New Fee For Internet-Capable PCs In Germany

An anonymous reader writes "German online news sites heise.de and spiegel.de has stories, that from April 2005 on a fee of about 17 to 18 EUR per month must be paid to the national broadcasters in Germany for personal computers in private households, which have possible access to the internet. The fee must not be paid, if it is already paid for a TV set. Companies are said to be obliged to pay that fee from 2007 on." Those who don't read German should make use of the Fish.

Comments

Re:How much for a one-way ticket to New Zealand?

[nzgeek]

Come on down!

Come to lovely New Zealand where government regulated 'broadband' is defined as a pokey 256kbps ADSL connection provided by the monopoly lines company. The same company that undercuts its 'competitors' by offering 2Mbps at the same cost as their 'wholesale' 256kbps offering. We call Telecom NZ our own little Microsoft Minime.

Come to lovely New Zealand where we swamp towns with hydro dams, but still can't get enough electricity in high-demand (or low rainfall) years, because our one-size-fits-all "No Nukes" policy extends to harmless power stations, not just nu-cu-lar weapons and ships. (And yes, it was a New Zealander that first intentionally split the atom).

Still, it's a bloody lovely place to live. I just wish our government would get on the modern technology cluetrain once in a while.

What if ....

[Ralph Spoilsport]

You don't own a TV, and have a computer, but you have no internet service provider: you just go to the local cafe and leech off the wifi?

Sometimes, I feel like I'm in the bloo bloo world: the world that looks Just Like The Real World, but somehow, I'm not in it. I think the transition started with the hoax of an election that put the Bush junta in office, was nailed down when those assholes flew into the WTC, and the door was shut and locked when Bush went into Iraq.

It's like every little bit of news that's coming up just seems completely fraught with evil Evil EVIL, and now the freakin Germans are going to tax their people for owning a damn computer hooked to the Net, just 'cuz.

It's fucking bullshit, and I feel like it's just more evidence for the world having gone off the rails and into the weeds.

I am hoping that someday soon, I will wake up and things will be better - Bush will be retired to his ranch, the US will renounce Empire, the Germans will let their people buy a damn computer and hook it up to the net to read email, and we'll all be at least trying to act like we get along together.

Is it so much to ask?

RS

Re:TV License in the UK

[Siniset]

Ok, in an attempt to slightly justify that price that people in england pay... they do not have to put up with nearly 10 minutes out of every 30 devoted to comercials. The amount of comercials per hour is less in europe than in the united states. I mean even if you get cable, you still have to put up with the same amount of commercials. So, what you are seeing here, is a slightly decreased amount of comercials, which is then ofset by the payment of fees on the part of the viewers.

Now, that said, i still think that's ridiculous. I'm glad that i'm still able to get broadcast channels without paying a dime here in the united states. And let me also tell you tv moguls/fcc, i ain't moving to HDTV until the cost of them aren't simply high way robery. Why the heck do i need to see your stupid sitcoms and reality tv in high definition? How is that going to improve my life?

Ahhh...got that off my chest. Sorry if it was bit off-topic.