Not* from the UK, but I believe it’s a fee to pay for access to FTA television (such as the BBC).

If you can prove you do not have access and do not use (and I believe this also includes the BBC iViewer?!), you can not pay.

At the same time, here in Australia our two equivalent channels (ABC & SBS) are directly funded by the Government, which we pay for indirectly via taxes.

Seems like a more reasonable implementation, IMO.