TV licence, Serafe in place of Billag

Tech, TV, Mobile, Internet and Geek Corner
81
I will still be signed up to radio though... I have a car and a smart phone so I don't see any way around that

82
Got a new reminder with 22nd June deadline. This time with a possible CHF5000 fine. Somebody else did?

83
yeah, about 5 years ago.

and got exactly the same letter about 6 months after that.

and then nothing for about three years.

there is no actual legal obligation to reply.

84
thanks for that. I got that letter and a reminder and was starting to think that we have to pay for something that I never used.

85
You do.

It's just that some people really don't want to pay.

Personally, I believe that it could be done a lot cheaper.

There's a lot of fluff on TV and radio that isn't really that valuable.

86
Him personally or everyone who doesn't pay Billag?

(I know the answer but I'm not sure you do).

87
Well, everybody with as much as a flimsy smartphone has to pay Billag.

I don't really watch TV at all. Not anymore. I used to before I moved out of my parents place.

But I acknowledge that some of the services SRF provides are valuable (Meteo, Traffic, News, Documentaries, regional reporting...things like that).

These should be kept, and the rest carefully scrutinized and most likely subsequently scrapped.

88
No they don't. The need t pay the radio component of it.

If you have a TV in your place of residence then someone in your place of residence needs to pay full Billag, irrespective of how much you watch.

That's a different argument.

89
I have no TV. My parents have one, in Germany. I personally have never owned one.

Just a computer and a smartphone.

Per Billag, that's enough to apply for a full license.

90
Stuff like meteo you can check online. Much more practical and you can get detailed information for the precise place you are going rather than generalist stuff. And anyway, SRG don't own the meteo data. That comes from meteo agencies financed by our taxes who in turn use data from weather stations, satellites and whatnot that we also pay for with our taxes. SRG charging for data that we already own is somewhat taking the mick.

91

I do. I have a subscription to WeatherPro.

As I said, SRF is a good thing to keep around.

Like it's a good thing to subsidize high-altitude farming etc.

Just not everything is worth keeping (and financing).

92
It's not.

93
This is the core of the matter. SRG is making some sacrificial gestures to create the impression they are being tough. But this is the tail wagging the dog. We should have had a vote to reduce fees to 50 or 100 CHF, while at the same time ring fencing the Rumantsch and other special stuff, and then taken a much more far reaching cull of all the remaining rubbish.

94

Exactly.

I'd like to see an independent expertise on what could be saved by reducing SRF to its core (outsourcing stuff like HR, accounting, culling quizzes, gameshows, maybe allowing a fixed number of "original productions" like "Tatort" or "Der Bestatter" per year etc.).

This should be possible while still keeping reporters able to do their jobs (this is in the end what most people would be willing to pay for).

95
It seems that ignoring letters is not enough anymore. I have just received a e-bill from them in my e-banking. Am I the only one? They are really persistent...

96
If you received an e-bill in e-banking, you gave them your details.

97
Billag man just rang chez nous (18:30 Friday!). I said "bonjour" but did not ring him in... was this an OK thing to do?

Have been at this address for over half a year and this is the first time they've rang when we've been home. I am trying to hold out until this new system replaces it! Incidentally, we do not actually own a radio or television...

98
Maybe not a radio but maybe a "radio device"? Most likely as you just posted here

See goverment information:

https://www.bakom.admin.ch/bakom/en/...html#159496056

99
Its the stupid swiss who voted to keep it. If they had another brain it would be very lonely!

100
I have no problem with publicly financed media, especially in a small country with 4 official languages, but the financing mechanism is outrageously archaic, akin to a medieval hearth tax.

Why can't it be financed by the federal government's general revenue like in the majority of developed countries?

All the same, I am not certain that I can hold out for 4 more months from speaking to Billag man directly if they are going to come to our house often... and I don't want to put my visa or financial situation here in any jeopardy as I quite like living here!