In the letter about TV licences, H. Thomas asks “surely the TV licence has become a tax on TV set ownership?” (Mature Times Aug. edition).
Not so, on reading the TV licence or visiting the TV licence website you will find that the licence is what it always has been i.e. a licence required to receive all TV broadcasts on any device, on any channel and not just the BBC. The notion that commercial channels are free is nonsense: we all pay for them through the higher prices on the advertised goods which we buy in the shops regardless of whether we watch the channels or not.
In terms just of the BBC for the price of my licence I can receive (in my area) at least six TV channels in SD or HD and at least a similar number of radio stations national or regional and all for less than the cost of a daily newspaper. I challenge anyone to beat that for value! It is right that those on low incomes should be helped, but many seniors have private pensions and are well able to afford our TV licences. Please can we stop this peculiar British trait of attacking one of our few remaining success stories?
Roger Philpott
