TV Detector Vans
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
Another bit of context that's important is that at the relevant times for this, you're looking at almost certainly 4 possible channels for most of the population of the UK.
There's a few ways of viewing some of this
One is simply that it's a lie and a deterrent. Not so interesting on the technical level. Most likely true but a dead end for fun tech ideas.
The more interesting is to think about how this could work - certainly some of the people in BBC R&D have. I'm sure someone will mention Van Eck phreaking, which is extremely cool but more than you need.
A much simpler approach, and one that actually seems easiest is
> it was thought that they operated by detecting electromagnetic radiation given off by a TV,
looking at the diffuse light through windows/curtains. You then simply need to have a live TV feed tuned to each channel and see if there's a direct match between the changing light and your own blurred monitor tuned to the same channel.
You can make this even easier by doing it at certain times, when Eastenders or Coronation Street is on, as a vast amount of the population would watch these.
It's is very specifically not a tax, primarily because if you choose not to consume public service broadcasting, you do not have to pay it.
Hmmmm, not convinced that logic works tbh.
The license fee is just a fee. You pay it. You get the BBC. (And other national broadcast services, which also benefit from it.)
The clue may, perhaps, be in the name. It isn't called the "license tax".
You need to pay it if you never watch the BBC and only non public service broadcasting. You also get public things for free without paying for it.
> Taxes tax something. A purchase, your income, something.
This taxes watching live TV or on demand things from the BBC.
The license “fee” falls into the latter category.
The name was, perhaps, picked to trick people like you, who look at a turd named like a cake and eat it, perhaps.
These fees, while mandatory for certain public services, offer an element of choice in participation, thus not qualifying as taxes, correct?
On a brighter note, I've been free from the dog license fee of 37p since 1987, and the CB radio license requirement that was lifted in 2006
Slovakia had a similar system, then the politicians decided to cancel the fees and make it so the public broadcaster is funded out of ministry of culture budget instead.
Now it's a year later and surprise, surprise, the new government which has gripes with the press has just cut the public broadcaster budget by 33%. If it was still funded by “tv licences” it would be much harder to do that.
(Edit the relevant quote is "In January 2006, the Office of National Statistics classified the licence fee as a tax")
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldselect/ldbb...
> if you choose not to consume public service broadcasting, you do not have to pay it.
That is absolutely not true. You need to pay it to view live TV, regardless of who produces it.
For £13 a month you get seven commercial-free TV channels, 12 commercial free national radio stations, at least one local station depending on where you live, and the amazing BBC website, which includes news, sport, weather, and, of course, the iPlayer, which offers almost all of the above on-demand, commercial free, and not even encrypted.
As an ex-pat I only wish that there was a mechanism for me to pay it from outside the UK. I miss the BBC more than anything else in the UK.
I recall the first year I was married encountering Doctor Who on our local PBS affiliate, and enjoying the heck out of it. A few years after that it was gone, having moved exclusively to BBC America. And now to Disney Plus…
Anecdote 1: My parents-in-law only got a television in the very last years of their life, but long before that they used to occasionally get the threatening letters etc and people coming round saying they had detected a TV. On one memorable occasion my father-in-law was so fed up he insisted on bringing the TV license inspector in the house and took him through an extremely exhaustive list of places where the TV could be, forcing him to check each one. “Perhaps it’s in the toilet cistern? We should check!” <gets TV guy to open the top of the toilet to check whether a TV is somehow hiding inside> “What about in the bread bin! You could probably get a small TV in there.” <forces TV inspector guy to look in the bread bin> etc
Anecdote 2: At one point in my life I rented a flat and didn’t have a TV. I started getting the letters, including some printed on red paper, saying they were going to get bailiffs to come round because they had detected me watching TV using their sooper seekrit special detector van[1] and stating the fines and possible criminal consequences and their determination to prosecute me and bring me to justice. I wrote to them saying they had to put up or shut up - get a court order and come see whether I have a television - and I would welcome seeing them attempt in court to prove I had one.
I’m a strong supporter of public service broadcasting and think the BBC is an amazing deal, but the tactics around TV license enforcement are and always have been really disgraceful.
