TV Licenses Replaced With "Media Fee".. Eveybody MUST Pay..

[onkko]

I don't have a TV or a radio. I certainly object to this proposed legislation.

Yep but you have internet, they found a loophole

[Jukka Aho]

Jukka your post is interesting but the idea is that phone companies, ISPs are not forcing their customers to use the service/products available there. When landline customer reduced and there was no profit from that product, the phone companies started to get the lines off. If YLE isnt profitable, they can do same.

In all of the messages you have written in this thread on this subject, you have deliberately chosen to omit the fact that YLE is not just “any company” but a company whose responsibilities and funding are codified in the Finnish law. I have provided a link to the English translation of the relevant law in this thread, so I take it you haven’t really even bothered to read it.

Landlines are dying out since everyone wants their personal mobile phone these days.

OK YLE is dying out and majority want to be able to choose what they need and want :lol:

It might just be you have a misguided idea of what the Finnish majority really wants, or even if we assume you happened to be right on your assessment, how representative democracy works when the wants of the majority are weighed against the supposed needs of the majority, and the society or country as whole. :)

I still dont think YLE should broadcast RobinHood (from UK)if they are there for Finnish culture and promoting Finland's interest. They should find a RobinHood from Finland and broadcast that instead :lol:

A couple of days ago I watched a very interesting and thought-provoking Iranian movie on YLE Teema. (Didn’t plan to, but I was just channel-surfing at the time and got hooked after a couple of minutes.) I think the ad-sponsored channels in Finland would never show anything quite like that, but YLE did because... that’s sort of their job. That’s just one example, but when thinking about funding YLE, that’s the kind of diversity and “a wider view to the world” I’d like them to promote and open up to the viewers, in addition to the domestic culture and domestically produced shows.

There have been a couple of “Robin Hood” shows on the Finnish TV channels over the years. One of them was the classic Robin of Sherwood, a 1984 show created by Richard Carpenter with lots of mythological / high fantasy aspects, and genuinely from the UK – shot at various locations in England, and widely known for it’s haunting soundtrack by the Irish/Celtic band Clannad. I originally mistook the other one as having been produced in the US because it looked so “plastic” and Hollywood-esque, with silly one-liners, anachronisms, etc., but a quick look at IMDB reveals it was an “international” British production instead, shot in Hungary. I wasn’t sure what they’re running now and which one of them you were referring to but it seems it is this this latter one, from the year 2006, which is definitely a waste of my money. I’d gladly allow them to show the 1984 series, though.

As for buying shows from the UK, YLE has generally been airing shows like Bergerac, Miss Marple (the one with Joan Hickson as the title character), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (the one with Jeremy Brett playing the title character), Agatha Christie's Poirot (with David Suchet), Peak Practice, Monarch of the Glen, Prime Suspect, Silent Witness, Wycliffe, etc. The ad-sponsored channels go for shows like Emmerdale, instead. YLE has also been providing us with a number of German shows (Der Alte, Derrick, Ein Fall für Zwei, etc.). I guess the ad-sponsored channels are just not generally interested in European shows, as they show so very little of them.

They should also leave broadcasting programmes like that entirely to others who are doing that well and getting money off it. Many adolescent these days are not (even willingly) sitting down in front of YLE for their entertainment. They get it from somewhere else.

I think little kids or even adolescents (depending on the age and level of maturity) should not get the final say on what to view on TV – that’s for the adult to decide. YLE might not constantly buy the best shows, but on a general level, it sure provides viable alternatives to shows which are all about “the battle of the week” and toy sales.

If other operators can provide katselukortti without problems and can still share it in the same household on several TVs,

That was my point – they can’t. And they don’t/won’t. They don’t want to have nothing to do with card-sharing. Card-sharing is a dirty word with them. On the contrary, they want to prevent all chances of card-sharing – and the Cable Ready specification is one step in that direction.

For card-sharing to work as a solution to this problem, it would have to be a built-in, standard feature of the set-top boxes and fully supported by the cable companies and content providers. Good luck making that happen when the content providers and rights holders want to do just the opposite, and make it impossible (or if they can dictate the terms, illegal) to share a single card between multiple devices.

I’m not willing to accept a technically worse, legally-gray area and less versatile (not to mention less reliable) system than what I have now for viewing my normal TV, and which would probably also kill YLE in the end. If you suggest accepting something like that, what’s in there for me, or the Finnish society at large?

LIke you said,

I don’t subscribe to pay channels.

so pay-channel providers dont have to send you any bills by force :wink: unlike YLE that is planning to start forcing everyone to subscribe even when they dont need.

