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A television licence (or more correctly broadcast receiver licence, as it usually also pays for public radio) is an official licence required in many countries for all owners of television (and sometimes also radio) receivers. It is a form of hypothecation tax to fund public broadcasting, thus allowing public broadcasters to transmit programmes without, or with only supplemental, funding from radio and television commercials. The television licence was originally known as a radio licence, and was used to fund public radio broadcasting. With the arrival of television some countries created a separate additional television licence, while some just increased the radio licence fee to cover the additional cost of TV broadcasting, changing the licence's name from "radio licence" to "TV licence" or "receiver licence". Today most countries fund public radio broadcasting from the same licence fee that is used for television, although a few still have separate radio licences, or apply a lower or no fee at all for consumers who only have a radio. Some also have different fees for users with colour or monochrome TV. Many also give discounts for elderly and/or disabled consumers. Television licences around the world The Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago notes that two-thirds of the countries in Europe and half of the countries in Asia and Africa use television licences to fund public television. TV Licensing is rare in the Americas, largely being confined to French overseas departments. The actual cost and implementation of the television licence varies greatly from country to country. The rest of this section looks at the licence fee in a number of countries around the world. Albania The Albanian licence fee is 800 Lekë (around €6.30) per year . However, the licence fee makes up only a small part of public broadcaster RTSh's funding. RTSh is mainly funded directly from the government through taxes (58%), the remaining 42% comes from commercials and the licence fee. Austria In Austria, the licence pays for ORF. The annual television & radio licence varies in price depending on which state one lives in. Annual fees from June 2006 are: Belgium (Walloon region) The licence fee in Belgium's Walloon region (encompassing the French and German speaking communities) is €149.67 for a TV and €26.72 for a car radio . Only one licence is needed for each household regardless of how many television sets there are. However, each car with a radio must have a separate car radio licence. Household radios do not require a licence. The money raised by the fee is used to fund Belgium's French and German public broadcasters (RTBF and BRF respectively). Bosnia and Herzegovina The licence fee in Bosnia and Herzegovina is around € 36 per year . The civil war and the associated collapse of infrastructure caused very high evasion rates. This has in part been resolved by collecting the licence fee as part of a household's telephone bill. The licence is used to fund PBSBiH (Public Broadcasting Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina) which is a umbrella organisation of three separate broadcasters. These are BHRT (Radio Television of Bosnia Herzegovina), which serves the whole country; RTFBiH (Radio-Television of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina) that serves Bosnian-Croat and Bosniak population; and RTRS (Radio-Television of the Republika Srpska), which serves the Bosnian Serb people. Croatia The licence fee in Croatia is set each year in accordance with the Croatian Radio Television Act, 2001. The act states that the total licence fee is equal to 1.5% of the average net salary in the previous year. This works out at about €100 per year per household with at least one radio or TV receiver. The fee is the main source of revenue for national broadcaster Hrvatska Radiotelevizija (HRT). However, HRT's programmes are still not free of advertisements (although the percentage of air time which may be devoted to advertising is limited by law and is lower than the one that applies to commercial broadcasters). Cyprus The licence fee in Cyprus is indirect but obligatory and paid through electricity bills. The amount to be paid varies according to the total floor area of the property. Its beneficiary is the state broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC). Northern Cyprus (TRNC) does not pay the Cypriot licence fee as Cypriot jurisdiction is not applicable in the North. Bayrak Radio and Television Corporation, the North's public broadcaster gets it funds through the North Cypriot government. Czech Republic The licence fee in the Czech Republic, is currently 1200 Kč Denmark The licence fee in Denmark is 2 090 kr (around €280) per annum for colour TV, 1 310 kr for black and white TV and 320 kr for radio. The majority of the licence fee is used to fund the national radio and TV broadcaster DR. However, a proportion is used to fund TV 2's regional services. Finland The television fee in Finland is €200.70 per annum for a household with TV (as of 2006). It is the primary source of funding for Yleisradio (YLE). The amount is being adjusted yearly for reasons including transition to digital television. In 1999, television license fee was renamed television fee, since at that time the new constitution of Finland was being drafted. This new constitution guarantees everyone the right to receive messages without permission as a part of freedom of speechhttp://www.finlex.fi/fi/esitykset/he/1998/19980034. This had little practical effect. France In 2005, the television licence fee in France (mainland & Corsica) is €116 and in the overseas departments it is €74. The licence funds services provided by Radio France, France Télévisions and Radio France Internationale. Overseas departments receive the Reseau France d'Outre Mer ('Télé name of department or territory', Tempo, and France Ô), whilst the mainland receives France 2, France 3, France 5, Arte,France 4 and Gulli . Germany The licence fee in Germany is €204.36 per annum for TV and radio, and €66.24 for just radio . It is billed by the month, but typically paid quarterly (yearly payments are possible). Unemployed, disabled and generally people (nearly) solely dependent on governmental support for living do not need to pay the licence fee. From 2007, the German government will establish a licence fee for every working Internet access (e.g. mobile phone or PC), if it is the only source for radio and television. Those devices will be charged radio fee. The licence fee is used to fund the public broadcasters ZDF, ARD, and Deutschlandradio, ARTE and the public "Third Programs" TV channels and all public radio stations as well. Greece The licence fee in Greece is indirect but obligatory and paid through electricity bills. The amount to be paid is €51.60 (2006) for every seperate account of the electrical company (including residence, offices, shops and other places provided with electricity). Its beneficiary is the state broadcaster Elliniki Radiophonia Tileorassi (ERT). Predicted 2006 annual revenue of ERT from the licence fee (officially called "retributive" fee) is €262.6M (from €214.3M in 2005) . There has been some discussion about imposing a direct licence fee after complaints from people who do not own a television set and yet are still forced to fund ERT. An often quoted anecdote is that even dead people pay the licence fee (since graveyards pay electricity bills). Iceland In Iceland the TV Licence is 32 460 kr (around €346.59) (2006). Discounts are available for black and white TVs and those who only have radios. The TV Licence is used to fund RÚV http://www.ruv.is/heim/english/english/ . However, this income is supplemented by broadcasting commercials. Ireland In 2006, the television licence in Ireland is €158 , up from €155 in 2005. It is free to anyone over the age of 70 and to some over 66, although these licences are in fact paid for by the state. The Irish Post Office, An Post, is responsible for collection of the licence fee. The Irish TV licence is makes up 50% of RTÉ's revenue. The rest comes from RTÉ broadcasting commercials on its radio and TV stations . Furthermore, some RTÉ services, such as RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ Aertel, rte.ie, and the transmission network operate on an entirely commercial basis. The licence fee does not entirely go to RTÉ. After collection costs, 5% is used for the Broadcasting Commission of Irelands "Sound and Vision Scheme", which provides a fund for programme production and restoration of archive material which is open to applications from any quarters. 5% of what RTÉ then receive is granted to TG4, as well as a requirement to provide them with programming. The remainder of TG4's funding is direct state grants and commercial income. The licence must be paid for any premises that has any equipment that can potentially decode TV signals, even those that are not RTE's. Italy In 2005, the licence fee in Italy was €99.60 per household with a TV set. It is the primary source of income for RAI, which does, however, also broadcast advertising. Italy has problems with collection of the licence, with approximately 10% of viewers not paying their licence. One of the reasons why not, is that the maximum fine is only half the licence (plus the licence on top of that), compared to the UK where the fine is nearly €1500. Viewers in the (German speaking) province of South Tyrol, Italy can also receive Austrian and German public TV and radio channels via terrestrial transmissions. However, they do not have to pay the German or Austrian licence fees. Macedonia The licence fee in FYR Macedonia is around €57 per year . It is collected monthly as part of the electricity bill. In addition to licence fee funding, Macedonian Radio-Television (MRT) also takes advertising and sponsorship. Malta The licence fee in Malta is €34.40 . It is used to fund the television (TVM) and radio channels (Radio Malta and Radju Parliament) run by Public Broadcasting Services. Approximately two-thirds of TVM's funding comes from the licence fee, with the much of the remainder coming from commercials . Norway The licence fee in Norway is 2039 kr (about €260) per annum (2006). The fee is mandatory for any owner of a TV set, and is the primary source of income for Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK). Poland The current licence fee in Poland is 200.40 zł (about €47) per annum . 60% of the fee goes to Telewizja Polska with the rest going to public radio. The TV Licence is waived for the over 75s. Romania The licence fee in Romania for a household is 48 RON (about € 12) per annum . Small businesses pay about €45 and large businesses about € 150. The licence fee is collected as part of the electricity bill. The licence fee makes up part of Televiziunea Română's funding, with the rest coming from advertising and government grants. Slovakia The total licence in Slovakia comes to approximately € 42 per annum. In addition to the licence fee STV also receives state subsidies and money from advertising. Slovenia In 2004, the licence fee in Slovenia stood at SIT 31 644 (about €132) . The licence fee is used to fund RTV Slovenija, which supplements its licence fee income by broadcasting commercials Sweden The current licence fee in Sweden is 1968 kr (about €210) per annum. It is collected on behalf of the three public broadcasters (Sveriges Television, Sveriges Radio and Sveriges Utbildningsradio) by Radiotjänst i Kiruna AB, which is jointly owned by them. The fee pays for five TV channels and 16 radio channels. In Sweden, the term "television licence" was replaced a few years ago by "television fee", which was regarded as less ambiguous. The fee is leveraged based per household with TV service, not per TV set. Although the fee also pays for radio broadcasting, there is no fee for radios. Switzerland The licence fee in Switzerland is CHF 450.35 (about € 292) per annum for TV and radio. The Swiss licence fee pays for the national public broadcaster SRG SSR idée suisse Viewers in the German-speaking region of South Tyrol, Italy can also receive the Swiss German-language channels via terrestrial digital transmissions, but do not have pay a licence fee. