Motivation
This is largely in response to the fact that many European countries such as France, Denmark, or other countries such as Australia, Canada and Malaysia have strong public broadcasting services but have abolished license fees, leaving Britain (159 pounds per year), France, Japan and much of Africa as the exceptions. So it's not an American issue, but it is an issue that still affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Background
For those not familiar with the Television license (such as the US): in many countries (UK, Japan being the main ones now), a tax per person/per household is collected for ownership of a television set capable of receiving television signals. It is not related to your cable or satellite bills.
So in these countries there's no such thing as "free to air" television at all - not paying the tax for ownership of a television set is sometimes an offence. Many countries have abolished it (France in 2022, Denmark, Australia, Singapore etc) but this persists and I consider this tax both regressive (hurts the poor, who can't afford Netflix and streaming news sites and what not) and not conductive to the free flow of information.
As George Orwell says (on the statue outside the BBC), quoting from a line from 1984 that did not make the first edition - 'If Liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear'.
Paragraph 4 come from certain countries (such as the UK) making it difficult for neighbouring countries to receive their signals, again due to television license fees.
Category: social justice/mild
Draft 3
The World Assembly (WA),
Frustrated that some WA states impose a fee for temporary ownership of equipment needed to receive television (TV) signals, (sometimes known as "fees for licenses for TV reception equipment", and, in this resolution, "fees" for short, and, for this purpose, excludes any fees for subscriptions to TV services such as cable broadcasts, premium channels, and Internet streaming services), in order to use the revenue from such "fees" to pay for the operating costs of each member's government-owned or affiliated broadcasters;
Enraged that such "fees", usually on a recurring basis at a rate per TV set or per households and sometimes more expensive than the cost of buying a TV set, putting undue pressure on the budgets of lower income households, and sometimes forcing these households to access to TV broadcasts without paying such fees, which reduces access to important broadcasts such as live public affairs, debates and news bulletins that are essential to the functioning of a democracy;
Exasperated that vulnerable inhabitants in a WA state, such as those with less opportunity for education or with learning and other disabilities (such as deafness or dyslexia), digest information more readily through TV presentations than through other means such as print media and radio, and thus end up relying on TV, the reception of which may end up being priced out of their reach;
Strongly expresses the determination that such "fees" are a form of discrimination against households with lower levels of education and those with learning and other disabilities, and creating an undesirable situation that is best addressed by member states acting collectively through the World Assembly, thus hereby requires, upon the passing of this resolution, that:
- Such "fees" shall be prohibited in all member states of regardless of whether they are collected by a government on behalf of, or or directly by, a broadcaster, and regardless of whether such fees are for the right to receive TV, radio or other broadcast signals or other similar technologies used across the multiverse;
- Unearned "fees" (such as prepayments on an "annual" basis based on a member's calendar) be refunded by member states to those that paid such "fees", on a pro-rata basis;
- Cultural exchange being an important element of diversity in the multiverse, strongly encouraging all members that support TV stations through government funding to make their TV signals and content available to other countries, subject to commercial and technical considerations, through such means as each member may deem fit;
- Knowledge and access to the latest technologies such as Internet streaming be strongly encouraged to be shared between those member states with access to such technologies with those that do not have such technologies.