Despite the steady stream of plasma, flat screen and high-definition TVs
on offer, over 13,000 British householders still have black and white
sets, Daily Mail reported.
Almost half a century after colour
programmes were first beamed into British homes, people are still paying
49 pounds a year for a licence to watch in monochrome.
The number
of people with black and white licences - which are nearly 100 pounds
cheaper than the colour equivalent - has declined from 212,000 at the
turn of the century to fewer than 50,000 in 2006.
Last week that number had fallen to 13,202.
According
to television and radio technology historian John Trenouth, though
13,202 monochrome licences may sound a lot, "it's now a tiny percentage
of the 25 million licensed viewers in the UK".
"The numbers of
black and white TV sets in regular use has fallen dramatically over the
last few years, hastened by the fact that it's now almost impossible to
replace them.
"There will always be a small number of users who
prefer monochrome images, don't want to throw away a working piece of
technology or collect old TV sets."