If you live in a German apartment building you may have already received a letter some time after moving in, "shaking you down" for 17.50 Euro a month from the Rundfunkbeitrag Beitragsservice.  In Germany, public access TV and radio stations are funded by the Rundfunkbeitrag, or public broadcasting contribution, resulting in substantially more programming being made available over public access TV than is typical in the U.S..  But if you're only living here for a short time, or don't have a TV or radio, do you still have to pay the fee?   ....Yes, yes you do.

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