TV licence collection privatised and replaced with device licence fee in 5 years

Boggles wrote: »

Surely the Director General of RTE should be airing her opinion on legislation change in private to the government or relevant department?

TBF I imagine it wasn't her choice, but why has Bruton decided she should be the face of this particular kite flying exercise?

The tail wags the dog. Since RTE is the dominant media player they give the politicians the oxygen of publicity, in return the politicians all agree about how how essential "public service" broadcasting is, by regulating the license fee the ministers keep RTE on a leash. After all can't have the stickies getting out of hand and they need a way to counter any narratives set up in social media.

8-10 wrote: »

The vast majority already pay it, it's not like it's going up in price. You can avoid it by not having any devices.

You can avoid the tax today by not having any devices capable of receiving broadcast signals, this is what I have done. This no longer satisfies RTE and its associated vested interests e.g, the NUJ and SIPTU and the want the charge added to electricity bills (Dee Forbes) or Property Tax (Pat Rabbitte) and have previously suggested applying a levy to internet service providers customers.

Nowhere have they suggested that a subscription service for internet only connections managed by RTE is an option which is an entirely fair and equitable solution and it is technologically feasible today.

Gatling wrote: »

Seems the rte boss has it all figured out


"A new household charge to replace the current €160 TV licence fee should be introduced through utility bills, RTÉ boss Dee Forbes has said.

Adding the charge on to a gas or electricity bill will be efficient and easy, Ms Forbes said.

“A system linked to utility firms collecting a household media charge” is a tried and trusted solution elsewhere, she said.

Her intervention comes as Communications Minister Richard Bruton said he cannot see how laptops and phones will be detected under the new law, leaving the prospect of a flat general household charge more likely"


https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/add-new-broadcast-charge-onto-household-utility-bills-rt-chief-dee-forbes-38370891.html

usual answer from rte "get someone else to do it" they are absolutely terrified of been told to go and get their customers to pay for their service. because the institutionalized in there wouldn't have a clue.

8-10 wrote:

Unlucky for you I'd say. I'm hoping that if more people pay the price might come down. I don't think it's fair that not all people with a TV (so I'm not talking about you) pay the fee while I do. It's the same as the water charge

I've always paid it but I'm not keeping the head down anymore, if they privatise this I won't be paying it.

8-10 wrote: »

Unlucky for you I'd say. I'm hoping that if more people pay the price might come down. I don't think it's fair that not all people with a TV (so I'm not talking about you) pay the fee while I do. It's the same as the water charge

More seriously though even if everyone paid the current TV tax rate it would still not be enough as the mentality is to push the expenditure further and borrow against the guaranteed income plus there is also inflation, pensions and cost rises to take into account. Any reductions are just token amounts for the purpose of introducing the new tax.


Take income tax when it was introduced it was a small amount to people on high incomes but they have jacked it way up since then and applied it to everyone.

Take the carbon tax, introduced at a low rate, they intend to jack that up hard over the next few years and since that touches all energy prices which feed into every economic activity in the state you are going to see a spike in cost push inflation in the months after the next budget so you can see why Richard Bruton in particular is reticent to avoid imposing the TV tax on a wider audience. I don't think the government wants to see a yellow jacket protest on their hands like in France in response to the energy cost rises on the back of the taxation.

Separate it out. The commercial side of programming on one channel, and the public service aspects on another. Let the commercial side compete with the other commercial channels on an even footing, with funding derived only from the revenue it raises. Licence fee ring fenced for the public service broadcasting. Distribute the licence fee to any channels providing public service broadcasting (news, current affairs, documentaries, sports, arts etc) based on the quantity of public service broadcasting as part of their schedule.

And more importantly, require a annual accounting of all licence fee (and any other public money's) spending for all who receive it, with potential future licence fee distribution implications for mismanagement of spending or poor value spending.

NIMAN wrote: »

Because they won't accept that you can't access them. It's OK to say, 'i don't watch Rte or listen to Rte radio', but how do you prove that?

Majority of people have a TV and a radio at home. I don't believe all these people who say 'i don't have a tv'. A lot of people on threads like this seem to say that, but I think most of them are lying to try to make a point.

And those who say 'I haven't watched Rte in year's ' aren't being honest either.

I DO NOT have a TV. I got rid of it a decade ago and am fully compliant with the law. I don't have a radio either I am completely internet based for multimedia presentation.

RTE is so widely distributed across the country you are inevitably going to run into it when you visit neighbours and relations or go to pubs or do internet searches there is no way to avoid that. Neither do I go out of my way to seek RTE content. I consciously made the decision to save myself the time and expense of RTE which is why I am not happy that RTE will NOT leave me alone and does not deserve to tax my labour. I have enough bills to pay and family to feed.