@olivia
fwiw the tvl has no power other than reporting you to the real police who aren't gonna do shit. they work on commission, so they use scare tactics (they definitely don't get a record of every TV purchase that's insane lol)
supposedly the intention is to not have public broadcast budget directly tied to the government to allow for more press freedom, but yeah it's a weird system and tvl are shitty
see also: http://www.bbctvlicence.com/