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| Europe |
| Ever wondered why Euro media is so left wing? |
| 2003-11-06 |
| Blame public television. In Finland (pop. 5,000,000) alone, mandatory fees to support public TV amount to probably $470m a year. To put that amount in perspective, Federal government contributions to PBS stations amount to about $400m a year here, and PBS puts out its version of current events and news to 290m people. License to View Needed for New Nokia TV Phone HELSINKI (Reuters) - Planning to buy the new Nokia cellphone that allows you to watch television? Don’t forget to tell the government -- they might want to charge you for it. Nokia unveiled the 7700 model last week, a space-age looking device with a large touch-screen display that gives users the possibility to watch TV. The 500 euro ($572) device is due to hit the shops in the second quarter of next year. But there could be a catch. Most European nations charge their citizens a license fee to cover the costs of public service television. In Finland, owning a TV set is the only condition for having to pay the license, which currently costs 165 euros ($188.8) per year. One license covers all television sets in the household. An official at Finland’s communications watchdog FICORA said users of the 7700 would need to have a license, but he did not think it would be an issue for owners. "If you can use it as a TV, it’s a TV set. But if you can pay that for that kind of telephone I think you can afford to pay the TV fee," said Esko Kotilainen, director of television fee administration at FICORA. Nokia said it was looking into regulatory matters with the phone, which will open up a new category of mobile entertainment devices. "One of the goals with doing this pilot project is to find out what the issues are that need to be resolved, and obviously, regulatory issues are a big part of that," said spokesman Damian Stathonikos at Nokia Mobile Phones. |
| Posted by:Zhang Fei |
| #4 $188 bucks for PBS. I don't think so. |
| Posted by: Tim 2003-11-6 7:57:01 PM |
| #3 What is it with public broadcasting? It's that little thing called 'accountability'. Public broadcasters are not accountable to their viewers. It doesn't matter what they put on, they still get paid. They don't have to please the audience, they don't have any sponsors they have to please, and the majority of the people have little choice of what to watch. One of the major reasons most governments are down on satellite dishes is because it gives the average citizen too many choices. It's just another subtle (sometimes not too subtle - kinda like a 20-pound sledge to the temples) form of control governments exert over their citizens. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-11-6 6:30:27 PM |
| #2 But we get such a great service for that money.In the past,the Finnish national broadcaster went out of its way to be balanced - for every story bashing the US,there had to be equal time given to praising the Soviet Union.They've since dropped half of that.(Guess which one?)What is it with public broadcasting? |
| Posted by: El Id 2003-11-6 5:56:28 PM |
| #1 Jeebus. How about "I already pay your tax, for the TVs at home. Now you want to charge me again because I have a portable? ESAD, jerks." |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-11-6 5:16:25 PM |