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We all like watching a bit of telly now and again. But before you get too comfortable on the sofa, make sure you have your German TV licence paid up. |
This is why I became an expat - so I could watch TV in a foreign country |
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EUR 17 a month? It's worth it just for the German comedy shows. |
As with couples, married or otherwise, a family need only pay one licensing fee - unless another wage-earning adult, perhaps a grandmother or grown child, lives with them; if she owns a television, she’s on her own.
A plea for release
If you own neither a television nor a radio, you still have to register with the GEZ and request a release from your fee obligation. But that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. File for a release and you’re still likely to get a visit from a GEZ field rep – their pay is based on how many deadbeats they collar, after all.
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You think you're just watching TV, but really the GEZ is watching you. |
Be very afraid
Scared? Imagine owning a few hundred televisions and you’ll understand how managers at the supermarket chain Aldi felt when a court in Hessen ruled that the GEZ could charge their stores in that state for each and every television they held in stock.
Nasty enough, but the GEZ hasn’t stopped there. As of January 1, 2007, if you own an internet-capable computer you’ll have to register that, too. If you use it to access television or radio signals, you’re already past due.
So, haven’t registered? You can pick up registration forms at most banks, Sparkassen or post offices, or sign up online at www.gez.de. But be quick about it.
Chris Gray is a freelance writer living in Heidelberg. Write him at cmgray80@yahoo.com.
For more on the GEZ and fee schedules visit: www.gez.de. You can find more information on radio and television in Germany in Expatica's Expat Survival Guide: http://www.expatica.com/guides/germany.pdf
20 December 2005
Copyright Expatica 2005
Subject: GEZ, television and radio licences in Germany
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