Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

arcticstartup.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 75 posts

Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#21

Post by dalke »

rmk2 wrote: post #15
MrCheese wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you have no interest in watching the programs. Then it's horribly expensive

The point is that you in theory (!!!) get media this way that do not depend on advertisement and are thus more independent from industry influence. This in turn leads to you being able to profit from this even if you do not watch the programs and/or listen to the radio, simply because this injects a different kind of media into the media landscape which in turn other media interact with (newspapers, websites, blogs e…

Then why not just pay for it out of taxes like Finland does? That seems cheaper overall than a license fee system with inspectors. And if your view is valid, then that means the small (<3%) of the people with no TV and no internet are getting a social benefit without paying for it.

Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#22

Post by hiddenfeatures »

Welcome to the club, dear Swedes!

The average German household will pay 215,76 Euro (~290 USD) for "receiving" (whether you have a device or not) government-run TV and radio programs.

In contrast, the same household will pay 786,56 Euro (~1050 USD) for National Defence.

Obviously watching football (the real one, my American friends) is almost as important as living in a free country

Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#23

Post by MrCheese »

Zigurd wrote: post #18
unkoman wrote: post #8

It's not a tax. It's a fee, required to pay by law to fund independent channels of opinion free from government and/or private funded influence. 200 eur a year is quite cheap for what you get. http://www.radiotjanst.se/en/Radio-and-TV-fee/

That's over $20 per month. That would buy several premium content subscriptions for "traditional media" such as The New Yorker, Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc. and quite a bit more "new media" content. For some of the content, it will be difficult to make the case that traditional media cost structures have to be maintained.

Exactly! A varied collection of premium content from various sources will together form a much broader and more accurate picture than trusting "independent" media with your life.

Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#24

Post by guylhem »

You don't want to watch TV ?

We don't care. We will make you, whether you want it or not.

And we will charge you for the privilege - having to subsidize the things you dislike, what a cool idea.

(I guess I would have to give up my computers if I lived in Sweden)

EDIT: Downvoted already? Whatever. I will not willingly subsidize government propaganda.

Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#25

Post by j_jochem »

derda wrote: post #10

Germany had this for some years. The fee is almost the same as in Sweden. I feel ripped off by this, its a remainder of a time when TV-Broadcasting was still so expensive that only public founded institutions could provide it. These ages are long gone. Until beginning of this year it was actually relatively easy to avoid paying it. You just did never answer one of their letters and took care who you opened the door.…

Personally, what angers me most about our system in Germany is that we have to pay the GEZ public television fee for internet devices, but only selected content is available for streaming online. When I want to watch an old Tatort, I still have to shell out 20 EUR for a DVD box.

Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#26

Post by Svip »

derda wrote: post #10

Germany had this for some years. The fee is almost the same as in Sweden. I feel ripped off by this, its a remainder of a time when TV-Broadcasting was still so expensive that only public founded institutions could provide it. These ages are long gone. Until beginning of this year it was actually relatively easy to avoid paying it. You just did never answer one of their letters and took care who you opened the door.…

We also have it hear in Denmark. It's called »medielicens« and technically not a tax, but a licence fee (BBC subscribers will understand). It is also required even if you do not use any of DR's services (DR being 'Danish Broadcasting'), but own any form of media device. Most people I know do not pay it, however.

Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#27

Post by mylittlepony »

hiddenfeatures wrote: post #22

Welcome to the club, dear Swedes! The average German household will pay 215,76 Euro (~290 USD) for "receiving" (whether you have a device or not) government-run TV and radio programs. In contrast, the same household will pay 786,56 Euro (~1050 USD) for National Defence. Obviously watching football (the real one, my American friends) is almost as important as living in a free country

> football (the real one, my American friends [1])

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4msKdfMtGY

Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#28

Post by andyking »

samwillis wrote: post #12

I think it is only a matter of time before the UK moves to something like this. We have TV licensees to fund the BBC but with more and more of the content that they produce being available on-line though iPlayer things will have to change. I believe the BBC's charter is up for renegotiation in about four years and it would be the perfect time to make the change.

I got rid of my TV licence when it came up for renewal at Christmas, and just watch on-demand content via iPlayer now. (Well, that was all I did before, but I've removed the little-used TV receiver from my house now.)

I can see them charging for computers in the future - but how would it work? Would they suddenly charge every office, for instance? We have an office with no TV but full of computers. None are used for TV viewing, live or otherwise. You just don't watch TV at work. It sounds like it could make them a lot of extra money!

Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#29

Post by kristofferR »

Norwegian here, our National Broadcaster is planning to introduce the same here. Here's a story from today about it (in Norwegian): http://www.aftenposten.no/digital/Norge-vurderer-TV-lisens-p...

I'm fine with a TV-license fee, but if they're going to charge it for everyone who owns either a tablet, cellphone, computer or TV (which is basically 99,9% of households) they might just abandon their massive fee bureacracy and get the money through the government budget instead. It'll save a lot of money, especially if everyone is basically forced into paying it (regardless if they actually own a television set or not) anyway.

Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#30

Post by OrdojanAndrius »

Svip wrote: post #26
derda wrote: post #10

Germany had this for some years. The fee is almost the same as in Sweden. I feel ripped off by this, its a remainder of a time when TV-Broadcasting was still so expensive that only public founded institutions could provide it. These ages are long gone. Until beginning of this year it was actually relatively easy to avoid paying it. You just did never answer one of their letters and took care who you opened the door.…

We also have it hear in Denmark. It's called »medielicens« and technically not a tax, but a licence fee (BBC subscribers will understand). It is also required even if you do not use any of DR's services (DR being 'Danish Broadcasting'), but own any form of media device. Most people I know do not pay it, however.

Wait what? How do you not pay it? Just throw out the bills they send you?
Post reply on HN