[stevelee]

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Did you know that 92% of Americans don't have a Passport?

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I'd believe that a sizeable number of those folks are wating on their application to go through. (There's a sign of hope when the check clears. There may be only 6 more months to wait.)

[cphoffman42]

Slightly off topic - anyone else terribly irritated with the commercials on BBC America? For those of you not in the US, they basically show the BBC shows, but add in about 33% commercials (so, a 30 minute episode of Coupling turns into 40 minutes). It's like they are trying to make up for the lack of commercials in the UK...
Back on topic - we can only hope that this development will lead to the same shows being availalble eventually in the US, albeit with a shocking level of commercials. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[andrewc]

At least BBC America doesn't cut content (I think). A&E butchers Spooks (MI-5) by cutting almost 15 minutes of content to take ~57 minute episodes down to about 45 minutes. If you have ever watched Spooks, you know that a lot can happen in 15 minutes on that show.

[Biallystock]

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why licence instead of license ? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

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The first is a noun the second a verb. There is a reason the language is called English and not American for whom it is all foreign.

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As an American, maybe I've just gotten too used to advertisers paying for the non-premium (HBO, Showtime, etc) channels. Despite its annoyances at times, I still prefer that model, with 20+ episode seasons (not including new cable shows /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif )to 6 - 10 episode seasons that I would have to pay a fee just to watch. I don't mind paying for a service to bring the content into my home; that's different, and I have a choice.

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Sometimes you just have to pay for quality and it is worth it to avoid the incessant drumbeat to buy something, anything, or your life is without meaning.

[tomtom]

You fail to mention that we have the licenSe evasion secret service police. The guys who move around in Licence Detection vans with all the required surveillance paraphernalia, to prove that a lodger within a room of a house does not have a TV license. If detected the lodger is fined a hefty sum and may be put away for a week or two. A unique British Farce?
A student away from home, also requires a license to own a TV and "TV" encompasses Eye TV devices and the like as well. The same fines apply and he/she may be locked up, exams or no exams.
These "police" have the power to search premises for TV sets without any warrant - and they do. While living in the USA for 10 years, I used to visit my home in Central LOndon about ten times a year for a few days. Knock, knock! The experts were there and insisted on searching the house. Had I not put the TV set away in the loft or if they went up there to search, heavens knows, I might still be locked away.
Folks over 90 years of age get a lower annual fee based upon an actuarial calculation no doubt.
There are also TV advertisements to remind us not to evade the fee. The decent thing to do would be to ask us to pay the fee. These advertisements are designed to make us quiver in out boots.
Dot Mac was never quite like this.

[alexis]

Off topic, but...
Which $48 per year fee for your cell phone is this? 911 service is $0.75 per month, but the rest of the fees, as I understand it, are not government imposed. The 'system access fee' is 'non-governmental"--i.e., the providers charge you that not the government.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

[tomtom]

Whatever it is, it smells like the "additional fee" being charged by Vodaphone to use the Sumsung Sync service.

[Zwilnik]

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LOL... Well at least its being done.

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Not quite. They only have to report the status of it to Ofcom every 6 months. As they're waiting for Apple to support Microsoft's proprietary DRM so they can do 'rental' shows that time out, rather than actually do the job properly and write their own system. All that'll happen is Ofcom will get a "nope, not done it yet" from them every 6 months.

[Frost7]

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Did you know that 92% of Americans don't have a Passport?

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If you Brits had almost half a continent to roam free without needing a passport, you probably wouldn't have very many issued either.
Size matters. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[kingarthur]

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Did you know that 92% of Americans don't have a Passport?

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I'd believe that a sizeable number of those folks are wating on their application to go through. (There's a sign of hope when the check clears. There may be only 6 more months to wait.)

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Not to mention it is extremely expensive now. Plus payment is only cash via money order. Not many people can afford that.
On the other hand I am extemely upset at Direct TV. They got a license with Deutsche Welle which is the German equivelant of the BBC. Since they've done that DW has blocked all U.S. addresses from viewing their free web content.

[sandbag1]

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(Canadians spell like Brits BTW)

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Then why did you spell it "license"? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[aestival]

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Did you know that 92% of Americans don't have a Passport?

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If you Brits had almost half a continent to roam free without needing a passport, you probably wouldn't have very many issued either.
Size matters. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

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Actually, Americans currently have almost an entire continent to roam about freely (assuming they don't fly where they're going), but your lawmakers have brilliantly decided to cut that down by half. On the plus side, as the US dollar crashes, you probably wouldn't have wanted to spend the money required to visit the relatively wealthy Canadian wilderness anyway (if you are looking for a posh Canadian vacation, and flying there, may I recommend Newfoundland, where you can still find many opulent inns and resorts for under Cdn$150/night, which is still just a bit less than US$150/night).

[aestival]

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(Canadians spell like Brits BTW)

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Then why did you spell it "license"? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

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Because they're wrong about Canadians always spelling the British way -- we Canadians have our own written language, which is generally closer to British in spelling, but closer to American in vocabulary (though we do call the letter 'z' "zed"). Luckily for the world, our system of English is dying out slowly, leaving a population of people who can generally handle both international (UK) and US dialects. Of course, it would have been easier for everyone else to just switch to Canadian, the Esperanto of English dialects :-)

[Peter Cohen]

Canadians are so adorable. They have their own money, their own flag, their own ways of spelling. Why, if you didn't know any better, you'd think they had their own country!