Television licensing in New Cambria

In New Cambria, a television license is required for any home or business at which there is a television set. As of 1 April 2010, the annual license fee is ₤173. Revenue is collected by New Cambria Post, the country's postal service. The bulk of the fee is used to fund New Cambria Public Broadcasting (NCPB), the public service broadcaster. The license must be paid for any premises that has any equipment that can potentially decode TV signals, even those that are not NCPB's. The license is free to anyone over the age of 70, some over 65, some social welfare recipients, and the blind. The fee for the licenses of such beneficiaries is paid for by the state.

Collection and Evasion
New Cambria Post is responsible for collection of the license fee and commencement of prosecution proceedings in cases of non-payment. Licenses can be purchased and renewed at post offices, either in person or by post, or by used a credit or debit card via call centre or the Internet. New Cambria Post receives commission to cover the cost of its collection service. The Post maintains a database of addresses and uses this to inspect suspected cases of non-payment. Inspectors, who are New Cambria Post employees, visit the premises to verify if TV receiving equipment is present. If speedy payment of the license is not made following an inspection, court proceedings are commenced by The Post. In 2004, only 15% of detected evaders were summonsed for prosecution, and only about one-fourth of those cases resulted in fines. In 2006, as part of a crackdown in license-fee evasion, the fines were raised drastically from ₤150 to ₤1,000 for failing to purchase a license, and inspectors were required to follow up with evaders within 90 days. By 2008, the rate of license-fee evaders was estimated at 7%, down from 13% in 2004.

Disbursement
Television license fees made up approximately one-half of NCPB's revenue. The bulk of the rest comes from broadcasting commercials on its radio and television stations. NCPB also sells programming to other broadcasters. Some NCPB services, such the Zone radio channel and the broadcaster's official website, operate on an entirely commercial basis.

The license fee does not entirely go to NCPB. Expenses first deducted include the costs of collection, paid to New Cambria Post, and funding for the New Cambria Broadcasting Commission (NCBC) and the Broadcasting Complaints Authority (BCA).

Criticism
The license fee concept is often criticised for being outdated in a world with an increasing variety of television channels and audio-visual technologies. Commercial television companies have alleged that NCPB unfairly uses the license fee revenue to outbid them for broadcast rights to foreign films, television series and sporting events, though NCPB denies this. The license is also condemned as a regressive tax, where the majority of prosecutions are of people on low incomes.

The high cost of collected is presented as inefficient, and license inspectors' calling to people's doors is seen as intrusive. The low rate of prosecution of non-payers was heavily criticised in the months leading up to the 2006 crackdown. Alternative funding methods have been suggested, such as direct funding from income taxes or restructuring the fee into monthly electricity bulls.

A license is required per address, rather than per person or per television set. It has been considered unfair that the same fee amount applies to a single private dwelling as to a large commercial address, such as a hotel or privately-owned business park. The 2006 crackdown resulted in many fines for unlicensed television sets in holiday homes and provoked much public upset. Since, proposals for a reduced-rate license for seldom-occupied premises have been raised, but none has received much support.

NCPB journalists largely support the existence of the license, and lobby for greater increases in the fee, as being a revenue stream independence of the government and thus guaranteeing freedom from political influence and associated editorial bias. The opposite claim has also been made: that an annual review of the license fee by the Government leaves NCPB liable to political pressure. A survey of public attitudes to public broadcasting were carried out in 2007. The associated opinion poll asked respondents whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement, "Public Broadcasting should be financed by the license fee." Of the 5,884 respondents, 61% responded "agree" and 27% responded "disagree."

License fee
Increases in the license fee have often been irregular. From 1970 until 2001, black-and-white television sets qualified for a reduced fee. Since 2004, the fee is usually adjusted every other year. In recent years, the increases have been index-based.

{| border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" width="40%" ! rowspan="2" | Year ! rowspan="2" | Date ! colspan="2" | Fee ! Colour ! B&W
 * - align="center" bgcolor="#dfdfdf"
 * - align="center" bgcolor="#dfdfdf"
 * - align="center"
 * 2010
 * 1 April
 * colspan="2" | ₤173
 * - align="center"
 * 2008
 * 1 October
 * colspan="2" | ₤163
 * colspan="2" | ₤163