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, the current cost for a colour television licence is £131.50 (about €194) and £44 (about €65) for monochrome TV (black and white). The licence fee is charged on a per household basis. Therefore addresses with more than one television receiver only require a single licence. A similar licence, mandated by the 1904 Wireless Telegraphy Act, used to exist for radios, but was abolished in 1971. Therefore, those who only listen to radio and have no television receiving equipment no longer have to pay a licence fee. There are concessions for the elderly (free for over 75s<), the licence fee here being paid for by the government. Blind people get a 50% discount on their licence. Residents of residential care homes (for the elderly and people with physical/mental disabilities) can apply for a special licence called the licence for Accommodation for Residential Care (ARC) which is £5 per year. The licence fee can be paid annually, monthly or quarterly by Direct Debit, or monthly or weekly with the Monthly Cash Plan or Cash Easy Entry cards, which were introduced in the mid 1990s for those with limited means or no bank account. The Monthly Cash Plan works on the same basis as the Cash Easy Entry scheme and has been designed so as not to discriminate against those that don't receive benefits. The licence fee represents approximately 75% of the BBC income . However, the UK's second public broadcaster, Channel 4 has claimed that it may need licence fee income if it is to continue with public broadcasting after digital switch-over. To this end, on April 25 2006, it was announced that Channel 4's digital switch-over bill would be paid for from the licence fee . Collection is enforced by criminal law. Since 1991, the revenue is collected on behalf of Government by the BBC and paid into Government's Consoldidated Fund. The money is then passed through to the BBC via the Appropriation Act(s) where MPs vote the amounts paid to the UK's Public Services. For this reason, the BBC is referred to as a "state broadcaster" as the state is responsible for all aspects of it's public funding. The BBC in turn have contracted out the work to three companies, Capita, Revenue Management Services and AMV Consortium, working together under the trading name TV Licensing. Prior to 1991, the collection and administration of the UK licence fee was the responsibility of the Home Office. During the current Charter review process, concerns were raised as to the cost of collection (£152m for 2005-2006). Israel The television licence for 2006 in Israel is 400 ₪ (about €70). The licence fee is the primary source of revenue for the Israel Broadcasting Authority, the state broadcaster; however, its radio stations carry full advertising and its TV programmes sometime receive "sponsorship" from commercial entities to supplement this income. Japan In Japan, the annual licence fee for terrestrial television broadcasts is ¥15,490 (about €110) (slightly less if paid by direct debit) and ¥25,520 (about €178) if you receive satellite broadcasts. There is separate licence for monochrome TV, and fees are different in Okinawa. The Japanese licence fee pays for the national broadcaster NHK. While every household in Japan with a television set is required to have a licence, there is no penalty for non-payment, and people are legally entitled to stop licensing inspectors from entering their houses. Korea, Republic of In South Korea, the television licence fee is collected for KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) and is ₩30000 per year (about €25). It has stood at this level since 1981, and now makes up less than 40% of KBS's income . Its purpose is to maintain public broadcasting in South Korea, and to give public broadcasters the resources to do their best to produce and broadcast public interest programs. The fee is collected by the national electrical company (Korean Electric Power Company). Pakistan The television licence in Pakistan is Rs300 per year (around €3.86). It is collected as a Rs25 per month charge to all consumers of electricity. The proceeds of the fee are used to fund PTV. Singapore The cost of the TV licence for a household in Singapore is S$110 (about €57) . Additional licences are required for radios and TVs in vehicles (S$27 and S$110 respectively). Ghana The licence fee in Ghana is 3,000 GHC . Mauritius The licence fee in Mauritius is Rs 1200 per year (around €29) Namibia The licence fee in Namibia was N$204 (about €23) in 2001 . The fee is used to fund the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) . South Africa The licence fee in South Africa is R225 (about €31) per annum (R276 per year if paid on a monthly basis) for TV . A concessionary rate of R65 is available for those over 70, and disabled persons or war veterans who are on social welfare. The licence fee funds SABC Countries where the TV licence has been abolished The following countries have had television licences, but subsequently abolished them: Australia Radio licence fees were introduced in Australia in the 1920s to fund the first privately owned broadcasters which were not permitted to sell advertising. With the formation of the government-owned Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1932 the licence fees were used to fund ABC broadcasts while the privately owned stations were permitted to seek revenue from advertising and sponsorship. Television licence fees were also introduced in 1956 when the ABC began TV transmissions. All licence fees were abolished in 1974 by the Australian Labor Party government led by Gough Whitlam on the basis that it was an unfair and regressive tax. The ABC has since then been funded by government grants, now totalling around A$800 million a year, and its own commercial activities (merchandising, overseas sale of programmes, etc.). Belgium (Flemish region) The Flemish region of Belgium abolished its television licence in 2001. The Flemish broadcaster VRT is now funded from general taxation. Gibraltar It was announced in Gibraltar's budget speech of June 23, 2006 that Gibraltar would abolish its TV licence . The 7,452 TV licence fees were previously used to part fund the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation (GBC). However, the majority of the GBC's funding came in the form of a grant from the government. Hungary In Hungary the government took over the payment of all television licence fees from the public in 2002. Effectively this means that funding for Magyar Televízió and Duna TV now comes from the government through taxation. Malaysia Malaysia abolished the TV licence at the end of 1999. Netherlands The licence fee in the Netherlands was abolished in 2000 due to the excessive collection costs . Public television in the Netherlands is now funded by government subsidy. In order to pay for public television from government funds, income tax was increased . New Zealand Licence fees were first used in New Zealand to fund the radio services of what was to become the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation. Television was introduced in 1960, and with it the television licence fee. The licence fee was capped at NZ$100 a year (around €49) in the 1970s, and the country's two television channels, while still publicly owned, became increasingly reliant on advertising. Later known as the public broadcasting fee, the licence fee was finally abolished in New Zealand in 1999, partly because the administration costs to collect the tax relative to the level of revenue was unviable, and also because the TV channels had become commercial revenue generators for the government with hardly any public service obligations left. Liechtenstein Liechtenstein has no broadcasters in its territory, so there is no broadcasting licence and subsequently no membership of the EBU. People in Liechtenstein watch Swiss, Austrian and German television. Luxembourg Luxembourg has never had a television licence, because when RTL (RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg) was established, it was simply a commercial broadcaster, and acted with public broadcasting dimension in its programming. Plus many Luxembourgers are trilingual in French, German and Luxembourgish, so many watched French, German and Belgian television as well as local TV, so putting a television licence in place would be seen as unfair. Monaco Monaco has never had a television licence, because when TMC (Télé Monte Carlo) was established, it was simply a government-owned commercial broadcaster, and acted with public broadcasting dimension in its programming. North America The reasons why the idea of a licence fee never caught on in Canada or the United States bear some differences. Canada The Canadian public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, lagged slightly behind the private American broadcasters in providing radio and then television service to Canadians. Thus unlike the BBC, the CBC has always had to compete with other English language stations for its viewing audience - or more accurately, for most of its viewing audience. Many, but not all, Canadians have access to radio and television signals from stations in the northern U.S. Thus, a licence fee to own a television would almost certainly have been viewed as patently unfair by those Canadians who could only watch one and later two channels, while others would pay presumably the same fee and get four and later five. Moreover, by the late 1950s through to early 1960s, close to every Canadian household would acquire a television set, thus giving limited weight to the argument that a licence fee is fair to those who do not own a television. As a result, the Canadian government chose to fund the CBC from its general revenues, although CBC Television also sells advertising to cover some of its expenses. United States In the United States, historically, privately owned "commercial" radio stations selling advertising quickly proved to be commercially viable enterprises during the first half of the twentieth century; though a few governments owned non-commercial radio stations (such as WNYC, owned by New York City from 1922 to 1997), most were owned by charitable organizations and supported by donations. The pattern repeated itself with television in the second half of that century, except that some governments, mostly states, also established educational television stations alongside the privately owned stations. The United States did eventually create the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in 1967, which eventually led to the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio; however, those are loose networks of non-commercial stations owned by state and local governments or charitable organizations, more like U.S. commercial networks (though there are some differences) than European public broadcasters. The CPB and virtually all government-owned stations are funded through general revenues, supplemented by funding in the form of memberships, and donations from private citizens and charitable organizations. Since the annual funding for public television in the United States is only about $2 per capita, a separate tax or fee for public television would probably prove unviable. Opinions of television licensing systems In most countries with a receiver licence there are opponents to the system. Some of the critics dislike the very idea of a mandatory charge for using a television, they regard it as an anomaly that a person can be forced to pay the licence fee while not using the services it pays for. Such claims have grown stronger with the rise of multi-channel digital television. Critics claim that the licence fee is unjustifiable on the basis that minority interest programming can now be broadcast on specialist commercial or subscription channels. Others argue that a fixed licence fee is a regressive tax, and thus unfair on low-income groups , have increased the proportion of funding that their public broadcaster gets from licence fee. In some cases such nations have found that the existing public service broadcasters could not compete with commercial broadcasters for advertising revenues. Conversely, others have found that the public broadcasters severely damage the prospects of commercial broadcasters by taking up a significant slice of available advertising revenue. 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