Watch: British High Court Officer Tries To Break Into Home To Collect On Unpaid TV License Fees
For many years the BBC has denied that they are a government funded or subsidized organization.
They base this claim on a dishonest technicality - The platform argues that it is purely supported by public dollars, as if it is the same as PBS in America. What it doesn't mention is that the government helps to strong-arm the public into paying that money to the BBC through enforced TV licensing.
And, if citizens are caught using a TV for the consumption of a list of taxable content sources without paying the fees, they can be fined or even jailed if they refuse to pay those fines.
The cost of a TV license in the UK is £159 per year. BBC outsources their sales process to a third-party company called Capita, who operate under the TV Licensing brand name. Capita’s salesmen rebrand themselves as “Enforcement Officers” or “TV License Inspectors”. This creates a false impression of legal authority, used to coerce victims into cooperating. BBC send salesmen to visit unlicensed addresses from their database. These salesmen receive a commission not only for every TV license they sell, but also every successful prosecution they obtain. They therefore attempt to collect evidence of unlicensed TV viewing during their visits. UK police are brought in to oversee the inspections carried out by Capita if there is resistance.
As insane as this probably sounds to most people in other countries, it gets even worse. If authorities believe you are watching BBC related content without a license, they can visit your home to collect on fines, and with a warrant, this includes breaking and entering to search your property.
The whole country lives between wallet inspections pic.twitter.com/xzgESKXwn8
— falconryfinance@bsky.social (@FalconryFinance) November 24, 2023
The rules surrounding TV license collection are rather gray, and it's hard to say if this particular officer (who claims to be a High Court officer) was committing a violation. This is why Americans refuse to give up their guns; once a population is disarmed there's no telling what kind of insults a bureaucracy will visit upon them. Their property is no longer theirs. Though some UK citizens are fighting back against inspections and the courts, if enforcement can simply enter their homes while they are gone, there's not much they can do.
The BBC TV licensing grift is, if anything, a perfect example of the insidious nature of big government bureaucracy joining with corporate influence. It's not always about mass censorship or mass surveillance; sometimes it's about nickel-and-diming the public to death. Sometimes it's about turning small things that should be basic rights into controlled privileges. Sometimes it's about piling up requirements and restrictions to keep the populace constantly anxious and always desperate to appease authorities. When you are perpetually afraid of drawing the attention of the all-seeing-eye, you're less likely to rebel against the system as a whole.