History
When first introduced on 1 June 1946, the licence covering the monochrome-only single-channel BBC television service cost £2 (£61.5 as of 2013). On 1 January 1968, a 'colour supplement' of £5 (£64.64 as of 2013), was added to the existing £5 monochrome licence fee; the combined colour licence fee was therefore £10, the equivalent of £120 in 2006. The current (2010) cost is £145.50 for colour TV and £49 for monochrome TV, per household.
A similar licence, mandated by the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1904, used to exist for radios powered by mains electricity (sets using a battery or accumulator did not need a licence), but this was abolished in 1971. These licences were originally issued by the General Post Office (GPO), which was then the regulator of public communications within the UK. For a more detailed historical explanation see British Broadcasting Company.
Read more about this topic: Television Licensing In The United Kingdom
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Every literary critic believes he will outwit history and have the last word.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive; it is therefore useful, because it is symmetrical and fair. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“A poet’s object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably.... For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.”
—Aristotle (384–323 B.C.)