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Comment by jdietrich | Hacker News Reader

We pay a TV license annually, not a one-off tax. The BBC receives no government funding, which helps ensure its impartiality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Un...

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I don't understand your second sentence.

The Wikipedia article you link to states "The money received is first paid into the Government's Consolidated Fund. It is subsequently included in the 'vote' for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in that year's Appropriation Act, and passed back to the BBC for the running of the BBC's own services (free from commercial advertisements)."

How do you see this as "no government funding"?

I think many other countries have a TV 'tax' as well. I had to pay one living in Germany just for owning a computer.

Makes for great public media in many cases.

Do you think taxes like this will go away at some point? or will it always be there in some form?

Some right-wingers in the UK (e.g. the ones advocating withdrawing from the EU) would like to see it abolished (and the BBC diminished)

What a bummer considering the BBC is one of the greatest.

Yep, their world news coverage is pretty good but I especialy love their documentaries. They just blow me away

Yeah, but they are spending a lot on soap operas as well...

Those could very well be provided by the private market.

The BBC is consistently attacked by both right- and left-wing activists in the UK, which gives me at least a little confidence that they are trying to be balanced :)

Oh I see, perhaps I was wrong on that. A freind of mine in the UK said this. Must've got that wrong.

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