LISTENERS' LICENSE FEES

Evening Star, Issue 21723, 18 May 1934, Page 9

LISTENERS' LICENSE FEES

RADIO TRADERS’ STATEMENT At a recent meeting of the Otago .Radio Traders’ Association, it was pointed out that the Government has not yet announced any intention ot allowing to radio listeners a deduction from the license fee of 30s per annum of the amount of this fee applied to Royalty payments in the past. The following "statement was made:— The fee of 30s was applied as follows: —To the Radio Broadcasting Board, 255; to the Rost and Telegraph Department, 2s; to Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd.; under an agreement in respect of patent rights, 3s. This agreement, under which over £15,000 per annum was collected and paid to the main proprietor oi Australasian Radio Patents, terminates on May 31, up to which date the patentee will receive 6d per listener from the current year’s license fee, and no further payments thereafter from listeners’ lees. The Government has now left radio traders to bear the burden of pavments to patentees. Thus for 1934.-35, the Government will receive 2s 6d per listener or over £14,001), which is allocated to no specific purpose, and in future years the

amount will be 3s per listener or approximately £16,000. As this amount has been subscribed in the past lor a specific purpose for which it is tin longer required, the Government is making an unjust imposition on radio listeners, and no doubt “ listeners’ leagues ” and such organisations will demand to know what is going to be done for their benefit with the large sums involved, or whether the license fee is going to be reduced by the amount of this now unnecessary contribution.