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TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

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Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#551

Post by beerandt »

raverbashing wrote: post #90
beerandt wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say simply, but I think that's much more difficult than just detecting the presence of em noise conforming to a broadcast standard. Anyone that's put an AM radio next to a CRT TV knows it emits em noise. The CRT itself is, to over simplify, a high voltage capacitor. It's one of the most popular devices used to power hobbyist Tesla coils... I don't know why everyone seems to think that just because TVs were "recei…

You're thinking too much like an engineer Here's my TV detection method: look at their windows and see if there's a light flickering pattern that looks like a TV (if behind curtains) or maybe you can see the TV

Sure, but that doesn't require a van full of equipment. (If we're talking about historically.)

Looking for light would also only work until people found out about it, and violators covered their windows.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#552

Post by 908B64B197 »

boffinism wrote: post #128

The BBC is currently dedicating hours of airtime a day to educational content to match our primary and secondary curricula because the schools are shut and lots of kids can't access online provisions. And still people complain about the licence fee in terms of whether or not they enjoy BBC gameshows...

If they are producing content for education maybe the department of education could pay for this...

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#553

Post by 908B64B197 »

seanhunter wrote: post #508
willtim wrote: post #501

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I think that having some publicly funded radio/TV is a really good thing, the idea of the UK TV license and the subsequent enforcement is not. My friends elderly mother does not have or want a TV. She is constantly harassed and threatened by UK license enforcement. Her son has invited them into her home on numerous occasions, hoping that the legal threats and visits would cease, but to this day they have not. I…

Yeah. My father in law had the same experience. He once took an enforcement person into his house and insisted they go through the house together and conduct an exhaustive search of all the places a TV could be. "Perhaps it's in the cistern of the toilet? Let's look!...Not there? Perhaps it's in the bread bin..." etc etc It is really bad the way they do this, and having seen the threatening letters they send out they…

Can you imagine having someone harassing an elderly person to get in house without a warrant here in America?

And that person to be paid and hired as a civil servant, in a completely unionized job with a pension fund?

If that's not the definition of a job program and how the welfare state has gone wrong I don't know what is.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#554

Post by 908B64B197 »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #495
andyjohnson0 wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wouldn't it be simpler to just use a part of the taxes already collected to go to BBC. That would make the BBC dependent on the government for its revenue, which definitely isn't desirable. The current system, where the BBC collects its own revenue under the authority of a royal charter, is intended to help insulate it from political interference.

It's how the CBC is structured. They receive funding from taxes and their own revenue streams: merchandizing, advertising, syndication, and so on. It works. That is, it works until it doesn't. The CBC is entirely "free" to every Canadian who wants to use it, and it is fantastic . I wish it were expanded in scope. But there is an opposition that wants it dismantled and moved from government funding at all costs. Usual…

> But there is an opposition that wants it dismantled and moved from government funding at all costs.

I'm still not sure why entertainment needs public money. I mean just look at Marvel, Netflix, Disney... they are all insanely profitable. Billion dollars profitable.

When you make content that people want to watch, it just works.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#555

Post by willtim »

908B64B197 wrote: post #553
seanhunter wrote: post #508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. My father in law had the same experience. He once took an enforcement person into his house and insisted they go through the house together and conduct an exhaustive search of all the places a TV could be. "Perhaps it's in the cistern of the toilet? Let's look!...Not there? Perhaps it's in the bread bin..." etc etc It is really bad the way they do this, and having seen the threatening letters they send out they…

Can you imagine having someone harassing an elderly person to get in house without a warrant here in America? And that person to be paid and hired as a civil servant, in a completely unionized job with a pension fund? If that's not the definition of a job program and how the welfare state has gone wrong I don't know what is.

I suspect the issue is partly caused by outsourcing the enforcement to private contractors and setting targets!

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#556

Post by mlyle »

Mauricebranagh wrote: post #419
doctorfoo wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not true. I and others I know use a TV only as a screen for videogames and do not watch TV in any form. You explicitly do not need a license just to own a TV.

A lot of people say that but it is "not readily believable" to use a Civil Service Circumlocution. In that case why are you and those others not using a monitor.

I've got no TV service here in the US, but a couple large TVs. I watch movies on other media occasionally, but for the most part they're used for video games.

Buying an 80" monitor isn't really cost efficient.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#557

Post by 908B64B197 »

willtim wrote: post #555
908B64B197 wrote: post #553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you imagine having someone harassing an elderly person to get in house without a warrant here in America? And that person to be paid and hired as a civil servant, in a completely unionized job with a pension fund? If that's not the definition of a job program and how the welfare state has gone wrong I don't know what is.

I suspect the issue is partly caused by outsourcing the enforcement to private contractors and setting targets!

So they aren't even government employee. It's just some random person trespassing on your property.

I assume, of course, that the burden of proving you don't have a TV falls on the citizen and not these government-paid contractors.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#558

Post by Dma54rhs »

_slyo wrote: post #531
mattmanser wrote: post #493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have read across the spectrum for years in the UK, the BBC is not especially biased, maybe a little liberal and it ignores poorer people, but almost all media does that in the UK. But the histrionics frim the Tories and Momentum about the BBC is wildly misplaced. In comparison I never really watched the US "news" until the recent US election, occasionally watching a bit of CNN/ABC/Fox News. But I've been watching i…

I agree that CNN and Fox are both disgustingly biased. I appreciate BBC's journalistic standards, but I think they are the exception rather than the norm. I think Poland's case is more typical: https://www.npr.org/2021/01/04/951063118/polands-government-... Whether privately or publicly owned, the mitigation of media bias requires constant effort, education, and integrity.

We see CNN over here for ages too but they really clipped during the trumps presidency. Probably so much attention by that clown made them think they shall be the messiah who bring him down now matter what and how they report. They really weren't that bad before imo.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#559

Post by Dma54rhs »

xxpor wrote: post #454
CodeGlitch wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you seen how much BBC bosses and stars are paid? Far higher than other public servants, so yes I would be against making it compulsory https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/bbc_rich_list_2020_37_5m_b...

£148k? That really seems like not that much for any sort of executive.

That sounds something a super privileged Silicon Valley codebro would say. It's almost embarrassing.

Re: TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

#560

Post by 52-6F-62 »

saberdancer wrote: post #522
52-6F-62 wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's how the CBC is structured. They receive funding from taxes and their own revenue streams: merchandizing, advertising, syndication, and so on. It works. That is, it works until it doesn't. The CBC is entirely "free" to every Canadian who wants to use it, and it is fantastic . I wish it were expanded in scope. But there is an opposition that wants it dismantled and moved from government funding at all costs. Usual…

I understand the logic between removing it from taxes, but I find it hard to accept that this gave it any degree of independence. If opposition got in power and wanted to dismantle BBC or CBC, I'm sure that the fact that they gain their funding through a fee rather than tax is not something that would stop them. In the end, the fee was specified and allowed them to use it by some law that was passed in the parliament…

Yeah true enough. I don't know enough about the intricacies of their structure to have a strong opinion.
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