In the United Kingdom, if you want to watch TV, you need a TV license. This is not a joke. The BBC, or British Broadcasting Corporation, puts on its programming free of charge. Vans patrol neighborhoods, scanning for TV usage and cross-referencing against lists of licensees. During the 80s, scary television infomercials warned of the dire results (fines) of not buying such a license.
In a way, the BBC is the “PBS” of the United Kingdom, though it's taxpayer-funded and not subject to fund-raisers. In return, it provides quality, serious programming, some of which is in Gaelic, and news jingles that have an alarming tendency to become ear-worms. Via the BBC World Service, it also provides the chimes of Big Ben on New Year's Day to cheer up homesick ex-pats.
The BBC now has TV, radio and Internet, not to mention hyper-local news websites; “The Archers” radio soap opera is generally considered the longest-running soap in the world. This may not be a good thing.
BBC TV licenses take the ads out of television
The flip side is that the BBC has no ads. Brits moving overseas often end up in shock to see commercials every 10 minutes on network TV. Even on the commercial broadcasting channels – i.e. ITV (Independent TV) and the Welsh-centric and often avant-garde Channel 4 only show ads every 15 to 20 minutes (once in a half-hour program, twice in an hour-long broadcast).
About 75 percent of the BBC's funding comes from the license. The only BBC where ads appear is the international arm, which sells BBC programming overseas. Such sales make up the shortfall.
Humorless BBC noted for its satire
The BBC was lovingly dubbed “Auntie Beeb” by Kenny Everett, long-deceased disk jockey, drag queen and humorist of the 80s. One of his favorite skits was showing the BBC's board of directors, a collection of ancient, cobweb-covered and sometimes even skeletal characters whiling the hours away in a dusty boardroom.
That kind of affection persists with the BBC today, a company that, while it has the reputation of no sense of humor at all, once broadcast an April Fool's news item about the spaghetti trees of Italy, and is noted for its satirical shows such as “Not The Nine o'Clock News” and “Spitting Image” -- and which, in turn, invites satire of its own.
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