Many years ago they used to say that they sent round vans with spinning roof racks full of electrical equipment that can detect if you were watching a TV

In reality they have a list of all unlicensed addresses and send round court empowered snoopers who can enter and inspect your property if they have reasonable grounds to suspect you are watching TV without a licence (A satellite dish on the outside of your property is probably a good example of reasonable grounds for suspicion)

What if you blocked out all the BBC channels or had a TV that could only receive non BBC frequencies. Do you still have to pay this tax anyways?

And how does watching TV programming over the computer monitor work?

Here.
• You only watch catch-up TV, not live TV. If you never watch a live programme and only watch a show after it has been broadcast via a channel's online player such as iPlayer (as opposed to watching it recorded on a digital recorder), then you don't need a TV licence. This might sound like an easy way to get out of paying £145.50 a year – but you do need to make a declaration to TV Licensing saying you only watch catch-up services and never live television (you'll be refunded for the time remaining on your licence if you paid in full). But TV Licensing officers may visit your address to "verify the situation", and while they won't disclose how they do it, they say they can tell if you've been watching live television. In which case, you could face a hefty fine if you've declared otherwise.
• You only watch movies and box sets on your DVD player, or streaming sites such as LoveFilm, Netflix, YouTube or Curzon on Demand. If you supplement catch-up TV with movies on demand that you either pay per view, pay a subscription for or watch for free on YouTube, then you don't have to pay for a separate licence. But, again, you do have to make a declaration that you are not watching anything live.
• You're 75 years old or over. When you turn 75, you are entitled to a free television licence, which will be sent to you every three years, provided TV Licensing has your national insurance number. There are also reductions available for visually impaired people and care-home residents.

No, your PBS also gets supported by tax money which you are required by law to pay.
So your "whisky tango foxtrot" really does ring hollow as you pay just the same as other nations do, the method is different but the funding requirement is pretty much the same.
Though the Brits can opt out of paying if they don't use the service, but you can't if you are a US taxpayer as it is all centralised.

IIRC August has Tribes blocked. So here's Tribes's answer to August which explains Augusts question.

:yep:

Betonov&AVG.
You two are going to get in trouble, you know certain people on this forum throw a fit if I am quoted:03:

:O:

:haha::haha::haha:

I'm a rebel :O:

Every household pays a fee for our national tv (RTV), while our commercial channels are free. I think there's a way to avoid paying, but don't know how :hmmm:

Only one, and that would be the website's owner himself. Now he'll probably give me grief again, but I felt in the interest of fairness it had to be pointed out. Again.

August owns Subsim? :o

I've never heard August openly complain about people quoting Tribesman.

Then again, I haven't heard everything.

Never mind. :shucks:

I don't think anyone will mind us quoting Tribes in todays context.

It was a usefull explanation without the mocking so the intent was not to wreak havoc

Over here the tax is included in the electrical bill.
Now don't ask me how much it is. I don't know. I'm off the grid :sunny: