Television Licensing in the UK

A ***television licence or broadcast receiving licence*** is an official record of payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence fee paid. The licence is sometimes also required to own a radio or receive radio broadcasts. A TV licence is therefore effectively a hypothecated tax for the purpose of funding public broadcasting, thus allowing public broadcasters to transmit television programmes without, or with only supplemental, funding from radio and television advertisements. However, in some cases the balance between public funding and advertisements is the opposite – the Polish TVP broadcaster receives more funds from advertisements than from its TV tax.

Whilst TV licensing is rare in most of the world, half of the countries in Asia, a few countries in Africa, and two-thirds of the countries in Europe use television licences to fund public television.

### Background

The early days of broadcasting presented broadcasters with the problem of how to raise funding for their services. Some countries adopted the advertising model, but many others adopted a compulsory public subscription model, with the subscription coming in the form of a broadcast licence paid by households owning a radio set (and later, a TV set).

The UK was the first country to adopt the compulsory public subscription model with the licence fee money going to the BBC, which was formed on January 1, 1927 by Royal Charter to produce publicly funded programming yet remain independent from government, both managerially and financially. The licence was originally known as a wireless licence.

In the UK, a television licence is required for each household where television programmes are watched or recorded as they are broadcast, irrespective of the signal method (terrestrial, satellite, cable or the Internet). The licence fee is used almost entirely to fund BBC domestic radio, television and internet services. The money received from the fee represents approximately 75% of the cost of these services, with most of the remainder coming from the profits of BBC Worldwide, a commercial arm of the corporation which markets and distributes its content outside of the United Kingdom, and operates or licences BBC-branded television services and brands.[63] The BBC also receives some funding from the Scottish Government via MG Alba to finance the BBC Alba Gaelic-language television service in Scotland. The BBC used to receive a direct government grant from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to fund television and radio services broadcast to other countries, such as the BBC World Service radio and BBC Arabic Television.

In many jurisdictions, television licences are enforced. The BBC states that "television detector vans" are employed by TV Licensing in the UK. Besides claims of (usually undisclosed) sophisticated technological methods for the detection of operating televisions, detection of illegal television sets can be as simple as the observation of the lights and sounds of an illegally used television in a user's home at night. Detection is made much easier because nearly all houses do have a licence, so only those houses that do not have a licence need to be checked.

### History of Broadcast Licensing

#### 1904: Amateur radio reception licensing

The introduction of receiving licences was implemented by the General Post Office (GPO) using powers within the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1904. Section 2 of the Act allowed the Postmaster General to charge for the issuing of licenses permitting the "experimental" receipt of radio transmissions. The Wireless Telegraphy Act 1904 was introduced as a temporary measure, and required annual extensions by Parliament until replaced by the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1924.

A return made to Parliament in June 1906 showed that in the first two years of operation only sixty eight receiving licences were issued. By April 1913 the number had, according to figures then released by the GPO, risen to two thousand.

#### August 1, 1914: Suspension of broadcast receiving licences

The First World War resulted in all licence holders receiving notice on August 1, 1914 from the Postmaster General that they were required to dismantle their receiving equipment, their broadcast receiving licences having been suspended.

#### 1920: Re-introduction of broadcast receiving licences

In 1920, the Post Office licensed a small number of experimental transmitting stations, making general broadcasts.

#### October 18, 1922: The British Broadcasting Company

At the instigation of the Post Office, the British Broadcasting Company was established by a group of radio manufacturers to produce radio programmes for the users of their products. Initially the broadcasts were funded by the sale of radio receiving sets, and carried sponsored programmes.

As part of the agreement with the Post Office, the Postmaster General started to apply a condition to broadcast receiving licences that the equipment used be "Type Approved by Postmaster General" and marked with the BBC logo.

Initially, the fee for receiving licences was 10 shillings, and remained at that rate until after the Second World War.

#### January 1, 1927: The British Broadcasting Corporation

With the forming of the public British Broadcasting Corporation, the Post Office dedicated nearly the entirety of licence fee income to the funding of the BBC.

#### November 2, 1936: Launch of the BBC Television Service

The standard broadcast receiving licences covered reception of the BBC's 405-line television service between November 1936 and September 1939 at no additional cost.

#### September 1, 1939: Suspension of television broadcasting

The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 led to the suspension of television broadcasts in the UK.

#### June 1, 1946: Television Licencing introduced in the UK

When television broadcasts in the UK were resumed after a break due to the Second World War, it was decided to introduce a television licence fee in order to fund the service. When first introduced, the licence covering the monochrome-only single-channel BBC television service cost £2. The licence was originally issued by the General Post Office (GPO), which was then the regulator of public communications within the UK. The GPO also issued licences for home radio receivers powered by mains electricity and was mandated by laws beginning with the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1904, to administer the licensing system. Households which bought a TV licence did not need to hold a separate radio licence as the TV licence covered both TV and radio reception.

#### January 1, 1968: Introduction of the "colour supplement"

The BBC started regular colour TV broadcasts in the summer of 1967. On January 1, 1968, a "colour supplement" of £5 was added to the existing £5 monochrome licence fee; the combined colour licence fee was therefore £10.

#### February 1, 1971: Abolition of the radio only licence

The radio-only licence was abolished when it was £1.25 (actually £1-5s-0d in pre-decimal UK currency).

#### April 1, 1991: BBC takes over television licensing

The BBC took over the administration of television licensing in the UK, assuming the responsibility of licence fee collection and enforcement. The BBC is the statutory authority for issuing television licences (before April 1991, the statutory authority was the UK Home Office), although the UK Government retains certain powers and responsibilities with regards to TV licences.