Under the rems of the BBC charter,the BBC are responsible for collecting the television licensing fee.
The UK like a lot of European countries finance their bradcasting by charging every tv set and computer owner capable of recieving TV signals an annual fee (about $200).
They employ about 15,000 just to collect this fee. It is mandatory for TV stores to register each set sold by ser.no
and customer details to the BBC.
Thanks for the update - so the $200 per year really is extortion, since the BBC is the sole recipient of the fees and independent stations have to generate revenue from advertisements. Government should eliminate the fee and the BBC - I can't think of any other propaganda entity that is subsidized/nationalized like this since Pravda.