A visual history of the BBC "TV Detector" van
To subsidize the BBC's programming, UK residents are compelled to pay a TV licensing fee (this is what we also call a "tax") if they choose to watch television programs in their homes. To encourage compliance, the Beeb invented the myth of the "Television Detector" van, which supposedly contained powerful antennae that were capable of zeroing in on any house that was watching television without a license. Hell, they could even tell what show you were watching, according to the ominous TV commercial we've embedded after the jump. Anyway, the BBC's fleet of Television Detector vehicles is really more silly than sinister, and oobject, a site that puts together interesting themed gadget lists, has a gallery of TV detector trucks as they appeared through the years. We wonder if there are secret field-ops TV Detector trucks in the U.S. "Got 'em. They're watching Top Gear." Remember, while you watch the BBC, the BBC is watching you.
[Source: oobject]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Zane` 7:36PM (6/09/2008)
That is hilarious, good way to trick the public I guess, glad we don't have to pay the government to watch TV here.
http://pixblix.com
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psarhjinian 9:33PM (6/09/2008)
I'd pay the government if it meant I could get BBC-style writing and acting instead of "Big Suvivor Race Factor 2000!" or "Let's All Laugh At the Black/Gay/Rich/Poor Juxtaposition of the Week".
Seriously, if socialism is responsible for Coupling, Top Gear and Bleak House and capitalism for Desperate Housewives, NASCAR or Heroes, I'll take socialism every damn time.
carbuzzard.com 11:28PM (6/09/2008)
psar...maybe some good stuff comes from the Beeb, but during my visits to Jolly Olde, I never saw it. Yes, the Beeb produces some really good stuff, but much of it is dreck. And "non-commercial" dreck isn't any better than dreck with commercials.
The glory of the free market is that the typical American consumer has access to hundreds of television stations. "Basic cable" usually has 70 channels. With a government monopoly, eh, who needs more than two or three channels? So much for socialism.
Ian 2:02AM (6/10/2008)
"Big Suvivor Race Factor 2000"
Lol most of those reality shows are Americanized versions of crap from the beeb.
EvenSteven 1:10PM (6/10/2008)
Psar - How about you pay HBO or private companies instead. BBC is good but it is no better than HBO. Its arguable if the BBC is really that much better than the American Networks anyway. Its all subjective.
Shiftright 8:09PM (6/09/2008)
Yikes! And I thought Jolly Ol' England only had a history of Big Brother excess in the recent decade. There was something similar in 'V for Vendetta', except their technology could listen in on spoken conversations listening for certain key words that 'terrorists' use, all to keep the citizens safe, of course. Scary stuff, glad it was only a movie, ...Oh wait..I live in the US...I hope no one reads this post!
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WackyChan 4:48AM (6/13/2008)
I'm sure you are aware that the NSA is capable of listening in to any phone or voip conversation at anytime, gotta love it.
SPG 9:01PM (6/09/2008)
This is hilarious, and amazing. And kind of insane.
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Lee 9:05PM (6/09/2008)
I refused to get a tv license when i was in the UK. The most rediculous thing ever concocted.
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Graham 9:11PM (6/09/2008)
At least they don't have to put up with the BBC begging the public for money every few weeks. The BBC carries no advertising. More than you ever wanted to know...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_United_Kingdom
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Joe 9:14PM (6/09/2008)
I was once caught in Japan by NHK for having their BS satellite dish on our roof. We bought the dish from a third party and never subscribed to the actual service.
It was a guy in a black suit, and he had climbed on top of a wall to peek onto the roof.
This was about 8 years ago.
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montoym 9:12PM (6/09/2008)
In Soviet Britain, BBC watches you.
/Yakov Smirnoff impression
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Phred 10:11PM (6/09/2008)
Not so farfetched...
My great uncle worked (at SRI) on something very similar in the United States many decades ago.
The idea was that each TV station would include in the image they broadcast a small, unique symbol. It would be in the far corner of the image, and so would not display on the visible screen. However, the consistent frequency pattern made by the tube as it swept the identifying image would be picked up by antennae mounted on... yep, roving vans.
The pattern could be identified to tell how many people, or with enough directionality, who in particular was watching certain channels.
It wasn't to charge people to watch, just for statistics, as an alternative to polls. To my knowledge, it never came into use.
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inteller 8:09AM (6/10/2008)
never used.....yeah right.
ghost 10:59PM (6/09/2008)
okay. They charge you TV tax because they want to make their report un-biased, independent from government, independent from sponsors. That, my friend, is the purpose of charging the TV tax.
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John P. 11:48PM (6/09/2008)
I guess that's why the bbc recently did an internal study to find out that they are in fact leaning far left on the political spectrum. I guess it's good at least they admit it.
hydrogenvodka 3:04AM (6/10/2008)
Also there are no commercials.
Curt 1:30AM (6/10/2008)
Years ago, there were vans that roamed neighborhoods in the USA. They were looking for people who had small satellite dishes and receivers that illegally received HBO signals.
I don't know if they still do this.
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Curt 1:44AM (6/10/2008)
According to this article, there is a way to see what someone is looking at on their computer screen.
http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2007/04/seeing-through-walls.html
The BBC TV detector van might actually be real.
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JB 5:19AM (6/10/2008)
trust me... the BBC detector van is very real and it's not a joke.
"TV detector vans help TV Licensing catch around 1,200 evaders every day. Anyone caught without a license risks a trip to court and a fine of up to £1,000."
""50 years ago you could spot the first TV detector vans coming a mile off as the aerial on top was as wide as the van. This is the first time we have used covert vans and they will be only one part of our activities to target licence evaders."
Last year TV Licensing caught over 440,000 evaders. The technology developed especially for this new generation of vans means that evaders are even more likely to be caught.
Vanessa Wood said: "The new vans are so powerful they can tell if a TV is in use in as little as 20 seconds. And once the television is detected, the equipment - which works from up to 60 metres away - can pinpoint the actual room that the television set is in."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/06_june/24/licensing_detector_vans.shtml
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