Post Titled: Follow Up to the Griping yesterday about a TV tax...

So, I am encountering this type of scenario every day: the weighing of benefits - such as, ok, later in that report I quoted yesterday (a 101 page report btw) I found this:

"In the 1960s, the State tightly controlled broadcasting. The dominating thought behind broadcasting
was a public service ethos and an administrative logic. Broadcasting was kept in line by a single body, the Office of French Radio and Television (Office de la radio-télévision française), which operated first under the Minister of Information (and later under the Minister of Culture). The ORTF had a triple monopoly over broadcasting: it controlled signal transmission, programming, and production.
During the era of State television, television broadcasting was viewed as an instrument for promoting education and culture. Commercial broadcasting was rejected, as it was thought to consist of lowbrow programming, and catering only to the tastes of the majority.
For public broadcasters, the ceiling has been lowered to eight minutes per hour. Advertising bans are on tobacco, alcohol, and medical products as well as on guns and weapons and certain other products or services. Since January 2004, print media has been allowed to advertise on television. Advertising is only a minor source for public radio stations – it represented less than 5% of the total revenues of the entire Radio France group in 2002. (Television Across Europe 2005, 645-650.)"

I assume there is a similar setup with German tv - mainly because such regulations seem to be all across the EU and becuase one hardly ever sees is any advertising- BUT it is worth paying NOT to see the ads or to suffer through them for free- either the citizens foot the bill of the advertisers pay for air time... dunno what is better.