TV Licence

excerpts from ST forum...

Reply from MDA (26 June 2006) on the 'No TV set but fine stays' letter published on 17 June 2006...

"I REFER to Mr N. Stanley Jeremiah's letter, 'No TV set but fine stays' (ST, June 17), and take this opportunity to clarify the process of TV licence fee renewal and payment.

All owners/occupiers of properties are required to take up a TV licence if they have TV sets in their premises.

They can apply for a TV licence online at https://mdaonline.mda.gov.sg/onlineservices or at any post office.

Before the TV licence expires on Dec 31 annually, all licensees would receive a payment advice to renew their licences by Jan 31 of the following year.

If the licence is not renewed by the due date, a subsequent reminder would be sent, giving the licensee a further grace period to make payment.

The notices also indicate that licensees should keep the Media Development Authority (MDA) informed in writing if there is a change in the status of their TV licence, so that our records can be updated accordingly.

Follow-up action by way of a summons is taken only as a final recourse when we have not received any payment or response to our earlier notices.

In Mr Jeremiah's case, a renewal payment advice and two reminders were sent to him before he received a summons for his outstanding licence fees for 2005, as we did not receive any earlier update from him on the removal of his TV set.

Mr Jeremiah updated us on June 16 and we have cancelled his licence accordingly.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind our licensees to update MDA promptly on any change in their TV licence status.

For their convenience, our licensees may choose to do this via our online service.

If there are any further queries on TV licence matters, readers may call our hotline on 1800-478 5478 or go to https://mdaonline.mda.gov.sg/onlineservices to e-mail us."

Noticed that the reply from the MDA is only on 26 June 2006. I wonder why the need for such a long time if it is such a standard reply from the authority? The letter is published on 17 June 2006, ok.. it's a Saturday and the garmen sector nows-a-day work 5 days week... so they probably start the draft reply on Monday 19 June 2006. Hmm... so it takes 5 working days to reply this kind of complain. Soooooo efficient huh?

Anyway, lesson that we all learnt:

If you have decided not to watch anymore TV, update these people ok? Else, fine you know? Singapore... a fine city wat!