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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en-GB" lang="en-GB"> <head profile="http://dublincore.org/documents/dcq-html/"><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=7YQSqjSh" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.bbc.co.uk:80/info/licencefee/","20090420151745","https://web.archive.org/","web","https://web-static.archive.org/_static/", "1240240665"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=p7PEIJWi" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <title>BBC - About the BBC - Licence fee</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"/> <meta name="description" content="What the TV licence fee provides and how to pay it"/> <meta name="keywords" content="BBC, Licence fee, TV licence"/> <link rel="schema.dcterms" href="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"/> <meta name="dcterms.created" content="2007-10-11"/> <meta name="dcterms.modified" content="2008-01-23"/>  <link rel="index" href="/a-z/" title="A to Z"/><link rel="help" href="/help/" title="BBC Help"/><link rel="copyright" href="/web/20090420151745/http://www.bbc.co.uk/terms/" title="Terms of Use"/><link rel="icon" href="/web/20090420151745im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon"/><meta name="viewport" content="width = 974"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/web/20090420151745cs_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/includes/blq/resources/gvl/r56/style/main.css" type="text/css"/> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090420151745js_/http://wwwimg.bbc.co.uk/glow/cached/gloader.1.3.5.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="/web/20090420151745js_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/includes/blq/resources/gvl/r56/script/blq_core.js"></script><script type="text/javascript">blq.panelSrc="/includes/blq/resources/gvl/r56/img/panel.png";blqOnDomReady(function(){blq.addGoTrack('blq-main', {external:true});});</script>  <style type="text/css">@import '/web/20090420151745cs_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/style/styles.css';</style>    </head> <body> <div id="blq-container"><div id="blq-pre-mast" lang="en-GB"></div><div id="blq-container-inner" lang="en-GB"><div id="blq-acc" class="blq-rst"><p><a href="/web/20090420151745/http://www.bbc.co.uk/" id="blq-mast-home" title="Go to the bbc.co.uk homepage"><img src="/web/20090420151745im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/includes/blq/resources/gvl/r56/img/header_blocks.gif" width="107" height="32" alt="British Broadcasting Corporation" id="blq-blocks"/></a></p><p class="blq-hide"><strong><a id="page-top">Accessibility links</a></strong></p><ul id="blq-acc-links"><li id="blq-acc-txt"><a href="/web/20090420151745/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/education/betsie/parser.pl">Text only</a></li><li class="blq-hide"><a href="#blq-content" accesskey="2">Skip to content</a></li><li class="blq-hide"><a href="#blq-local-nav">Skip to local navigation</a></li><li class="blq-hide"><a href="#blq-nav-links">Skip to bbc.co.uk navigation</a></li><li class="blq-hide"><a href="#blq-search">Skip to bbc.co.uk search</a></li><li id="blq-acc-help"><a href="/web/20090420151745/http://www.bbc.co.uk/help/">Help</a></li><li class="blq-hide"><a href="/web/20090420151745/http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/">Accessibility Help</a></li><li class="blq-hide"><a href="/web/20090420151745/http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/accesskeys/keys.shtml" accesskey="0">Access keys help</a></li></ul></div><div id="blq-main" class="blq-clearfix">  <div class="site-head"><img src="/web/20090420151745im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/images/site_head.gif" width="222" height="27" alt="About the BBC"/></div> <div class="page-wrap"> <div id="blq-content"> <div class="cols-wrap">  <div class="p-content">  <div class="page-head page-head-b"> <h1>BBC services on TV, radio and online</h1> <img width="126" height="71" alt="The licence fee" src="/web/20090420151745im_/http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/images/header_licence_fee.jpg"/> </div>  <div class="mod"> <h2>The licence fee</h2> <div class="mod-body"> <p>You need a TV licence to use any television receiving equipment such as a TV set, set-top box, video or DVD recorder, computer or mobile phone to watch or record TV programmes as they are being shown on TV.</p> <ul> <li><a href="#information">How to pay and how much it costs</a></li> <li><a href="#provides">What your licence fee provides</a></li> </ul> <h3 class="inpage">How to pay and how much it costs<a name="information"></a></h3> <p>You can pay for a TV licence in a number of ways: by Direct Debit, by debit or credit card, in cash or by cheque. Depending on which way you choose, you can pay online, at a PayPoint outlet or by post.</p> <p>You can get help and information through the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090420151745/http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/">TV Licensing website</a>, or call 0844 800 5870 (textphone 0844 800 6778).</p> <p>The annual cost of a colour TV licence (set by the Government) is currently £142.50. That works out at less than £12 per month - about 39p per day for each household.</p> <p>A black and white TV licence is £48.</p> <p>The licence (whether colour or black and white) is free if you are 75 or over, and half-price if you are registered blind, although you still need to apply.</p> <h3 class="inpage">What your licence fee provides<a name="provides"></a></h3> <p>The BBC is paid for directly through each household TV licence. This allows it to run a wide range of popular public services for everyone, free of adverts and independent of advertisers, shareholders or political interests.</p> <p>The BBC provides 8 interactive TV channels, 10 radio networks, more than 50 local TV and radio services, the BBC's website, and the on-demand TV and radio service, BBC iPlayer.</p> <p>BBC World Service is funded by government grant and not the TV licence fee. Profits from separate BBC commercial services help to keep the licence fee low.</p> </div> </div>  <p class="to-top"><a href="#page-top">To top</a></p>  </div>  <div class="rel-content">  <div class="mod"> <h2>Related BBC links</h2> <div class="mod-body"> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20090420151745/http://www.bbc.co.uk/annualreport/">Annual Report</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20090420151745/http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/channels/">BBC services on TV, radio and online</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20090420151745/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/framework/protocols/value_for_money.html">BBC Trust - licence fee collection arrangements</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20090420151745/http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/statements2008/">Statements of Programme Policy</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="mod"> <h2>Related internet links</h2> <div class="mod-body"> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090420151745/http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/">TV Licensing</a></li> </ul> </div> </div>  </div> </div>  </div>  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