I just moved apartments and previously i wan't the main lessor so the billag bill didnt come to me. Am i supposed to register myself or wait for them to come to me? If i need to register, where can i do that (i live in Basel)? I have changed my address with the canton already. Thanks!

I'm posting this a few weeks after the event and I did a quick search on the forum but couldn't find anything that quickly matched, but anyhow...

A few weeks ago I received an official letter from BAKOM saying that I would be fined 160CHF for not informing them that I had a radio in my house between the dates of May 1 and May 17.

This was slightly confusing because though I don't have a traditional radio, I do have Cablecom TV which has some radio channels, and also an internet connection over which I can obviously listen to radio channels. But what I don't get is how on Earth they picked out that date period?

Another oddity is that I have always been billed 35CHF per month by billag since i moved into this apartment (a year ago), and as I understand it, the 35CHF comprises 30CHF for the TV and 5CHF for a radio.

When i pointed this out to the guy I spoke to, he said, "well, that doesn't matter, you still didn't inform us that you can receive radio channels."

His English wasn't too good, and my German isn't so great, so I didn't bother argue much longer, and ended up paying the fine.

Have you checked the English version (OFCOM) of BAKOM?

http://www.bakom.admin.ch/themen/rad...x.html?lang=en

Loads to read and further links, including equipment:

http://www.bakom.admin.ch/themen/rad...x.html?lang=en

Your radio receivers qualify you for a monthly Billag charge.

It appears the onus is on the user to register (although you write that you pay Billag)

The dates may just be random, if you can't shed any light on why they are indicated.

Fines can be up to CHF5000, so, if you think you were liable, then CHF160 isn't too bad.

Maybe worth checking that you're correctly registered, in order to avoid any future shocks.

Thanks TiMOW.

Yes, I did look up the BAKOM site, but obviously it was after having received the fine.

The confusion is that even though I've always payed billag for radio and TV why would they then fine me for not registering that I have radio receiving equipment.

Anyway, the guy confirmed that by paying the fine, I was now officially registered as having radio-receiving equipment

Write a registered letter to them that you don't have a radio and don't have a TV either and inform them you are ceasing all payments henceforth. Threaten to refer the matter to your lawyer. Billag only go for the easy pickings. As soon as trouble looms they back out.

so you are paying for tv and radio, which means you must be registered somewhere as having tv and radio, but you paid a fine without much questioning?

whats your address? ill think of a fine and send it to you now

Yes, that's the problem. They only know what you tell them. So if you tell them you have a TV and no radio then they have no way of knowing you have a radio. The first thing I'd do is demand an explanation as to why they are fining you for having a radio seeing they don't know whether or not you have a radio.

I had a billag guy some round and I got the whole schpiel about if you have a cell phone, you must pay radio, if you have internet you must... you must... you must...

Anyway, he asked me how long I had been at that address, which is since January so I got a bill for that period. Then I received the fine from BAKOM for 160.-

I am just going to pay it since I actually got away with it for 6 years. The BAKOM fine is a very small chicken coming home to roost.

If you have internet you have radio, if you have a cell phone that can access the internet you have radio, if you have cable TV, you have radio, if you have a car radio you have radio. It's almost impossible not to have radio.

Having thought about this, the only thing I can think of that might have been a precursor to this fine is that a few months ago I noticed I hadn't received a billag bill for about 3 months. So to preempt any problems later down the line (silly me), I called them up to query why, and they explained that they were switching to annual billing. It's then that I asked them if I really needed to be paying the "radio component" when I didn't have a radio unit. The guy said since I have internet, that counts as a radio.

Perhaps he used this info to cross check whether I had registered my "radio" with BAKOM, and hence, the fine??

I hadn't really considered this point until the other day. I heard that in the UK you are required to have a TV licence even if you don't have a traditional radio or TV but use the internet to receive broadcasts.

I guess that the same principle applies in Switzerland.

Doesn't it get more complicated in UK, in that you only have to pay to receive live TV, and not time shifted? So if you only watch iPlayer then you don't need a licence? Though I have no idea how they could enforce that.

Apparently not. I think you need one even for iPlayer.

Edit. I have just seen clarification on BBC website that a licence is not needed for recorded programmes such as iPlayer, only 'live' broadcasts. I obviously misheard, or they got it wrong.

This could explain that ....

EDIT: Ooopps - superfluous post .... never mind.

Does that mean the iPlayer doesn't offer live broadcasts anymore? Or maybe it never did and I just dreamt it.

As far as I am aware, programmes are only available on iPlayer after they have been transmitted on TV

iPlayer offers a live "simulcast", but if you watch that then you need a TV licence. As I mentioned above, it all seems very hard to police. Perhaps Billag/BAKOM have taken a more sensible (if less popular) approach.

I am getting confused here: isn't Bokom the "authority", and Billag just a third-party firm in charge of the administrative task of registering, de-registering and collecting ? If you DON'T register with Billag, then you will get the fine from BoKom, but you need not register with BoKom separately. Am I wrong ?

No, no, no, no ...... er yes - you're right -Bokom is the the Federal Office of Communications, with Billag having the mandate to administer.

Register and pay subscription to Billag, or big brother Bokom will find and fine you.

Ok. now i'm really confused. I live in a flat with a few others, I assume (must check) that we pay billag for the tv and internet but that would be for the "household" (which is how I thought it worked like in Ireland). Are you saying that we each need a seperate licence for our mobile phones!?