UK media are generally affordable. UK popular tabloid newspapers are cheap. The UK national quality papers all cost a £1:00, the Sunday papers around £2:00, still less than a cup of coffee. So far only the Times and Sunday Times website have introduced ‘paywalls’ for their web content, charging £1:00 per day or £2:00 for a week’s access to its content online. The household television licence fee stands at £145.50 per annum for a colour TV (paid per household rather than TV set). This is about 40p per day (per household). Moreover, this grants access to multi-channel television, including the contract-free, subscription-free Freeview/Freesat services. Pay-TV is, of course, more expensive and the cost depends on the package (films and sport put the price up). The two main pay-TV operators are BSkyB (satellite) and Virgin Media (cable). Ofcom (2000: 17) reports that ‘UK households’ average spend on communications (including telephone, broadcasting, Internet) was £93.69 a month, down £4.39 on 2007. Spend on communications services accounted for 4.63 % of total monthly household outgoings, down from 4.8 % a year earlier.
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