Television licence
Summary
A television licence (or broadcast receiver licence) is an official licence required in many countries for the reception of television (and sometimes also radio) broadcasts. It is a form of hypothecation tax to fund public broadcasting, thus allowing public broadcasters to transmit programmes without, or with only supplemental, funding from radio and television commercials.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 1st January 1927 by Royal Charter to produce publicly funded programming yet remain independent from government, both managerially and financially.
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BBC paid the Earth for Lonely Planet
Now, five years later, it may be selling it off on the cheap. It's all over the head of us poor licence fee payers.
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Top EU court rules against "live stream" web broadcaster
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's highest court dealt a blow to companies that retransmit free-to-air television programming over the Internet on Thursday, ruling that original broadcasters have the right to prohibit any such redistribution.
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YourTV wins local television licence for Blackpool and Preston
Ofcom decision marks the end of the first phase of a project which has awarded licences in 19 localities.
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And that's the way it was: February 25, 1928
On February 25, 1928, Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, DC, became the first holder of a US television license. W3XK, the first TV station, began broadcasting from Jenkins Labs later that year. Initially, the station, which aired programming five nights a week, could only transmit silhouette images due to narrow bandwidth; but its capacity was soon expanded, and actual black-and-white.
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NUJ hits back at David Cameron criticism of BBC strike
Union accuses PM of setting broadcaster on 'path to decline' and misunderstanding value of quality programming.
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Ofcom awards local TV licence for Leeds to Made Television
Fourth franchise win for company chaired by former BSkyB executive and Top Up TV co-founder Ian West.
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Manchester local TV licence won by YourTV group
Consortium backed by ex-BBC chairman Sir Michael Lyons to launch service by October after beating four other bidders.
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Evening Standard awarded London local TV licence
The new channel will be called London Live and is expected to be received in 4 million homes.
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Lebedevs win London local TV licence
Independent owners' Evening Standard-backed service seen as most lucrative licence to be awarded since Channel 5 in 1997.
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Standard wins bid for London local TV licence
Bid by consortium of regional publishers loses out.
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