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does Top Gear have commericals?

A

andylawcc

Lifer
it doesn't seem like it does, coz all the segments in each episode are seamless.
whereas in 5th Gear there's a noticable 'cutscene' going on between each segment.
 
Originally posted by: andylawcc
Originally posted by: Dopefiend
Nope, the BBC doesn't have commercials. At all.

[Edit]ed for crap grammar.
Click to expand...

damn, how they make money then? on donations alone?
Click to expand...

Nope. License fee.
Yup, in the UK, if you own a TV and/or VCR, you have to pay about £10 a month to the BBC for the priviledge. No matter if you don't watch the channel, you still have to pay.
 
Originally posted by: Dopefiend
Originally posted by: andylawcc
Originally posted by: Dopefiend
Nope, the BBC doesn't have commercials. At all.

[Edit]ed for crap grammar.
Click to expand...

damn, how they make money then? on donations alone?
Click to expand...

Nope. License fee.
Yup, in the UK, if you own a TV and/or VCR, you have to pay about £10 a month to the BBC for the priviledge. No matter if you don't watch the channel, you still have to pay.
Click to expand...

Talk about money well spent. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Dopefiend
Originally posted by: andylawcc
Originally posted by: Dopefiend
Nope, the BBC doesn't have commercials. At all.

[Edit]ed for crap grammar.
Click to expand...

damn, how they make money then? on donations alone?
Click to expand...

Nope. License fee.
Yup, in the UK, if you own a TV and/or VCR, you have to pay about £10 a month to the BBC for the priviledge. No matter if you don't watch the channel, you still have to pay.
Click to expand...

How is it enforced? Are TVs a big black-market item?
 
Originally posted by: Gurck


How is it enforced? Are TVs a big black-market item?
Click to expand...

they drove around with vans that had heat sensors in them to see if people who weren't paying were watchng TV. they found a bunch of people growing pot.
 
Originally posted by: ElFenix
Originally posted by: Gurck


How is it enforced? Are TVs a big black-market item?
Click to expand...

they drove around with vans that had heat sensors in them to see if people who weren't paying were watchng TV. they found a bunch of people growing pot.
Click to expand...

Don't keep us in suspense, did they smoke it?
 
Originally posted by: Gurck
Originally posted by: ElFenix
Originally posted by: Gurck


How is it enforced? Are TVs a big black-market item?
Click to expand...

they drove around with vans that had heat sensors in them to see if people who weren't paying were watchng TV. they found a bunch of people growing pot.
Click to expand...

Don't keep us in suspense, did they smoke it?
Click to expand...

yes, while they watched "are you being served?"
 
Er. Yeah, this thread went a bit weird.
Anyway, they drive round with detection vans to the addresses that are listed as not having a license, and if you're caught with a TV/VCR that has the capability (doesn't matter if you're not using it) to receive TV signals, then you get a £1000 fine.
Still, the BBC gives us a standard of TV programming that is far superior to most other channels, and considering that they only have two analogue terrestrial channels, there's a goodly amount of variety. Top Gear, for instance.
Of course, they're now branching out into digital terrestrial, so the amount of channels is increasing, but I personally think that it's still good value for money.
 
Whoa :Q How do they detect a TV remotely? And this is over airwaves, cable, or satellite? What about tuner cards?
 
Originally posted by: Gurck
Whoa :Q How do they detect a TV remotely? And this is over airwaves, cable, or satellite? What about tuner cards?
Click to expand...

Anything that's capable of receiving a signal.
I don't know how they detect TV equipment remotely; I'm not sure that they make this info available, so that people could "shield" their equipment or something.
 
I don't know how they detect TV equipment remotely
Click to expand...

I believe they detect it by listening for the 'IF' that is emitted from the antenna. The first stage in a TV tuner adjusts the frequency of the signal to match that of the next stage - so, lets say that a TV station 1 is on 860 MHz and station2 on 900 MHz. When tuned to station 1, the receiver would adjust the frequency by 810 MHz, leaving a signal at 50 MHz (called intermediate frequency, or IF) which would be selected for decoding. When tuned on station2 the adjustment would by 850 MHz. However, in either case the selected signal is always 50 MHz. Some of this leaks back up towards the antenna where it is broadcast.

I have seen TV licenicing people wondering around residential areas and university campuses with equipment. It looks like a walkie talkie, with a big directional antenna on it and headphones. Basically, they just wave it around pointing it at different buildings.

