Young smartphone and tablet owners not paying media licence

New media users telling DR to buzz off

Four out of 10 smartphone and tablet owners between the ages of 18 and 29 do not pay the 2,436 kroner annual DR media licence.

While many in that age bracket still live at home and are covered by their parent’s media licence, young users generally say they find the idea of paying the fee unfair.

“Young people are accustomed to media content being free online,” Henrik Søndergaard, a media researcher and lecturer at the University of Copenhagen, told MetroXpress. “They find it unreasonable to pay a fee to DR for services they largely do not use.”

DR wants its money
The Facebook group ‘Afskaf DR Licens’ (Abolish DR Licence) has over 18,000 likes and links to farvellicens.dk where Danes openly admit to not paying DR licence fees.

While the idea of blocking DR content to smartphone and tablet users and establishing a subscription plan for those who want it has been proposed, it has not received much traction in parliament.

“Politicians mostly agree that the licence is the most painless way to fund public media,” said Søndergaard.

READ MORE: DR sends out thousands of payment notices

DR is going after those who refuse to pay – it has just sent 160,000 letters to households that have not paid the licence fee.

“About 50 percent of the households where the residents are all between 18 and 24 years old do not pay the licence fee,” said the head of the DR licensing division, Lotte Boas. “We are focusing on them.”

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