I've just been reading a fascinating thread about TV Licensing over at The Student Room forums. It's quite an old thread, but the information in the opening post gives a very accurate guide to students about TV licence requirements.
Having read the entire thread it is clear that there is some misunderstanding about who the main players are in the TV licence game. In this post I'll clarify the situation.
The government department responsible for setting the fee is the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The DCMS decide the cost of the licence fee. They delegate the administration, collection and enforcement of the fee to the Television Licensing Authority.
The Television Licensing Authority, referred to as simply the Licensing Authority in legislation, is the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The BBC is responsible for collecting and enforcing the fee. It wouldn't do for the BBC's finest to extort money from the non-viewing public, so they contract out their TV licence duties to several private companies. These private companies, doing the BBC's dirty work, are collectively referred to as TV Licensing (TVL). TV Licensing is a BBC trade mark.
The companies operating under the TV Licensing name are Capita Business Services Ltd, iQor UK Ltd, PayPoint Network Ltd and PayPoint Collections Ltd and Proximity London Ltd.
Capita are responsible for the bulk of TV licence fee administration; iQor and PayPoint are responsible for fee payment services; Proximity London is responsible for marketing and PR.
Proximity London, who had a previous TVL contract terminated for dishonest marketing, subcontract most of their TVL work to Fishburn Hedges Boys Williams Ltd (who are regular readers of this blog - hi guys), Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO Ltd and PHD Media Ltd.
I shall focus a bit more on Capita. When you ring TVL to complain about their unreasonable correspondence, you will also be speaking to a Capita employee. If you are assaulted on your doorstep by a TVL representative, that too will be a Capita employee. The TV licence system is riddled with Capita.
It's very easy to get confused with all these different private companies sucking licence fee payer's money away from the BBC, but make no mistake that the BBC is ultimately responsible for all aspects of the fee.
Having read the entire thread it is clear that there is some misunderstanding about who the main players are in the TV licence game. In this post I'll clarify the situation.
The government department responsible for setting the fee is the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The DCMS decide the cost of the licence fee. They delegate the administration, collection and enforcement of the fee to the Television Licensing Authority.
The Television Licensing Authority, referred to as simply the Licensing Authority in legislation, is the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The BBC is responsible for collecting and enforcing the fee. It wouldn't do for the BBC's finest to extort money from the non-viewing public, so they contract out their TV licence duties to several private companies. These private companies, doing the BBC's dirty work, are collectively referred to as TV Licensing (TVL). TV Licensing is a BBC trade mark.
The companies operating under the TV Licensing name are Capita Business Services Ltd, iQor UK Ltd, PayPoint Network Ltd and PayPoint Collections Ltd and Proximity London Ltd.
Capita are responsible for the bulk of TV licence fee administration; iQor and PayPoint are responsible for fee payment services; Proximity London is responsible for marketing and PR.
Proximity London, who had a previous TVL contract terminated for dishonest marketing, subcontract most of their TVL work to Fishburn Hedges Boys Williams Ltd (who are regular readers of this blog - hi guys), Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO Ltd and PHD Media Ltd.
I shall focus a bit more on Capita. When you ring TVL to complain about their unreasonable correspondence, you will also be speaking to a Capita employee. If you are assaulted on your doorstep by a TVL representative, that too will be a Capita employee. The TV licence system is riddled with Capita.
It's very easy to get confused with all these different private companies sucking licence fee payer's money away from the BBC, but make no mistake that the BBC is ultimately responsible for all aspects of the fee.
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