Actually we pay whether we own a TV or not. Prices are higher due to the costs of television advertisements. All increases in costs to the supplier will likely contribute to higher consumer prices. But I guess at least it doesn't go to the government.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside

We arent taxed.

That applies to them as well.

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My Political Blog (Updated Oct 3rd) - Which Flame Warrior are you?

I guess in that sense we pay whether TV was invented or not, no? Products have always had embedded advertising costs. Whether TV results in higher prices is probably product dependent and would require a lot of marketing research to determine. You can certainly envision that TV might reduce the price of certain products if you can accomplish your advertising goals for less money using TV than other media.

I can only speak for Germany. You don't pay a TV-tax, you pay a charge for public TV and/or radio. You have to pay the charge when you buy a radio (even a car with a radio), a TV-set or a computer linkeable to the internet (sic!).

You have to pay about 300 US-$ a year, and the total amount of the radio-TV-charge for Germany is about 12 billion US-$ a year.

This money is not given to all radio- and TV-stations, but only to those owned by the state. These stations are controlled by »public interest groups« like political parties, churches and the central council of Jews in Germany.

Additional to public radio and TV there are privately owned stations in Germany as they are in the US, but you need a TV/radio to follow their program - and when you own such, you have to pay...

If you have a TV-cable, it would be no problem at all to block out the state-TV - but nevertheless you have to pay. Even when you book pay-TV and watch nothing else, you have to pay for the official propaganda-stations.

And if you have no radio and no TV but a computer linkeable to the internet, you have to pay, too, because public TV nowadays also broadcasts via internet.

You're absolutely right.

And the problem is?

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"Better to die on you feet than live on your knees" - Emilio Zapata

The problem is that you get ripped off to finance bad and boring programs full of political indoctrination you never would pay for voluntarily.

An if you do not want to finance this socialistic propaganda, you are not allowed to own a radio, a TV-set - or a computer.

I've never the programming on Irish broadcasting to be "socialistic".
Heh im a member of the party in government and RTE has been bashing us for years. Primarily because the funding is out of our control.
I'd rather have a honest state broadcaster than the US system of complete media drivel and bias.
(And I know its bias because I watch Fox and CNN from time to time)

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"Better to die on you feet than live on your knees" - Emilio Zapata

As I stated before, I talked about Germany. And the Germany of today is a socialistic hell.

I'd hardly call the country a socialic hell.
In fairness its a better country to live than the US.

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"Better to die on you feet than live on your knees" - Emilio Zapata

Only if you're a socialist. The German state takes away more than fifty percent of your income, you have no right of free speech, and the internet is controlled and censored as it is in Red China. Our chancellor was a high ranked official in the FDJ, the youth organization of the communist party of the so-called »German Democratic Republic« - the sowyet zone. At the moment they are discussing the online-search of all private computers.

I'd really prefer to live in the US and enjoy its freedom, that I learned to love when I was there on holiday.