The taxman cometh: UK expected to tax TV phones
If you're looking for another reason not to use a cellphone to watch TV — other than the fact that it's a heckuva lot more fun to watch on, say, a 50-inch plasma than a 1-inch LCD — here's one, if you live in the UK: the government there is expected to tax cellphones that can receive live TV (like the LG DMB phone at the right), under the same law by which it taxes traditional TV sets (they collect the money to pay for the BBC and other publicly funded broadcasters). Several UK cellphone providers are expected to begin testing TV transmissions this year, so we'll see whether there are enough diehard video (or, more likely, sports) junkies willing to sign up even if they have to pay the taxman.
[Via picturephoning.com]
