People which are unhappy with the status quo are usually much more vocal than those which think it is A-OK.

That's the spirit!
Don Quixote would be proud of you.

I can manage it for Serafe - but not with Pillar 2!

Pedantry warning!


Don Quixote would talk about killing the crap himself, not waiting for others to kill it before his death

That's not related to the change from Billag to Serafe though, is it? Just that they scrapped the Radio-only licence as an irrelevance at around the same time.

Anyway, even under the old rules you should have been paying the full amount. The fact that you are posting here is proof enough that you have equipment capable of TV reception.

Yes, because why bother complaining about anything you disagree with, simply because you can afford it?

Nick's secret to success in life... be quiet, bend over, and take it without complaint. After, all why risk an ulcer with all of that "being opinionated and speaking your mind" nonsense?

Indeed. Like this one:

Err, yes? That's the rule all right. Is there any actual reason, apart from the fact that you don't like it, why you think it shouldn't apply to you?

I have the feeling that we are in a bit of an echo-chamber in EF, as most members are not Swiss and don't consume so much (or any) local public media (in local language) or a lot less than the general population. So the negative bias we have here, when compared to the overall population (which voted overwhelmingly to KEEP the license fee quite recently) is quite understandable.

I think it's a bit of our responsibility to try to put ourselves in the shoes of the citizens whose country we have moved in, and try to "live" with the local culture. Or embrace it, whatever floats your boat.

__________________
The internet makes it easy to be a jerk and forget the person we're talking to is a human. It also makes us see messages from awful people and assume they come from normal peers.

Nope, I checked and double checked with Billag itself.

Had the cable thingy plumbed, had no subscription services, no TV - Billag actually sent me a nice letter saying all good, I didn't have to pay the TV portion.

I filled out their occasional questionaire re-stating what I had and what I did not have, and throughout the years always the same: I qualified for the exception. IIRC, about 5% of households qualified. (As above I dutifully paid the radio bit.)

But recently (a year or three ago ?) that exception was all but eliminated. Now not having a subscription service no longer gets one out of the 'capable of recieving' bit. IIRC the change came about the time of the advent of Serafe.

A few households still qualify for the exception, but only a very few.

All I can say is that Swiss TV, as a source of entertainment and information must be pretty bad if they have to force everyone to pay to watch it, even if they don't want to.

'20 minutes' is pretty bad as a newspaper but they manage to give it away free with advertising paying for it. That's how easy it is.

The old argument (used on here many times) is that someone needs to pay for the infrastructure. That infrastructure just doesn't exist any more and the price of technology has dropped so much that even a home-user can easily purchase broadcast quality video equipment.

So, where is this money going?

Ahem. Some of us didn't watch TV in our home countries either. This isn't about language.

Posted on an internet forum.

Who's reincarnation are you anyway?

Interesting. Thanks for info. They had time to discuss Serafe-prices in Corona year? LOL.

It's a bad argument.

My family are Swiss. I have never owned a TV in my life until last year as the kids wanted one to watch films.
They are also not interested in Swiss, or any TV.



The Swiss love watching wild animals at circuses here even though this abhorrent practice is banned in almost every other European country.

Should I pay to subsidise this too if I had to as it's part of local culture?

Well yes, why?

The fact that the populace has consistently, and recently, voted to retain the charge seems to mean nothing to you. Your complaint has been heard, discussed and rejected. Continuing to complain about it just sounds a but like a spoilt child.

https://www.serafe.ch/en/distributio...y-broadcaster/

I do understand the cultural reasons behind why Swiss terrestrial TV and radio channels need to be maintained, but I will never be happy about paying 350chf for it and am of course free to speak my mind on a public forum.

Well, the UK also has a TV license system so it's not unique to Switzerland and there is a lot of controversy over that too. The UK one is cheaper, but of course it has a different level of quality and number of contributors. All the Swiss I have talked to say that local TV is **** and the majority watch/listen to streaming services or foreign channels.

I guess with time, things will change as the older generations pass on and the numbers of viewers of TV and and listeners of radio plummet to such unsustainable levels that they can't either be funded without seriously raising the fees or simply implementing advertising.

Maybe the women of Switzerland should have just shut up and accepted that only men could vote too after the big majority in the 1959 referendum.

(Yes I know that's far more serious but the principle is the same - being in the minority does not mean you cannot voice your opinion).

Don't sweat over the small stuff, pick your fights, chose the hill you wish to die........lot's of popular culture references point at days being 24 hours long and our human energy being limited.

And, to to use my other argument, they still have wild animals in circuses even though most European countries have banned this.

The Swiss haven't - there haven't (I believe) gained enough signatures to force a vote.
Doesn't mean I have to like the practice though does it?

I suppose continuing to complain about it just sounds a bit like a spoilt child.

TV is entertainment (purchased German documentaries and soaps).
The useful bit - which they obviously should keep - Swiss news, current affairs and local interest programming just doesn't need such a big budget.

For 350 bucks a year? Yep!