General Chat

Like Sylvia, we in Oz don't have a TV Licence.

We have the choice of umpteen channels, including the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) and SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) which are both National broadcasting services.

The remaining channels are all considered 'commercial' even though both the ABC and SBS do contain advertising.

Many of the channels just show repeats, which becomes confusing. This is particularly true when different channels show different series of the same programme.

For instance, the ABC recently aired the current series of 'Call the Midwife' whilst one commercial channel ran an earlier series of the same show and another channel was showing an even earlier series.

If you're an eligible age, [depends on your date of birth] you can claim Guarantee Credit if your weekly income is less than £167.75 if you're single, or £255.25 if you're a couple.8 Apr 2019
https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/eligibility

There's a 'calculator' here
https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator

There's another, one encompassing all benefits from AgeUK
http://tiny.cc/piu27y

Malcolm the simplest explanation,

"Guarantee Credit tops up your weekly income if it’s below £167.25 (for single people) or £255.25 (for couples).

Savings Credit is an extra payment for people who saved some money towards their retirement, for example a pension."

You can find out more, and it includes a calculator on
https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit

Things like carers allowance and any other pension and saving will affect this.

As an "old Tory voter", I have no objection to scrapping the licence. However, whether I will still be Tory voter at the next election remains to be seen.

Could some one please tell me what PENSION CREDIT is because i haven't heard of it. What does it require to get it. Many thanks PS. AS I AM A BIT THICK, So could you tell n plain words that I & other people can understand.

Modern flat TV screens do not flicker.

"On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada
With your face sketched on it twice"

somewhat loses its meaning to anybody under 20

The UK & France both have a digital broadcast service called Freeserve which delivers 70+ channels including BBC & ITV1 in HD. No subscription of any kind is needed nor a cable connexion.

Most TVs have a built in receiver. It is easy to buy a separate receiver which gives more HD, program storage etc. One version is called "Youview". This service is free albeit subject to the BBC Licence terms .

The French version is as free as air. Most if Europe has sometjing similar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_in_France#Digital_terrestrial_television

The BBC has done great stuff in the past.
It has a great archive which morally belongs to the nation - not the BBC which jealousy guards it like Smaug and his treasure.

For instance the single best series of the 1970s was "Roads to Freedom". For 20 years the BBC claimed it had been lost.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roads_to_Freedom_(TV_serial)
This makes my OH cry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFnY-TP8468
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqhx0gs5lpA

So some way of managing the archive and copyright issues would need to be found.

Not much point me having a bus pass. The bus doesn't come this way any more.

Florence ................

I also have the radio on most of the day, throughout the house when OH is not in. If he is (becoming more frequent now) then the radio is on only in the room I'm in and if he is not.

We have lots of documentary-type programmes on CBC Radio1, and that is what I prefer. If I want music, I go to CBC Radio2

No ads on either :-)

The TV is not turned on until about 5:30 pm until 7:00 pm for 2 news programmes. That is about all that we watch!

Why is the UK so archaic that they still have a TV licence?

We don't.

We don't pay any fees if we are willing to stick with 3 basic stations ....... the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, equivalent to BBC in many respects), local Global and local CTC (Canada Television Corporation), the last 2 being private stations. The CBC is the "public" station but does carry ads ...... it has to pay its way as well as get funding from the Government.

If we want more than that, then we have to buy cable service at several different levels depending on a) what you want to see and b) how much you want to pay.

OR you watch on your computer/laptop.

CBC Radio is considered the "lifeline" for people across Canada and the north ........... service has to be supplied to the smallest communities, and radio carries no ads, it is fully supported by the government.

But most OAPS I know get pension credit. Both my parents do and an aunt and others.
If elderly people stay in then surely they are saving money as my mum does, so £12.80 odd a month isn't much really.if you went out to bingo twice a month, it would cost you a lot more.

I never go out socially as I cant afford it, so having to pay a small fee for the licence each month is worth it. During the day, I put the radio on through the tv and then, I have music and voices throughout the house, that way, I don't feel so alone sometimes.

Florence in the hebrides

Annx it is because it is an easy target.

We use our bus passes at least once a week, sometimes more. We are fortunate as we have one bus that goes between Gloucester and Cheltenham ever 10-15 minutes (We are halfway between the two towns). And another that goes to both towns on a half hourly service. This means we don't take the car into town, saves pollution and saves us parking fees. If we didn't have a bus pass we would maybe go once a month and the high street shops would suffer (multiplying our trips by all the others.

The problem with the TV licence is you can't just decide not to pay it. (unless you give up the TV of course). And I agree that TV is vital for the housebound and lonely, and the latter could be any of us.

I've had my Bus Pass for over 11 years and never used it yet. It's of little help to those that have any kind of mobility problem, They either can't leave the house easily or need a car to get close to where they are going. TV is vital for the housebound and provides a link with the outside world. Why is it suddenly ok to start swiping the remaining few perks from the old and vulnerable. As AnninG says, it will be another thing to cause hassle and worry.

Barbra, if you read this, I can't find a third (or one later than yours) thread.

This thread was posted first .... or have I missed something somewhere along the line?

We won't be a burden to the NHS once Trump gets his hands on it.

I am annoyed by this. Many older and sick people are unable to get out and rely on television, not only for entertainment but also for company especially on days that they may never see another soul.

I agree with Rollo - get rid of the BBC. Other countries can offer free television so why not the UK? It is disgusting that the TV Licence system is still in existence.

Shame on everyone at the BBC and in government who thought this was a good idea while continuing to fund an overstuffed House of Lords whose many time-wasters are a drag on the taxpayer and the economy.

All of us, if we're lucky, will reach 75 one day. What is difficult for the powers-that-be to imagine what their needs will be then? Sure, there will be some who can afford an extra couple of pounds per week but there will be many who can't.

We must remember that once the government finds it easy to allow the BBC to begin to take away 'the perks' of old age, everything else will fall in line for the government to have an easy ride demolishing the bus pass, heating allowance, the lower rate of income tax etc. Illness and death in the cold months will increase as will the burden on the NHS.

In addition, if we get Boris (or another) the old will be funding the rich whose tax liability he and another propose to reduce.

Are they trying to kill us oldies off by stealth before we add to the burden of the NHS?

Yes better the licence than the bus pass. Although I can see chaos as we have to start paying/remembering to pay etc.

I'd rather they scrapped the free TV licence than the free bus pass, which I'm looking forward to receiving in 3 yrs time, unless that gets cancelled as well.

Free TV licence for the over 75s is to end in 2020.

This won't go down well at all with the old Tory voters. Given that there are > 100 channels supported by ads. there is no real reason to maintain the BBC bureaucracy esp with not buying a licence being a criminal offence!

It is a relic from a half century ago and should be left to stand on its own two feet and pay realistic salaries.

Drop the TV licence altogether. France did just that over 10 years ago, the sky did not fall in and programs have improved a lot.