Television licence

The television licence (sometimes called the TV licence or the television tax) is a small tax that people pay to watch television. It is used to pay, or part-pay, for the local public broadcaster, such as the BBC in the United Kingdom. It mainly exists in Europe, East Asia and parts of Africa. The licence fee varies in size from a few euros to around 350 euros per year in Iceland. In return for paying the licence, the broadcaster does have few or no adverts.

In the past, before television was well known, people used to have a radio licence, which is a roughly the same as television licence, but for radio. Some countries still have the radio licence together with the television licence.

Television Licence Media

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  Map of the ARD member broadcasters.

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  1950s Postmaster-General's Department advertisement regarding broadcast licences

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  From 1922 to 1953 individual members of the public were required to pay for annual Private Receiving Station licences to legally receive broadcasting stations.

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  A "television sets license" from Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Republic of China.