Editing Television licence (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2023}}
Radio broadcasters in the early 20th century needed to raise funds for their services. In some countries, this was achieved via advertising, while others adopted a compulsory subscription model with households that owned a radio set being required to purchase a licence. The United Kingdom was the first country to adopt compulsory public subscription with a licence, originally known as a '''wireless licence''', used to fund the [[BBC]]. In most countries that introduced radio licensing, possession of a licence was simply an indication of having paid the fee. 

With the arrival of television, some countries created separate television licences. Other countries increased radio licence fees to cover the additional cost of television broadcasting, changing the name from "radio licence" to "TV licence" or "receiver licence". Today, most countries fund public radio broadcasting from the same licence fee that is used for television, although a few still have separate radio licences. Some countries, such as the United Kingdom and Japan, have lower fees for households that only own monochrome television sets. In many countries, elderly and disabled [[consumer]]s have a reduced or zero licence fee.

Faced with licence fee evasion, some countries chose to fund public broadcasters directly from taxation or via methods such as a co-payment with electricity billing. In some countries, national public broadcasters carry advertising.

In 1989, the [[Council of Europe]] created the European Convention on Transfrontier Television.  Among other things, this regulates advertising.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} The treaty came into force in 1993 when it had been ratified by seven countries, including five [[EU member states]]. {{As of|2010}}, 34 countries have acceded to the treaty.<ref name="ectt-cets-132">{{cite web
| url = http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=132&CM=1&CL=ENG
| title = European Convention on Transfrontier Television – CETS No.: 132
| publisher = [[Council of Europe]]
| date = 5 May 1989
| access-date =14 June 2010
}}</ref>