Pretty much. Yes.

They can be very persuasive, I have been told.

Welcome to Switzerland, where the tax that isn't a tax but still has to be paid or an agency employed by the Government will come and be very inquisitive and make themselves very annoying in your life.

We pro-actively signed up to avoid the back-dating problem, but provided a date a month or two after having moved in since it took awhile for us to get set up. For longer than that, I'm not sure, but I would rather pay the late amount than the potential fine.

We pay radio only. I think they plan to change or have already changed the law this year to clarify that internet access means people have to pay TV, too. Does anyone know more about this?

Erg. Just read that question already answered in previous post...my bad.

I dont watch TV. I dont listen to the Radio. I have a large TV from the US which is used for watching AppleTV items i pay for individually (the tv doesnt work here even if i wanted it to without a converter box thingy).

Yet i still, despite not consuming any services, am obliged to pay 460CHF or so to Billag, because i might some day be able to do so, or because i possess a computer from which radio or tv could be streamed. or a clock radio.

I curse Billag to the lowest vestiges of the hoary netherworld.

Not only does it strike me as repressive, this tele tax, but it also seems very unswiss and very clumsily handled. It reminds me of the things you just "had to pay" in Germany. Like the trash tax and the solidaritätssteuer.

Youd think the country which is so fastidious about doing things efficiently at the Kanton or even Gemeinde level would have ways for people like me who HATE television and HATE EVEN MORE Having to pay for it to opt out.

We are the Billag... Resistance is futile... You will be assimilated.

Et tu Brute?

What? I thought that was their corporate motto?

That's what the Billag rep said when he came to check up on me. I even took his picture...

I'm finally coming to humble terms about paying this robbery tax to fund something I never use, watch, or listen to.

But I'm reading the rules on the website, and this one struck me:
(loosely translated by KF)


How do I cancel this robbery payment?

• Get rid of your receptive appliances, including cell phones and computers.
• Move into a residential community
• Leave the country and take your shix with you
• Die

My question: What constitutes a "Residential Community?" Does this mean that if you live in an apartment building, that you don't have to pay Billag??????? In other words, it is included in your NK?

Or when they say "residential community" do they mean "retirement village?"

I'd really like to know what they mean by "Einzug in eine Wohngemeinschaft"

P.S. If English-speaking residents in CH have to pay this robbery tax, shouldn't we demand that Switzerland start producing some public programming that doesn't require a cable subscription? (it's a rhetorical question -- I already know the answer would be "bitte, fragen Sie uns nur in eine von der vier Amtssprache des Schweizes".... Please, only ask us in one of the four official languages of Switzerland.)

I speak kein Deutsch, so I can't offer you better translation, but applying common sense to this I think that it refers to any communal living arrangement (like a retirement home, university dorm, etc). My suspicion is that buildings like this have communal licenses that cover all of the TVs in the common areas as well as in the residents' rooms.

Buildings where you have your own separate space, like apartments, are not covered by the same sort of licensing agreements -- you are responsible for licensing the TVs in an apartment.

so in other words... to avoid Billag... get thee to a nunnery?

Its not a residential community, but a nursing home. My guess would be that you are too young and too healthy for that.

Wohngemeinschaft: Shared flat (you pay Billag per household).

As to the english speaking programs: People speaking Spanish, Portuguese, Serbo-croatian or Turkish would come first IMHO.

Some years ago there was an article in Der Spiegel about a guy whose cat received a letter from the GEZ (German equivalent of Billag) asking the cat to pay for a TV license. The guy ignored it thinking it was a stupid joke but they insisted and sent several letters and threatened to take his cat to court. Apparently he had filled in multiple entries in a competition in a TV shop using he names of his pets. So much for data protection. He finally appeared in court on behalf of his cat and challenged the prosecutor to produce evidence of legislation that cats need a TV licence. It must have been a classic moment to see them retreat with egg on their faces.

hahahahhahhahahhahaha.
Great story. Do swiss cats pay billag too?

Why do you even bother complaining about it indirectly then? Is it that hard to accept that your language is not one of them? Nobody told you that one does not always get everything one's way? What exactly is difficult to get in the concept of "national" in the phrase "national language"?

None of those questions are (?is) rhetorical.

We did also proactively over the internet. THen, they sent us the instruction how to set up direct debit within a week. In our case they certainly know how to collect money efficiently. ^^

You actually can receive Swiss television without a cable subscription...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB-T

There are some specific requirements for your computer or electronic device to qualify as a "television" for Billag; most unfortunately Cablecom's LiveTV service counts and they will not deactivate it if you ask them (I did and was told to bugger off).

Even more annoyingly, Cablecom's competitors are about as expensive as Cablecom + Billag, at least in the Zürich area.

Based on what I've read, pretty much all computers from the past decade fall into this category of devices that require billag access to be paid.

Actually not quite. If you check their web page:
http://www.billag.ch/web/de/fragen_u...en/geraet.html

they list the exact requirements.

If you have an internet connection then you will inevitably pay radio fees, but for TV fees you need both a subsciption - paid or unpaid - to a service that offers TV via Internet in a comparable quality to an actual television, and software installed that allows you to actually use this service.

The former point is the only reason I have to pay TV fees for. If you have ADSL and don't install something like Zattoo you're probably fine.

If you have "high speed internet" then your computer counts. If you want to go back to dial-up then you can claim that your computer doesn't count.
But if you have a mobile phone then you're still hosed.

This is the exact quote from Billag:


Wie muss ich vorgehen, um mich abzumelden?

Die Mitteilung, dass Sie den Empfang von Radio- und oder Fernsehprogrammen einstellen, muss in jedem Fall schriftlich erfolgen. Bitte geben Sie den Grund der Abmeldung an. Als Gründe gelten in der Regel:

• keine Geräte mehr vorhanden - inkl. Computer mit schnellem Internetzugang, mobile / tragbare Geräte, solche in Fahrzeugen und an Zweitstandorten (Auto, Boot, Ferienhaus etc.)
• Einzug in eine Wohngemeinschaft
• Wegzug ins Ausland und Auflösung des Haushalts
• Todesfall und Auflösung des Haushalts. Der überlebende Ehe- oder Lebenspartner bleibt weiterhin melde- und gebührenpflichtig. Bitte veranlassen Sie in diesem Fall bei Billag eine Adressänderung.
• Aufgabe des Betriebes (gewerblicher, bzw. kommerzieller Empfang)