DVDizzy Forum

I'm asking because <strike>a tight-fisted troublemaker</strike> somebody has worked out that when analogue TV is turned off in the UK, it will mean the end of the cheaper black and white TV licence, being as all digital receivers can pickup and output a colour picture (even if the connected television is black and white).

But surely nobody has a black and white TV in this day and age? And even if they did, it wouldn't be the only television in the house?

Presumably any black and white TV would only have a R/F connection, thus making it incompatiable with digiboxes anyway.

I would imagine most of the people who do have black and white TVs are over 65 anyway, meaning that they get a free TV licence anyway! I'm all for choice, but sometimes technology forces people to move on.

So do you have a working, in use black and white TV in your house, even if its just in the guest room or something and hardly ever used?

I'm not from the UK - I'm from the U.S. (Wisconsin)...but I was born in 1977 and I can't ever remember EVER having a b/w tv in our household, and we weren't rich by any means. In fact, I don't know a single person in this day and age who has one...even in a spare bedroom.

I have an old Emerson 13" b&w television in my garage workshop. I have had it for over 25 years, and the only thing I have ever done to it is replaced the channel selector. It still has a great picture (though it IS black and white) and great sound, and it is usually great company when I am tinkering about in the garage.

My Grandma still has a black and white TV. It's never used and lives in the shed, but since it was a wedding present she hasn't the heart to throw it out. It's from the 50s and has knobs to tune in instead of buttons, but it's still in working order.

You know when last I heard black and white TV owners don't have to pay any licence at all! Also being 65 doesn't qualify you for a free TV licence, my parents are over 65 and they still have to pay full price.

ichabod wrote:You know when last I heard black and white TV owners don't have to pay any licence at all!

Well, that will be why this guy is kicking up such a fuss on TV then!

Also being 65 doesn't qualify you for a free TV licence, my parents are over 65 and they still have to pay full price.

You're right. I've just checked and you have to be 75 or over.

We tend to keep any old junk that might be "useful" or "interesting", so I guess I've got a more or less working B/W set somewhere. But I'm far from sure - it hasn't been used for years - or even "decades", I could almost say...

I have an old portable TV that's B/W...does that count?

I have one but I don't think it counts. It's a tiny portable tv and I hardly ever use it unless I'm working and March Madness is on or if I'm traveling and I'd miss a Packers game.

Being born in 1975 (in Wisconsin as well) the first tv I remember was my dad's huge black & white tv. After we moved my dad bought a color tv and was an early adopter of both VCR and DVD.

I keep applying for treasury jobs in Wisconsin but they are hard to come by. Hopefully I'll be able to move back there someday. Or even better yet, I'll move to Orlando.

I don't have one but I do know a few people who have very small mini-TVs in their kitchen that are black & white only. Actually, they may not even have them anymore, as it's been a while since I've seen them.

-Aaron

No I do not have a b&w TV - my parents have a B&O TV LOL...

I had a small b&w tv when I was little. I want to say it was about a 6 inch screen, but I'm not sure. I know it was small enough that I could carry it in one hand.

Have I got a Bowers & Wilkins TV set in my house? No, I don't think so...

Not from the UK, so please excuse my ignorance, but what is this "TV license" thing you are talking about? Do you actually have to pay to have a TV and receive over-the-air broadcasts?

Bill W wrote:Not from the UK, so please excuse my ignorance, but what is this "TV license" thing you are talking about? Do you actually have to pay to have a TV and receive over-the-air broadcasts?

Yes, its how the BBC is funded. It's not unusual, in fact most other countries have state funded TV channels in some form or other (although the BBC is not run by the state - see how the UK Government went after the BBC for the Sexed Up Dossier reporting by the BBC)

It means that we have the following stations without advertising (BBC1-4) plus Cbeebies and CBBC for children, News24 and BBC Parliament, also without advertising. We also get 5 mainstream radio stations, another 5 digital radio stations and a network of local radio stations (without advertising) and the BBC website (according to Alexa, the 23rd most popular site on the internet) again without advertising.

This also means that the BBC doesn't have to bow to any commercial pressure - in theory the news is 100% independent, and the BBC can show programmes other commercial channels cannot (for example, the BBC showed a recording of Jerry Springer - The Opera which, even in the UK, would be unlikely to attract commercial sponsors.

In addition, programmes aren't pulled before they are finished because they fail to attract a big enough audience, and the BBC has to provide a minimum quality and standard of public service programming (News, current affairs and documentries).

We also do have various commercial stations. ITV, C4 and Five are free to air and funded by adverts (just like your Networks) while Sky and other channels are satellite/cable and require a subscription.

Bill W wrote:Not from the UK, so please excuse my ignorance, but what is this "TV license" thing you are talking about? Do you actually have to pay to have a TV and receive over-the-air broadcasts?

Yep - that way we can in some countries have television where programs are not interrupted by commercials.

When my dad's pop passed away, he left his B&W TV here. It worked great until close to 9 years ago, when it died and we junked it. So currently, no, we have no B&W TV, but we had one for three years.

Cheers,
JM

Yeah my grandfather had a B&W TV that was still working around like in the late 80's. I sold it on e-bay like a couple of years ago and made about $500 on the B&W TV.

I don't have a black and white TV, but we did still have one being used a bit only as far back as 1992. The black and white TV wasn't the main television set towards the end of it's use, but rather the extra TV that lay in the kitchen. I know some people who still had a monotone set as their lesser kitchen set as late as 2000, actually.

However, despite being four when it went bye-bye, I can still recall watching the particular set; one fond memory involves me as a four year old rushing from the kitchen to the living room seeing the image twice, once in colour and once in black and white. What was interesting was that the black and white TV seemed to pick up the signal a few seconds later than the colour one, around the same time as it took me to run between the two rooms.

Thanks for the info on British TV. I guess they have the same thing in Japan (where I lived for a while, but really didn't watch much TV). Apparently the NHK man goes around and collects the fee, even if you don't have a TV. How do they collect the fee in the UK? And how do they make sure there are no free-loaders?

The license can be payed at places like shops and post offices (or at least it could).

As far as finding those who haven't payed, there are detctor vans which drive up and down and supposedly can trace whether a house is receiving a signal or not through their aerial. Whether or not they can or not...

The other method they have is simpler, basically they have a list of every address in the country and if an address has no television license, then someone goes round to the house and if they find a TV, it's fining time!