No television in this house

We've been tv free for nearly 3 years now. (Kids are all fine and doing well in school.)

I've had similar experiences with moving and getting a stream of alarming looking letters from TV Licensing. Although I don't have a TV, don't want one and haven't owned one for several years, these letters still left a bad taste in my mouth. I'd done nothing wrong but was made to feel guilty of avoiding paying for a license until proven innocent. I think the hold of television has become so pervasive and is such an accepted part of most people's everyday life, the simple fact that some choose not to have a TV seems to have escaped the authorities' attention. I'm no elitist (an accusation often levelled at individuals who refuse to be duped and stunned by the ocean of eye candy that droozles out of TV sets 24/7), but, like a previous comment highlighted, am amazed at how dumbstruck and confused people become when you say that you don't own a TV. I like to read and listen to music and when I want to see a film, I go to a cinema. I also watch DVDs on my computer occasionally. This really is enough home entertainment for me! I like to spend time outside and just don't want someone else's prescribed notion of entertainment invading my home through the telly when I'm in, distracting me from my own mind and other (real) people. :)

The license lets us enjoy advert free channels. I hope they dont scrap that. I find there are still some good, entertaining and informative programs available. You guys are throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Television? Bah! An invention for fools. I have a huge library of books, the radio and the Internet. I am a free-thinking inteligent person. I do not need to be spoon fed garbage by the One-Eyed Cyclops. I don't have to be told to buy the latest consumer junk by an advertisement featuring banging music and flash graphics so I feel inferior to my fellow person. I feel secure that when the people around me are constantly blithering about 'Big Bruv or 'Eastenders'(shiver), I can mess with their heads by starting an intelligent conversation.

I have recently purchased a very nice Samsung 32" widescreen HD TV. I have simultaneously stopped watching television because I don't have an aerial port in my flat!
Am I missing it? Nope. Got myself a sweet Samsung DVD player and I already have a PS2.
Yeah, I'm really gonna miss watching lots of sad people marooned on desert islands or the Death News....
If you need news, we have the net....not quite so constricted an agenda, I think you'll agree.
For anyone who is currently enjoying the protracted death-throes of the major record labels: here comes the demise of television (and the triumph of Peoplevision)
License? The set runs fine without one......

I live in a rented flat and for the past 5 years have never bought a tv licence. Why should I? My cable tv is a free package included with the landline and broadband I pay for. I happen to watch hardly any tv, but when I do it's mostly Film4 or UKTV History. What right does the BBC have to demand a licence fee from me? It's time the fee was scrapped. It's archaic and unfair.

Kenny, good for you, what a breath of fresh air. Television is rotting kid's brains and dumbing down the entire nation, what you've chosen to do is very sensible indeed. Kudos and positivity to you and your stepdaughter, you sound like an absolutely decent human being. Good luck to you, and nevermind the TV-dependent morons!

=) *HUGS*

Seems like a whole lotta hassle to me. Wouldn't it just be easier to pay the licence fee and watch what you want, when you want.
I don't agree with the principal of the licence fee and think it should be scrapped but I am bugg*red if I could put that much effort and inconvenience into avoiding it.
But there you go, each to their own!

Foxy Cleopatra,

>I am intrigued as how do you watch DVDs without a TV? On your PC, right?

Sometimes yes, but only if I feel like slumming it. Normally I would watch movies on a big screen. Projectors have come down in price and my Infocus X2 cost £500 several years ago. I'm sure you can pick them up cheaper. Also, I saw an article on Toms Hardware Guide about building a DIY projector using an old LCD monitor with a dead back-light and one of those cheap school OHP type projectors. All the parts can be found on eBay for around £50-60 apparently.

Anyway.. I use a proper projector which as I said I purchased a couple of years ago for under £500. The screen display in my living room is about 1.2 metres by 2.5 metres. Hook up some good surround speakers to your DVD player - instant cinema! Although daytime viewing isn't practical, evening movies are quite a pleasure (crack open that popcorn) and the best thing of all is that no TV licence is required.

I am intrigued as how do you watch DVDs without a tv? On your pc, right?

I'm sure somewhere the TV license covers you for radio too and if your pc has a tv card, you should have a licence.

Back in the day, the TV license funded the BBC for broadcasting, which is why channels 3 and four had adverts. Nowadays, the BBC make enough money from their productions and selling DVD / videos of their products, the license is, in my opinion, a waste of money and now just wrong.

I have a TV and a dvd player, I enjoy watching films and the occasional programme, but it's mostly used as a screen for my nintendo games consoles.

I don't pay for a tv license, because I don't agree with it principally. Nor am I on the electoral roll since moving house 3 years ago, I am amazed how little junk mail I now get compared to before. Also, I have no intention of having children: Society nowadays is so poor compared to what it used to be, and it was pretty flakey when I was growing up. (I'm now 26.)

When I dump my television, the only thing I will miss is BBC Ceefax.

I know what you mean about the bombardment of letters from TV Licensing. One enterprising soul has published his whole collection on the web - www.bbctvlicence.com
Also, other interesting information on that TV Licensing is not actually an organisation - its a brand name. The actual organisation is the BBC itself!