Editing Television licence (section)

===Malaysia===
The annual television licence fee for television in 1990 was at RM 24,<ref name="scrap"/> previously RM 36 in 1986 and RM 12 in 1985,<ref name="fees">{{cite news |title=Colour TV fees up |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19850926-1.2.22.6 |access-date=17 December 2023 |work=The Straits Times |date=26 September 1985}}</ref> while the radio licence fee in 1990 was at RM 12;<ref name="scrap"/> unchanged since the 1960s.<ref name="MAY"/> The licence fee for the former was also the lowest in the world as of 1989.<ref>{{cite news |title=KL to scrap radio licence fees |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19890227-1.2.22.6 |access-date=17 December 2023 |work=The Straits Times |date=27 February 1989}}</ref> The licence fee for monochrome televisions in 1985 was at RM 24.<ref name="fees"/>

Licences for home-use radios were abolished by late 1985 with the amendments to the Telecommunications Act 1960,<ref>{{cite news |title=Home radios may not need licences by year-end |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19850910-1.2.19.3 |access-date=12 December 2023 |work=The Straits Times |date=10 September 1985}}</ref> while radio licences were abolished on 1 January 1991, due to Malaysia's improved economic performance.<ref name="scrap">{{cite news |title=Govt to scrap radio licence next year |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19900817-1.2.31.1 |access-date=15 December 2023 |work=The Straits Times |date=17 August 1990}}</ref>

46.5% of television owners did not pay for the television licence in 1995.<ref>{{cite news |title=REVENUE LOSS |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19950611-1.2.28.3.3 |access-date=17 December 2023 |work=The Straits Times |date=11 June 1995}}</ref>

In 1995, the government had planned to introduce pre-payment of television licence fees for people who have purchased a new television once every ten years, amounting RM 240 for each, replacing the annual payment which caused the government to lose millions of ringgit every year.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ministry proposes prepayment of licence fee for new TV sets |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19950808-1.2.33.8 |access-date=17 December 2023 |work=The Straits Times |date=8 August 1995}}</ref>

The government planned to add a separate licence for cable and satellite television owners and an increase of television licence fee for such users in 1996;<ref>{{cite news |title=TV FEES MAY GO UP |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19960713-1.2.34.5.5 |access-date=17 December 2023 |work=The Straits Times |date=13 July 1996}}</ref> it also had planned to increase the television licence fee to RM 36 in 1998.<ref name="MAY">{{cite news |title=TV LICENCE FEE MAY GO UP |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19980402-1.2.34.6.1 |access-date=17 December 2023 |work=The Straits Times |date=2 April 1998}}</ref>

The television licence fees were abolished in April 1999; however people still paid for the fees. The government decided to refund the fees that amounted to RM 67 million,<ref>{{cite news |title=KL govt to refund RM67m in TV fees |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19991101-1.2.50.2 |access-date=17 December 2023 |work=The Straits Times |date=1 November 1999}}</ref> becoming just RM 21 million in 2000.<ref>{{cite news |title=Govt to refund $9.2 million to TV licence holders |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes20000115-1.2.77.6 |access-date=17 December 2023 |work=The Straits Times |date=15 January 2000}}</ref>

Until April 2000,<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Lee|editor1-first=Chun Wah|editor2-last=Goonasekera|editor2-first=Anura|editor3-last=Venkatraman|editor3-first=S.|title=Asian Communication Handbook|date=2003|publisher=Asian Mass Communication Research and Information Centre|isbn=9971-905-97-3|page=171|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ua4AAAAIAAJ|access-date=23 January 2020}}</ref> [[Malaysia]] had an annual television licence fee of MYR 24 (MYR 2 per month), one of the lowest television licence fees in the world. Now, [[Radio Televisyen Malaysia|RTM]] is funded by the government and advertising.