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Letters from BBC Television
Licensing
At the end of 2005, I decided not to renew my television
licence. I found that my television viewing consisted almost entirely of tapes
of old programmes purchased off Ebay, and that my watching of broadcast
television was less than an hour a week.
I therefore decided to stop watching broadcast television and
spend the £135.50 saved from the TV licence fee on video tapes. It was a
good decision; I now pay for what I watch, and not for what I don't watch.
The only fly in the ointment has been aggressive letters from TV
Licensing (TVL), which collects the licence fee on behalf of the BBC. TVL/BBC
sends millions of letters every year to people who do not watch broadcast
television, demanding payment. For many people, these letters can be very
frightening.
But the letters are a bluff; they are computer-generated.
TVL/BBC have none of the powers their letters imply and, with a little
knowledge, people can stand up to the bullies. The purpose of this website is
to share my TVL/BBC letters as I receive them, and to provide useful
information for people who have no time for the BBC.
January 2008
I enter my third year as an unlicensed
person. I have saved £402.50 by not paying TVL/BBC. Today, I receive my
21st letter.

The statement "Action required immediately" is a lie;
there is no "requirement" for me to take action; TVL/BBC may request
action, and I am entitled to ignore them. The back of the envelope has a bold
black flap:

Inside:

Mr Hales says
that the TVL/BBC caught "32,336 evaders" last month. I wonder whether this is
another bogus figure. If anyone out there has the same figure for a different
month, or in another region, I would be interested to
hear.
February 2008
This envelope,
like the one above, has a black flap on the reverse. There is a message waiting
for me when I remove the letter:

The envelope
says Notification of Impending Action. This is the third such envelope to say
so, the other two being in May and October 2007.
Inside:

There is also a leaflet enclosed, which I have
received twice before:
March 2008
A similar envelope type as last month,
but 9 by 6-inch rather than 9 by
4:

After a long
run of the same letter formats, TVL/BBC has come up with something
new:

The psychological purpose of parts A and B is to induce the
reader into selecting at least one of them. Land development planners use the
same technique; they present residents with plan A and plan B with the aim of a
debate as to which plan is chosen, not whether land development
be considered.
TVL/BBC reduces the option of not using TV (they mean receiving
broadcasts) to a footnote, and ties to it the condition that the reader should
telephone TVL/BBC and expect a visit. The option that the BBC leaves people
alone is not listed.
Here is the return form for option
A:
April
2008
The BBC is lying to me again by saying that action is
"required" on the front of the envelope.

Inside, I am
greeted by TVL/BBC's new logo, which omits the trademark symbol ("TM" in a
circle). This gives the impression that TV Licensing is an organisation rather
than the brand name it is.

I also note
that Mr Hales has changed signatures:
I used to compare signatures on high value cheques in a bank and
can state categorically that this pair will fail any comparison test. The new
signature is broader and more relaxed; the J starts from a pronounced curve;
the top of the J sweeps across; the top of the A is not closed; the L is not
looped; the letters are not joined up; and the signature is not underlined.
Finally, the new signature is level, whereas the previous signature was written
at an angle.
These signatures are not by the same person, and I conclude that
"John Hales" is not real. This is the second time the BBC has misled me as to
the identity of the person writing to me;
click
here for "Val Smith".
I am disappointed that despite the
exposure of the BBC's bogus phone-in contests and other deceptions, it still
regards misleading people and using false information as permissable.
Stay tuned for another TVL/BBC letter
next month.
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