

What was the definition of extortion, again?

So what about my situation? Am I basking in the glimmering glory of the BBC every night, or watching some other TV channels and robbing this poor institution of a license fee? No. I haven't received a television signal in my home since I arrived in this country. I have two TV sets. One's a small one that I used to use a long time ago while editing video (it sits, unplugged, in the store room) and the other is a new 46" baby that I use solely for my Wii and XBox 360. If I ever get Sky HD, I'll be forced to pay the TV Tax (and I will) but until that day, it feels like the the BBC are wrongfully harassing me and trying to extort me for money (and, I can only assume, many others also).

There is an online petition to the Prime Minister to stop TV Licensing (the BBC) from harassing people who have no television (or who don't receive television signals on the TV sets) that I would strongly urge you to sign.

The worst thing is, these horrible tactics by the BBC are playing right into the hands of Rupert Murdoch and his media empire who would love nothing more than to see the BBC abolished. Well, let me tell you something, as much as I hate Murdoch, at least his media outlets do not outright threaten me and try to extort money from me (OK, they do their own brand of damage, some of it possibly far worse, but that's another story.)

To the BBC: Stop harassing and threatening the British public. If you're so proud of your despicable tactics, at least own up to them and issue your threats under your own brand instead of hiding behind the TV Licensing name. I, for one, am sick and tired of being seen as guilty until proven innocent and I am fed up with your constant abuse.

Surely this tactic employed by the BBC cannot be legal and allowed to continue?
--- End quote ---

I also stumbled upon a website that the owner has actually stopped watching broadcast television and instead, watches Videos and DVD's he purchases online.  He has received a LOT of threats, and shares each one with us, at: http://www.bbctvlicence.com/

DRAFT: Dear British Government, The BBC & TV Licensing.
(An example image from the above site)
On another note, the BBC claims they "NEED" this money because they don't carry advertisements.  Now, while that statement may be true for BBC UK, it is not true, for the BBC as a whole company.

They now earn money from BBC America, the shares it has in commercial channels (UK Gold, Dave etc), all the DVDs and CDs it sells, books, games, magazines and selling programs like Top Gear and Dr Who all around the world.
--- End quote ---
(They also have advertisements on their UK website, if you view it from a foreign IP, or in my case, a proxy with AdBlock disabled)

All this, coupled with the BBCs lack of quality programming, and the Newsnight Scandel should be enough proof, that, right now, it is time for us, as a nation, to stand up, and say "We will no longer be extorted.  We shall no longer be bullied and threatened.  We shall no longer pay for a service that many of us do not even use".

Tinman57:
  Personally, I always thought the TV license in GB was crap and stepped on the rights of the citizens.  I don't know of any other country that does this, but there may be.  Either way, I think it's a tax on information sent over the airwaves and should be illegal.  I don't know who the genius was that came up with this idea, but he/she/they should be horsewhipped, tarred and feathered.

  Good luck with going against the government, your going to need it.....

KynloStephen66515:
  Personally, I always thought the TV license in GB was crap and stepped on the rights of the citizens.  I don't know of any other country that does this, but there may be.  Either way, I think it's a tax on information sent over the airwaves and should be illegal.  I don't know who the genius was that came up with this idea, but he/she/they should be horsewhipped, tarred and feathered.

  Good luck with going against the government, your going to need it.....
-Tinman57 (December 14, 2012, 07:46 PM)
--- End quote ---

I don't think this letter will go further than here to be honest. 

I wrote it more of a way of getting the information out there to those who are unaware.

4wd:
It actually applies to more than just UK residents - anyone who buys anything in the UK capable of receiving a TV signal is expected to either have a TV license or currently staying somewhere that does.

I was going to be refused the purchase of a USB DVB-T tuner from Maplins unless I specified an address they could look up to see if it had a valid license.

KynloStephen66515:
It actually applies to more than just UK residents - anyone who buys anything in the UK capable of receiving a TV signal is expected to either have a TV license or currently staying somewhere that does.

I was going to be refused the purchase of a USB DVB-T tuner from Maplins unless I specified an address they could look up to see if it had a valid license.
-4wd (December 14, 2012, 08:28 PM)
--- End quote ---

I buy all my equipment on eBay, and from thrift stores, or small privately owned tech stores. (Seeings as I DON'T have a valid license lol

Its beyond ridiculous though, and a completely outdated, archaic system.

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