It’s a panel of “experts” and some vocal old-timey politicians (who are well past by their selling date, methinks) who want that. I personally think the fees should be incorporated into the normal taxation system, one way or the other (since it is a tax after all), and be made person-specific instead of being household-specific. And why try obfuscating things and calling it a “media fee” when it’s really a YLE tax? Let’s just call it that and be done with it instead of playing these make-believe games where a tax is supposedly “not really a tax”. Some politicians are greatly worried that the budget of YLE could then become a political battleground where the amount of money YLE gets would highly depend on the whims of each sitting government, but this can be prevented simply by requiring that all adjustments be done using the same procedure that is applied to changing the Constitution (see Section 73 - Procedure for constitutional enactment). The Finnish term for that is “asian käsittely perustuslain säätämisjärjestyksessä”.
 

[Peace Lover]

This is an interesting debate.

I've no issues with YLE - I'm sure they provide a lot of quality, popular content.
However, it's simply unfair that I should be charged for a service that I do not want. TV is a luxury that I can well do without in my life, just like booze and cigarettes.
Fair or not, I fully expect this law to be passed and not a peep will be heard. Who remembers paying for SKOP Bank?
Oh well. At least the libraries are free and they are excellent, so thanks taxpayers for that one. And the bike paths.

[Rick1]

Well somebody from Keskusta has seen the light (and that is already worldnews ). He thinks it might be a good idea to take it from the statebudget (like other civilized countries have done already 10 years ago ). Ofcourse (VAT)taxes will be raised because that is the easiest. Looking carefully at efficiency in Parlement (When they are not on holiday,sick or just not there) might also be an idea

[dampa]

OK I still stand on my point that forcefully charging everyone (+ those who dont use any of YLE's services/products) for YLE's survival isn't right regardless of whatever YLE is in the Finnish law, which I fully respect.

[Upphew]

OK I still stand on my point that forcefully charging everyone (+ those who dont use any of YLE's services/products) for YLE's survival isn't right regardless of whatever YLE is in the Finnish law, which I fully respect.

But where to put the line? YLE is wrong, but higher education is not? Isn't MBA (which costs) enough for people, why should I have to pay so someone can study bachelors and masters in economics?

[Peace Lover]

But where to put the line? YLE is wrong, but higher education is not? Isn't MBA (which costs) enough for people, why should I have to pay so someone can study bachelors and masters in economics?

Generally speaking, studying for a degree is good for the mind of the individual and eventually benefits all society.

The direct opposite of watching TV.

[raamv]

But where to put the line? YLE is wrong, but higher education is not? Isn't MBA (which costs) enough for people, why should I have to pay so someone can study bachelors and masters in economics?

Generally speaking, studying for a degree is good for the mind of the individual and eventually benefits all society.

The direct opposite of watching TV.

I can rightly now point out that you have not watched YLE; Its language services or the plethora of other services that it gives the Finnish Population!!
Without YLE; you will not get ANY Multilinigual News programs ( YLEMONDO), YLE Selka Uutiset ( A slow form of news in Finnish for people learning Finnish etc)
Much more than what an MBA can give a person ( Where they have to qualify)...
Those "Basic" Essential services are what Makes Finland Stand out as THE Best place for "Intellectual capital"!!
Not tom dick and Harry's coming in here and asking why they have to pay for TV!!!
I am a foreigner in Finland and After watching YLE uutiset and other programs ( YLE Teema is an invaluable service for Art lovers ) on YLE1 YLE2 and listening to YLEMONDO news etc..Its the least that I can do to support the system..
When the Majority of Finns support YLE; Why cant people understand Why the Service was created instead of questioning the need!!

[pseudo]

When the Majority of Finns support YLE; Why cant people understand Why the Service was created instead of questioning the need!!

WTF? Had those Finns paid the due payments, this 'media fee' wouldn't even get one mention.

[dampa]

But where to put the line? YLE is wrong, but higher education is not? Isn't MBA (which costs) enough for people, why should I have to pay so someone can study bachelors and masters in economics?

Totally pointless... comparing (education) MBA with TV viewing Maybe you need to re-think what you've just posted

TV isnt life's essential goddamit

[pseudo]

It's all about money. YLE has been part of Finnish society for good. But had this proposed 'media fee' been much lower than 175 euros (or if this existing payment scheme had been much lower for that matter), there wouldn't have been much fuss in the first place.

So, shed some weight, focus on core objectives, ask for lesser fees, everyone happy!

Problem is with YLE, simply put, YLE's failure to collect payments from its customers.

[dampa]

I am a foreigner in Finland

Hyvä, mistä päin oot kotoisin? Does that have to matter if you are an alien from the outer space or what?

When the Majority of Finns support YLE;

...and who told you?

[onkko]

...and who told you?

http://www.finnpanel.fi/tulokset/tv/vuo ... viimeisin/
Look radio too. And think also that 1900000+ people have tv licence.
Of course we whine like in every other payment we have to pay but..

[Upphew]

Totally pointless... comparing (education) MBA with TV viewing Maybe you need to re-think what you've just posted

TV isnt life's essential goddamit

Education isn't life essential either. And isn't it pointless compare entertainment pushing, money making channel to one that has mandate to, for example, educate people and take care of minorities?

[swetasingh98]

thanks for these informations