[1] Clearly impossible since I didn’t have a TV, this was before streaming to devices and in any case at that time my life in the flat comprised me coming home, exhausted, in the very early hours of the morning, going immediately to sleep, waking up a (very) few hours later and dragging my sorry ass back to work. I did nothing other than sleep and shower in that flat. It was a pretty dark period.
First, when I purchased my initial home, I didn't immediately get a TV. However, when I did, the retailer was obliged to inform TVL under The Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1967. The TV arrived, still boxed, and a TVL representative showed up implying he had the right to enter, which he did not. I had preemptively bought the license, but still faced this intrusion. His insinuations were met with a firm response, because it was clear they were trying to catch me off-guard.
Later, during a phase where I chose not to watch or record live TV, I didn't renew my TV license after moving. This led to a barrage of letters and threats from TVL, all addressed to "Legal Occupier." I called them to halt these communications, finding them harassing. They agreed to stop only if I disclosed my name. Valuing my privacy, I declined, suggesting they use "Legal Occupier" as my identifier. This was met with reluctance but eventually processed.
These experiences highlight the invasive procedures of TVL, especially for those who value privacy.
Wouldn't it have made more sense from the very beginning to sell receivers instead? No, that would naturally limit the viewer count. Clearly the intent was to push propaganda and the license isn't significant to the funding, but rather a vote of loyalty.
In the interests of taxing the people with the least money in society, bathrooms were/are also often for-profit. My mother and aunt recounted sliding under stall partitions to dodge this tax on basic human needs.
And funnily enough, the signals do work like that.[1]
And my point is that the answer to "why do I have to pay if I don't use..." is that it's a tax. It's not a commercial decision it's taxing something to raise revenue to be spent on a public service.
> And funnily enough, the signals do work like that.[1]
I don't understand how that's related to making a signal of that wavelength miss a house.
Now I am extremely negative about the BBC and I won't shed a tear when it loses its funding.
I literally watch 0 British TV apart from the news.
I wish they would block iPlayer if you don't have a TV licence.
I personally haven't had a TV antenna or dish attached to my TV for years.
Most of my entertainment is YouTube!
It's not totally blocked but you do need a license for iPlayer legally. I wish they'd let me tie my license to my account so it stops making me answer whether I've got one.
Van Eck Phreaking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Eck_phreaking
…of course, no-one disassembles a TV to comply, that’d be unsafe (high-voltage CRTs are scary)
i have been visited by the enforcement agents. at the time i did not have a tv or an internet connection so i told them to piss off.
i do now not have a tv, but i do have bbc iplayer and i pay for it.
and actually, i used to work for the BBC!
[1] https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/967319/response/22998...
"Huh, TV? I don't have a TV..."
Got harassed by so, so many TV tax envelopes and visits over the next couple years, they were just SO convinced I was lying to them because of course some 18-something year old kid would have a TV, how could he not?
Left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.
Picked up the mail there again last weekend, we're now on an 'Enforcement Action' and _will_ be visited, etc, etc.
Meanwhile, I'm 90% certain I'll be cancelling my own Licence soon and deleting iPlayer off my AppleTV, mostly because the BBC can't figure out how to make subtitles work on it, so if I'm going to have to pirate Doctor Who so my wife can watch with subtitles anyway, why bother paying in the first place?
The BBC is definitely an institution whose best days are long past. It's not really their fault - successive generations of political ruling classes have really hated them and wanted to see the end of public service broadcasting in the UK, but when presented with opportunities to showcase their value the BBC are definitely experts at stuffing it up.
It's the main reason I hate the BBC now.
What other service is openly accessible but you get fined if you use it?
Got away with it too.
And you're not obligated to talk to them or let them enter your home. "I don't have a TV and I'm not interested in having a discussion about it. Good day to you."
Did any laptops have built-in tuners that weren’t just PC-cards, though?
——-
EDIT: Huh… apparently the Lobster was actually TV-over-DAB and not DVB-H, which was used by some Nokia phones.
I remember buying a phone that had a retractable antenna on the side. most you were not able to buy outside asian markets since they would probably not work.
much like dual sim phone, there was a lot more of them on phone targeting asian markets but very rare when the phone is targeting the rest of the world.
But I seem to recall there being TV tuners available for SD slots on both Palm and Windows devices. Phones didn't necessarily ship with the capability.
Finally the inspector barges in and finds Vyvyan with a power cord hanging out of his mouth to which he replies “It’s a toaster”.