However, the main way they do it is they have a list of every address in the country, and simply reference their database of paid licence holders to see who isn't on it. They then write aggressive letters and demands for payment to them - it's not uncommon for eldely people to pay for licences even though they don't have a TV, simply because of the threats. If you still don't pay, then they simply knock on your door and ask if you have a TV. If you don't let them in, they come back with a warrent.
 
Originally posted by: Mark R
I don't know how they detect TV equipment remotely
Click to expand...

I believe they detect it by listening for the 'IF' that is emitted from the antenna. The first stage in a TV tuner adjusts the frequency of the signal to match that of the next stage - so, lets say that a TV station 1 is on 860 MHz and station2 on 900 MHz. When tuned to station 1, the receiver would adjust the frequency by 810 MHz, leaving a signal at 50 MHz (called intermediate frequency, or IF) which would be selected for decoding. When tuned on station2 the adjustment would by 850 MHz. However, in either case the selected signal is always 50 MHz. Some of this leaks back up towards the antenna where it is broadcast.

I have seen TV licenicing people wondering around residential areas and university campuses with equipment. It looks like a walkie talkie, with a big directional antenna on it and headphones. Basically, they just wave it around pointing it at different buildings.

However, the main way they do it is they have a list of every address in the country, and simply reference their database of paid licence holders to see who isn't on it. They then write aggressive letters and demands for payment to them - it's not uncommon for eldely people to pay for licences even though they don't have a TV, simply because of the threats. If you still don't pay, then they simply knock on your door and ask if you have a TV. If you don't let them in, they come back with a warrent.
Click to expand...

:shocked: That's wrong on so many levels...
 
Originally posted by: Gurck
:shocked: That's wrong on so many levels...
Click to expand...

Yup. The only ways out of it are:

1. Don't have anything in your place that can receive TV signals.
2. Have an electronics engineer remove the tuners from any devices, and then issue a certificate to that effect. Present this to TV Licensing and they won't charge.

Oh, and you don't need one if every device is black & white only.
 
Originally posted by: Mark R
I don't know how they detect TV equipment remotely
Click to expand...

I believe they detect it by listening for the 'IF' that is emitted from the antenna. The first stage in a TV tuner adjusts the frequency of the signal to match that of the next stage - so, lets say that a TV station 1 is on 860 MHz and station2 on 900 MHz. When tuned to station 1, the receiver would adjust the frequency by 810 MHz, leaving a signal at 50 MHz (called intermediate frequency, or IF) which would be selected for decoding. When tuned on station2 the adjustment would by 850 MHz. However, in either case the selected signal is always 50 MHz. Some of this leaks back up towards the antenna where it is broadcast.

I have seen TV licenicing people wondering around residential areas and university campuses with equipment. It looks like a walkie talkie, with a big directional antenna on it and headphones. Basically, they just wave it around pointing it at different buildings.

However, the main way they do it is they have a list of every address in the country, and simply reference their database of paid licence holders to see who isn't on it. They then write aggressive letters and demands for payment to them - it's not uncommon for eldely people to pay for licences even though they don't have a TV, simply because of the threats. If you still don't pay, then they simply knock on your door and ask if you have a TV. If you don't let them in, they come back with a warrent.
Click to expand...

That is such a pain. They should make those 10 pounds just another part of your taxes. The 3% of the population that gets screwed will barely notice it anyway.
 
Originally posted by: AgaBooga
We should do something like that in the US, maybe $10 a month extra and remove all ads from TV?
Click to expand...

They already do this. It's call PBS and it's done by donations.

The networks would never accept such a thing. They make more money doing their ad sales than with a $10 monthly fee.
 
Originally posted by: pulse8
Originally posted by: AgaBooga
We should do something like that in the US, maybe $10 a month extra and remove all ads from TV?
Click to expand...

They already do this. It's call PBS and it's done by donations.

The networks would never accept such a thing. They make more money doing their ad sales than with a $10 monthly fee.
Click to expand...

Yes... Free Market > *
 
Originally posted by: pulse8
Originally posted by: AgaBooga
We should do something like that in the US, maybe $10 a month extra and remove all ads from TV?
Click to expand...

They already do this. It's call PBS and it's done by donations.

The networks would never accept such a thing. They make more money doing their ad sales than with a $10 monthly fee.
Click to expand...

PBS isn't really the same... HBO and other pay channels are though. Only real difference is that it's done via cable rather than over the airwaves, and so enforcement is different.
 
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