# PublicTV.



## SENECA (Jul 26, 2012)

Hello, there!

 Taking advantage of this forum focused on FreeBSD and its members are multinational wanted to conduct a study / consultation related to the methods of financing of public television in various countries.
 I would like to obtain information about whether envuestros respective countries have to pay a tax to finance public televison.

 If your countries have to pay the tax I would also like to know if:
 In what amount shall be treated?
 Are there groups free or discounted?
 What that function parameter (for TV sets, for family, per household) paid the tax?

 Here in Spain and today the state funds public television and charge 100% of state budgets, but very proto ns will pawning to charge everyone.

 Thank you all for your time.

Bye bye.


P. S. Sorry for my English.


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## SirDice (Jul 26, 2012)

In the Netherlands we used to pay "kijk en luistergeld" (watch and listen-money). You had to pay a set amount per TV and radio you owned. After 1 January 2000 this got changed and we now all pay a tax. Not sure how much as it's lumped together with the other taxes we have to pay. Note however that this money is for the public broadcasting companies. 

You still have to pay a fee to get access, cable, satellite, etc. Most of that money is to pay for the commercial channels.


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## jalla (Jul 26, 2012)

In Norway the national broadcasting company (NRK) collects a tax which is payable by anyone who owns a television set (once per 'household'). The size of the fee is decided year-for-year by the parliament, and is currently about EUR 300.

After the first shock of commercial competition some 20 years ago, NRK has come out as an innovative and competitive player. In addition to traditional broadcasting of tv and radio everything is available as live streams, and generally all in-house productions can later be streamed or downloaded as podcast.

Personally I think this diverse, overall high-quality, and commecial-free offering is well worth the money.


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## SENECA (Jul 27, 2012)

Thanks for participating.

What Norway and the Netherlands no groups exempt from paying the tax?

If for example someone has a house (which is not usually lives) in the mountains (inherited from their grandparents) have to pay 2 times (the usual home + the house of the mountain) the tax?






Would be nice that people from more countries (uk, italy, france, germany, sweden, australia, japan, israel, etc) could tell us your case.



Bye bye.


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## mwatkins (Jul 27, 2012)

In Canada the major public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation or CBC as it is known here, is funded partly via its television operations (advertising) and partly from funds allocated to it from the government. There is no per-set tax.

CBC radio is completely advertising free and has no direct counterpart in the private sector. Many consider it an important national resource. CBC Television competes directly with the private sector broadcasters and as such is often under attack. Personally I think there is room for CBC TV, particularly its news and journalism aspects, some of which have no close peer in the private sector.

In short, general taxation revenue funds our major public broadcasters. Local television public broadcasters (i.e. community TV channels) are funded by cable companies; I'm not positive but suspect this is by mandate of the Canadian Telecommunications Act.


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## Crivens (Jul 27, 2012)

For germany, you may look here.
There are exemptions for some groups, but to obtain them is a real PITA. As a student you need to prove that you have less money as is supposed to be minimum life support, and in case you can do that they simply tell you to sue your parents for more. Because then you would have more than absolute minimum and could pay them.


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## SirDice (Jul 27, 2012)

SENECA said:
			
		

> If for example someone has a house (which is not usually lives) in the mountains (inherited from their grandparents) have to pay 2 times (the usual home + the house of the mountain) the tax?


Yes, I think so. It's still better than the old way though. In a 'normal' family, mom, dad, 2 kids, you're quite likely to have three TVs and three radios. With the old way you had to pay the fee six times (3 * TV + 3 * radio). But hardly anybody did.

On the other hand, even if you don't have a TV or a radio, you still have to pay the tax.


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## SENECA (Aug 22, 2012)

OK.

Thank you all for participating.
Now I get the better idea of â€‹â€‹how things are in other countries.

Bye bye.


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## chalbersma (Aug 22, 2012)

*USA's PBS*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_for_Public_Broadcasting

Mostly corporate sponsors and donations but about %25 percent taxes.


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## SENECA (Aug 22, 2012)

Thanks for participating chalbersma. 

Bye bye.


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