How would you reform the tv licence collection ?

Sam Russell

FRIENDO wrote: »

I don't like the idea of putting the charge on the electricity bill.
Some private companies are involved in the collection and administration of electricity bills.
They won't do it for free, nor do I like the idea of private operators handling our money.
The current system has to change, and the present Govt will possibly do nothing and just kick the can down the road.

ESB Networks is the central provider of electricity billing. They add it to their charges. Simples.

Pawwed Rig

Could the people that want RTE not pay for it and leave the rest of us out of it?

alan partridge aha

Get rid of Darcy and Tubs off the airwaves and I'd say people would be queuing up to pay the licence.:D

icdg

Private companies are everyday involved in the administration of income tax, PRSI, USC, VAT, and other taxes besides so I'm not sure why there can be any objection to them being invovled in the administration of the licence fee on that basis - it's a horse that well and truly bolted many decades ago.

However, I am now personally of the belief that there is no will to reform the system any more and that the present system will be here for at least the lifetime of the present Government and probably the one after that.

FRIENDO

I do hope that the collection of licence fee is reformed someway.
The evasion figure at the moment is somewhere between 13% - 14%,
The present collection system is outdated and expensive also I would imagine.

zg3409

First I think it is unrealistic to close RTE. Possibly reform, but closing is unrealistic. I think there is a need for some sort of subsidy to RTE/whoever is producing content that is deemed nonviable but needed.

There is also the costs of broadcasting Saorview which need to be paid (now called 2rn). It is impossible to make RTE TV a paid service as paid for Saorview would never work. Closing down Saorview will never happen due to a need to have TV broadcasts not based outside Ireland.

RTE has problems, but to be fair much of the content they make in house, is good quality, when you compare it to state broadcasters of similar size in other countries. If you look at the few actual programmes they do produce you can see why there is a need to fill the schedule with cheap imported content. This non Irish content help subsidise the rest, and prevent non stop repeats of home grown content. We are very lucky in Ireland not to have to pay the BBC licence, yet have access to most UK channels for free. Most people in the UK cannot access Irish channels.

The OP asked the question of how to collect the money, I agree an ESB or property type tax is fairest. I would also probably save money wasted on current collection, and put RTE in a more stable position. The issue at the moment is the politicians are afraid of a "new tax" and the unstable government. I think the can will continue to be pushed down the road as it is an unpopular decision to be made.

FRIENDO

zg3409 wrote:

We are very lucky in Ireland not to have to pay the BBC licence, yet have access to most UK channels for free. Most people in the UK cannot access Irish channels.

Yes we are lucky, but this may not last for long, possibly another 20 years.
Adventually terrestrial and satellite could have its day, we could be looking at Internet streaming being the alternative. If this happens overspill will no longer be a luxury as viewing of stations will possibly be through an ip address.

icdg

Internet streaming won't replace broadcast TV for as long as it can't cope with live events. One of my pet peeves with both RTE Player and 3Player is that, not only do neither have the infrastructure to cope with live events, but they'll make you sit through three minutes worth of adverts before you see anything - even if the event is in progress. Furthermore if the stream drops (as it is wont to do) you've to sit through the three minutes of adverts again. During the Euros I attempted to watch a match on the 3player on a bus and after my third time being forced to watch the same adverts I gave up.

Sam Russell

icdg wrote: »

Internet streaming won't replace broadcast TV for as long as it can't cope with live events. One of my pet peeves with both RTE Player and 3Player is that, not only do neither have the infrastructure to cope with live events, but they'll make you sit through three minutes worth of adverts before you see anything - even if the event is in progress. Furthermore if the stream drops (as it is wont to do) you've to sit through the three minutes of adverts again. During the Euros I attempted to watch a match on the 3player on a bus and after my third time being forced to watch the same adverts I gave up.

Exactly. The greed of both RTE and TV3 comes to the fore. They should have built the demand before demanding we watch irrelevant, bad adverts before we see anything. It is particularly bad because the technology does not work reliably.

Elmo

Sam Russell wrote: »

Exactly. The greed of both RTE and TV3 comes to the fore. They should have built the demand before demanding we watch irrelevant, bad adverts before we see anything. It is particularly bad because the technology does not work reliably.

I didn't think RTE did it as much at the beginning of the programme. TV3 even for a 5minute programme has 10 minutes of ads.

2rn should really start providing large scale servers that can cope with Internet Streaming.

Sam Russell

Elmo wrote: »

I didn't think RTE did it as much at the beginning of the programme. TV3 even for a 5minute programme has 10 minutes of ads.

2rn should really start providing large scale servers that can cope with Internet Streaming.

I do not know about TV3 as I never tried to watch it but I have had to give up on the RTE Player as it is so bad. I would have thought that they should build the audience before imposing adverts - at least not before the programme starts.

Elmo

Sam Russell wrote: »

I do not know about TV3 as I never tried to watch it but I have had to give up on the RTE Player as it is so bad. I would have thought that they should build the audience before imposing adverts - at least not before the programme starts.

unless the show is sponsored I don't think any programme should start with ads, happy to sit through me at breaks. Though last time I watch 4all it was the same 4 ads constantly

Phat Dick

Nonsense is back in the news today about a household levy and local newspapers getting a slice

mikeecho

The only people I know that have a tv licence are oap' s

And they don't pay for it either.

... oh no.. I've said too much

icdg

Doesnt matter what you said, we don’t drag up old threads....