Not true - only payable if you receive television signals. If you remove your aerial and de-tune your TV, you can use it for DVDs, videos, etc. We've had license inspectors round, they've looked at our setup and we haven't heard from them since!

£131.50 is a small price to pay for access to some of the world's best television and radio - there may be some people who don't access the television on a regular basis, however I doubt there is not a British person for whom the BBC has at some time been one of the most important cultural institutions in the country.

I can't remember when I last turned on my TV and I gladly pay my licence fee. It pays for my beloved BBC Radio 3, Radio 4, Radio Six Music, World Service, Radio Scotland and an excellent news site which is my first port of call every day on-line. The licence fee pays for a lot more than television. I could choose to throw-away the useless goggle-box and refuse to pay the licence fee but I want to support the excellent radio provision I get.

dang! I pay $480 (580 euros?) a year for basic cable in Santa Cruz, California--which you must have if you want to watch any television at all because there is only one broadcast channel. Cable includes two public television stations, but "BBC America" isn't included in this rate. For that I would pay $600 a year.

I dream of paying $110 a year for television!

£131.50 = $233; $480 = €396.
Note that the license fee doesn't guarantee you'll get a signal. Good question, though, about how many UK households might not get adequate broadcast reception. Readers?