UK ISPs Could Face Government Broadband TV Tax 136
An anonymous reader writes "Industry regulator Ofcom, which yesterday launched the first phase of its review into public service broadcasting, is threatening to impose a tax on UK broadband ISPs to help resolve funding problems. The review covers all public service broadcasters, both publicly owned and commercial. Ofcom Chief Executive Ed Richards said: 'Public service broadcasting is at a crossroads. Viewers still want a mix of high quality UK-made content, but the traditional television model is not enough to meet all their needs. Today's proposals outline options for a securely-funded PSB future. Now is the time for a wide-ranging debate looking carefully and dispassionately at all the options.'"
Totally ridiculous (Score:5, Interesting)
BBC iPlayer uses bandwidth that customers pay for, they have a set limit which they are allowed and if they exceed it then they have to pay for more bandwidth.
So why should a tax be imposed on all customers? Ofcom is stupid and a waste of time, they're ruining the UK TV market by allowing more frequent adverts and now this.
Taxes (Score:3, Interesting)
Why is this a tax on Internet access, rather than being drawn from the general fund? Net access is something that is good for people to have, so putting a tax on it is a bad thing, especially since it's a regressive tax (people with lower income will spend proportionally more of their income on net access, so proportionally more of their income goes to the tax).
Taxes on specific things, rather than broad taxes that go to the general fund, should be for one of two reasons. Either the tax should be intended to discourage something (whether that's an ethical reason I'll leave to others, but if society making such judgements is reasonable then the tax is reasonable), or the tax should be intended to internalize an internal cost. So taxes on carbon emissions and other polluting activities make sense (though imho tradable permits are better), because there is a normally external cost paid by society that should be shifted to the ones creating the problem. Internet access is neither of those things -- and public content is most certainly not an external cost.
Re:Right... (Score:0, Interesting)
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396197.html
http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/nbbw.cgi
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396229.html
Pre-emptive strike (Score:2, Interesting)
I really don't know where I stand on this. On one hand, the ISPs have been massively overselling their capacity, and without access to "free" media a broadband connection is not of great interest to their customers, so my sympathy for them is limited.
On the other hand, the ISPs are in a difficult market right now (even if it is largely their own doing), and I'm not sure that squeezing them further is in the best interest of future internet in the UK. I'm also not convinced that taxes used to fund the BBC are used all that fairly. I'm generally in favour of government funding of the BBC, it means it's less controlled by commercial interests, but the current state of play is pretty unfair on the other media providers in the UK right now.
Re:Right... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Right... (Score:2, Interesting)
One of the largest ISPs in Britain is Sky, owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Murdoch is pretty much the most powerful man in Britain. The government daren't piss off Murdoch.
And Murdoch's News International pays virtually no tax in the UK, and I doubt he's about to start.
Ofcom can say what they like, but HMG aren't going to be setting aside time to pass legislation which will hit Murdoch in the pocket.
Maddness! (Score:3, Interesting)
We have collected more than 41.000 "signatures" in opposition of applying TV license fees to the internet and/or devices which have absolutely nothing to do with television.
I have written a quick background summary in English [stopcomputerlicens.dk] on my website. The rest of the site is in Danish
So unfortunately, the British are not the first to go down this sad path.
- Jesper
Re:everyone pays (Score:4, Interesting)
The comedy of the situation (Score:3, Interesting)
* People are complaining that they are more busy these days than ever
* We complaining that our education system is failing us and our children are growing up to be louts
* We keep hearing stories of kids being parented to greater and greater extents by TV
* We want to see the top public broadcasters cutting costs and funding to put a few more pennies back into our pockets
Good move everybody, good move.
Re:everyone pays (Score:4, Interesting)
If anything I think the BBC (and the Australian ABC) are generally over-critical of whatever government currently in power.
However I do not see that as a bad thing. In a sense this is a way of them demonstrating their independence. It is far more dangerous for a national broadcaster to be too soft on those in power than too hard.