>>>http://www.betanews.com/article/Latest-move-by-broadcasters-to-mandate-implanting-radios-into-cell-phones/1288110047
>>>
>>>How can there be any legislation forcing a manufacturer to include a part in one of their products? Geeze what's happening to my country?
>>
>>My take on the article is it's horse trading between lobbyists for broadcasters vs. those for musicians, over royalties. Neither gives a damn about the consumer. No doubt it's all tied into the music-industry equivalent of Hollywood accounting.
>
>Over here you have to pay a subsidy/misnamed tax for government created radio and tv if you own a receiving device. Under certain circumstances you have to pay twice for portable devices, for instance car radio or laptops as they are considered TV's and radios...

Sounds a bit like the UK BBC license fee. You have to pay it if you watch TV but, AFAIK, you only pay once per household. Also, the assumption is that you *do* watch TV - it's pretty hard to convince them that you do not. Apparently, from a legal POV, if you own a laptop and have a broadband (or even, presumably, a modem) connection then you are obligated to pay the license fee.

On principle I'd argue against the whole set-up. In practice I'm quite happy to stump up the fee because, compared to many other countries, we get some reasonably watchable programs. If I watched TV a lot, regardless of program quality, it would probably mean I was paying about a penny a pop to avoid watching a 30-second advert.

All that said I've not actually sat in front of a TV since last Xmas. To me R4 alone is worth the license fee.