[daniel_williams]

B121 - Abolition of the Television License Bill 2009, geetar

Abolition of the Television License Bill 2009

An Act abolishing the television license in the United Kingdom.

BE IT ENACTED by The Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, in accordance with the provisions of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

1. Abolition of the television license fee in the United Kingdom
1) No household or individual should have to pay the license fee in order to watch terrestrial television, either in monochrome or colour.

2. The repeal of the following:
1) Parts 1,2,3 in their entirety of the Broadcasting Act of 1990. Also, section 180, part 10 of the same act.
2) Part 3, chapter 2, section 231 of the Communications Act 2003.

3. Governmental Grants
1)The Foreign and Commonwealth Office financial grant to the BBC World Service shall be retained

4. Exemptions:
1) This act shall not apply to satellite television broadcasters

5. Short title, Commencement and Extent
1) This act many be cited as the Television Licensing Act, 2009
2) The act shall come into force exactly 6 months from the date at which it is passed
3) This act applies to the United Kingdom and its crown dependencies.

[Kyalimers]

Still a no from me.

[paperclip]

Always gonna be a no from me tbh.

[ThePants999]

Looks good to me.

[The Procrastinator]

God I hope so!! My aerial isn't even WORKING and I don't watch tv and I'm still expected to fricken well pay. Ridiculous!

[TIGIbedhead]

BBC is, on the whole, ****. They can make money through advertising like everybody else and then maybe they'll be motivated to do a better job.

[Matthew_Lowson]

My opinion hasnt changed, Yes

[davireland]

Hear! Hear!

[Indievertigo]

Are we going to keep the BBC as a publicly owned, profit driven broadcaster? If we're going to commercialise it, we may as well go the full whack and sell it.

[geetar]

Just to explain the logic behind the two amendments:

In regard to section 3, it was pointed out to me that the World Service, and the FCO grant that allows it to run, is very useful in the many countries over the world without a free press. I do not feel that this compromises the original intent of the bill, rather, it is simply a recognition of the good that the WS does in this regard. When writing/amending a bill, it is important not to let rigid idealism get in the way of common-sense reality, and this is the purpose behind this particular amendment.

As to section 5, the original three months is not likely to be long enough to provide the BBC time enough to make such a drastic change to how it operates. Six months, I feel, is long enough to do so, but still short enough to keep the impetus behind the bill.

[L i b]

Yes, yes, yes.

Criminalised for not paying a tax on watching television? An intolerable and ridiculous state of affairs. We might as well go back to Middle Ages window tax.

[DayneD89]

This is very well thought out bill geetar, and you seem to have a lot of support from the conservatives, so my congratulations, though I don't think my position has changed since that which I stated in the lib dem forum.

[daniel_williams]

Division!! Clear Lobbies!!