Witness the poor reception of pay-per-view television and the enthusiasm for flat-fee Internet access.

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The government is pondering a report which recommended raising the licence fee for digital television, a move which could slow the take-up of digital television.

ECONOMIST: Government and the Internet

At the same time, Apple pitched media companies on a "best of TV" subscription service to television networks under which customers would pay a monthly fee for on-demand access to programs from a bundle of participating TV networks, giving consumers another way to readily access television content.

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For a glimpse of a brighter future look at Denmark, where the biggest cable company not only allows subscribers to watch some television on their computers but also allows non-subscribers to pay a monthly fee to watch some of its programmes online.

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BBC, the harder it becomes to justify the flat-rate licence fee (in all but name, a regressive tax) levied on all the country's television owners to pay for the corporation.

ECONOMIST: Digital follies