Re: Apple Computer changes its name

[pausch@saaf.se (Paul Schlyter)]

In article <1168636829.716426.69610@51g2000cwl.googlegroups.com>,
 <heuser.marcus@freenet.de> wrote:

> Paul Schlyter schrieb:
>> In article <1168554155.599100.136810@77g2000hsv.googlegroups.com>,
>>  <bieling@terra.es> wrote:
>>>
>>> Although I see your point, and I agree that some "adjustments" may
>>> be needed in this market's model, I can't stand by the side of the
>>> ones that find it fair to enjoy all the music they like for 0$ a year.
>>> Sorry, that's, more like, stealing.
>>
>> So e.g. listening to the radio only is stealing?  After all, you pay
>> $0 to listen to the radio.....
> 
> Compare this to the situation in Germany:
> 
> After WW2 only the state had radio and TV stations, called
> public stations.
> Even to this day they are the biggest stations as the German
> population ages rapidly and old people watch those stations
> mostly. As is generally knewn, older people are not that re-
> ceptive to advertising - more on that later.
> 
> To finance these stations and station chains the state invented
> a department to get a fee from the citizens, called the GEZ.
> 
> Even though Germans love to pay taxes they don't love tolls
> and fees and have to be convinced to do so. So the state claims
> that these stations have a so called "order to inform and educate"
> the public, for example by broadcasting news, documentations
> and educational material. To a certain extent this is true.
> 
> Who has to pay? Everybody with a radio or TV set as he or she
> technically *could* receive these broadcasts.
> 
> This includes radios & TV-sets in companies, cars

It seems Germany's radio and TV license fees today are similar to the
corresponding license fees in Sweden back in the 1960's.  Then you had
to pay one fee for owning a radio in your home, another fee for owning
a TV, and you had to pay extra if you had a radio in your car or in
your summer house.  But when portable radios became ubiqutous, the
extra fee for radio in the car or summer house vanished.  Also, the TV
fee, if you paid it, included the fee for a radio.  Finally, in the
early 1980's there were so few people owning a radio but no TV so the
administration of the radio fee was more expensive than the income
from it, and the separate radio fee was removed.  Now we have only one
fee: the TV fee.  If you own a radio but no TV, you don't have to pay
anything.  Institutions and companies have to pay a TV fee too, if
thye own TV's.

> and since
> January 1, 2007 even computers as they could receive the
> internet program of the stations (which is tiny and low quality
> compared to their normal broadcasts - but hey, Germany's
> youth hangs in front of their computers and not in front of the
> TV-sets).

Such a law is on its way here too, but it hasn't arrived yet, I think.


> There are some rules as how and when to pay, of course, but
> the majority of viewers and listeners has to pay a fee of around
> 35 Euros per month - please convert to your local currency...

That's expensive!  Our TV fee is more like 17 Euros per month
(although we pay in SKr, not Euros, of course).


> In the eighties the market was opened for privately operated radio
> and TV stations to give the public more choice (yeah, sure), have
> competition, be able to compete with other European countries
> (why?) etc.

Compething with other European countries on the FM band is
pointless, since FM transmissions rarely reach that far.
It would have been better to use the AM band for that -- but
here in Europe, the AM (MW) band is pretty dead.

> However, private stations *don't* receive any money from the
> GEZ as they don't have this "order to educate and inform".
> 
> They are financed completely by advertising and believe me:
> They don't inform and educate the public! ;-)

It's the same here.  Private radio companies were given access to the
FM band around 1995, when it was extended from 88-104 to 88-108 MHz.
At first it was a quite interesting collection of stations, but quite
soon the most interesting ones folded and were sold to companies.  Now
all the commercial radio stations here all focus on one thing: popular
mainstream music..... <yawn>
 
> Instead most of these "tit stations" (you can imagine, why
> some stations are called like that) transmit crappy game,
> talk and justice shows, Big Brother shows, low-to medium
> quality Hollywood TV series and mostly violent action movies
> with Seagal, Lundgren, Van Damme and other straight-to-
> video matieral, sometimes cut beyond recognition but it's
> the name of the title or star that counts.
> Occasionally they have a real block buster, too, but interrupt
> them for advertising even more often.
> 
> Public stations transmit advertising, too, but not nearly as
> much and they usually don't interrupt movies.
> 
> TV-advertising is pricey, however, and the private stations
> obviously get a large amount of money out of it as they are able
> to compete buying the rights of sport events, for example the
> Bundesliga which for many Germans is a reason to live...
> 
> Laws had to be made to enable the public to see those events
> (partially) if private pay-per-view stations bought the rights to
> transmit them to their customers (Germany only has a very
> small pay-per-view market). Otherwise a public uproar would
> be the result.
> 
> There you have it: In Germany everybody has to pay - regardless
> of the stations he watches and regardless if the station receives
> and money from the public.
> 
> bye
> Marcus

Of course everybody has to pay - there is no such things as a free
lunch.

Even in the US, where *all* radio and TV stations are funded by
commercials or (a few of them) by being sponsored, these money must be
taken from somewhere, right?  A company which advertises its products
must cover its cost for advertising somehow -- usually by a higher
price when selling their products.  Some amount of advertising is of
course necessary (to inform potential buyers that the product exists
and what it can do).  But today it's just too much advertising: TV
programs are interrupted by commercials, salesmen call you at home
right when you're having dinner, etc etc --- it's as if everyone
thinks that screaming loudest and the most will generate more sales.
Besides being annoying to customers, this also costs money, and make
the products more expensive than what they would have to be: some
30-50% of the cost of the product you buy can easily be due to
advertising costs.

So indeed everyone has to pay - not only in Germany but everywhere
else as well.

-- 
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