Parkinson’s Law, [ cf C. Northcote Parkinson,1955 ], states that “work expands to fit the time available for its completion”, based on his experiences in the British Civil Service Colonial Office. Parkinson observed that, though the British Empire was being drastically reduced in size due to colonies gaining independence, staff numbers in the Service rose at a steady 7% regardless. The Law appears to be linked to those of supply and demand, or of one’s expenses rising in line with one’s income, of which we are all painfully aware.
At the BBC, as Paul stated, income is fixed by the cost of the TV licence, [ a radio licence now being free ], multiplied by the number of households owning a television set.
That’s right folks: an annual TV ownership tax! £131.50 p.a. for color, £44.00 for black/white, free if you are over 75 years old, and due to rise this week to £135.50 / £45.50, a rise of c. 3%
94.3% of the British population view BBC with a TV licence. Satellite, Commercial Station or cable viewer? You still need a licence. Non-payers are prosecuted with vigor, the BBC has special trucks with ‘detectors’ to catch evaders, and fines are gigantic, around £1000 [US$2000].
Fact is, if you are on a Postal [Mail] Code Database and don’t have a licence, a computer will issue you a form demanding you state that you don’t own a television set.
You also must have a licence to watch TV on a mobile phone or a laptop.
Upside: There are no advertisements, and programme quality is good.
Last year, [2006] there were 24,972,000 TVs licenced, 20,810,000 of which were for color.
Income: £2,919,643,000 = about 58 thousand million US dollars [2006] from licence fees. One should add that the BBC gets additional income from publishing, intellectual property rights, copyright, programme sales abroad, phone-ins at premium rates etc..
As we can see, if the Law holds and expenses rise with income, the BBC can well afford to employ a few professional light bulb changers.
Alan
