TV licence - are they kidding?

[Dixie68]

I've always had a TV licence and just changed the address whenever I moved. This time around though I stayed at my brothers house for a couple of months before moving into my house, so I cancelled my licence and applied for a new one when I moved in.
It arrived today and contains this stunning news: "You will pay for your first licence within six months of your licence start date. You'll pay for your next licence over 12 months. Six payments will be taken before your next licence is due and six more after it starts."
The first six months are at £28.50 and then it's £11.93 after that.
So I'm paying the whole cost for a TV licence in just six months, followed by starting to pay for the next one from month seven.
Since when does someone have to pay for their TV licence in advance? Is this normal? Or are the rip-off tts at the Beeb trying it on?

[Dixie68]

Ok I can understand them wanting payment up front, (sort of), but then surely that means that when I cancelled my licence for my previous house they should have refunded me six months worth of cash? I just paid monthly.