UK TV License

[devilofbelfast]

If you genuinely dont need the tv lisense and are happy just to stream or use dvd's ect just stop paying and fill that form in on thier website. I on the other hand went way over the top after getting annoyed with thier constant letters and threatned them repeatedly. I informed them i am not aa signatory to the Geneva Convention prohibiting torture, I personally wouldnt have any issue with torturing someone and that any of thier 'inspectors' arriving at my door without a very expensive and almost impossible to get, prebooked appointment, should consider themselves volunteering for 10,000 hours forced labour. I also placed a sign saying the exact same thing at my front door. T.v lisensing banned thier own employees from approaching my property and promised me they would never write to me again. I might be an as**ole but i do it properly.

[Antilogic]

might be an as**ole

Yep. That entire thing is ridiculous. Threatening them. Bringing in the Geneva convention. "Torture". "Force labour". Placing a sign on your front door so everyone that visits you gets an eyeful of this insanity?

/r/I'mabadass and /r/quityourbullshit right here. What a load of rubbish this topic generates. If you actually did this, which I highly doubt, then that's some of the more pathetic actions taken on people simply doing their jobs I've seen in a while.

[Chips]

Erm. I cancelled my TV license about... 8 years ago. Told them why (over t'internet), they sent an exemption letter dated for about 2 years. The letter said they may visit to verify. Fine, i don't care, i have no TV and it'll take about 5 seconds to go "here is my lounge, there's my porn computer, there's no TV".

I then had a TV license after moving, but cancelled after a year of watching 1 program. I had it because the apartment had a TV installed.

Then lived without one for about 2 years, then got another one as new house has a TV installed. I've just cancelled it again after paying for 2 years and watching 3 programs in that time at the address. At £50 a program, there's no requirement to pay. The downside is I found out my BT contract that costs a FORTUNE includes football. I can't now watch live matches. Oh well. I have LFC TV GO and can watch the match the next day.

It's not a big saving, but in this day and age where everything, and I mean everything, is a "pay monthly service" (of VERY questionable value), it all adds up.

Experiences over the past 10 years of having and not having TV license.
1) Never been visited.
2) At one address I received a lot of "scary" looking letter threatening visits and how much I could be fined. I didn't care, because I had nothing to worry about - I had no TV and didn't watch/record live TV. Also, read it, there's nothing to be worried about. It's only to frighten those who are acting illegally.
3) Profit?

There's no drama. There's no fear. It took me a few mins online to register no TV license required and why, and they sent me another letter saying "exempt". I don't get the worry. Cancel it, move on with your life (it took longer to cancel with bank than bbc). Just don't forget to log out of BBC iPlayer

[Bishop149]

So the new rules are in force, which has led me to reassess the TV spending.

I do have a (smart) TV but it does not have a aerial and 100% of my content is delivered via the internet, in the case of the BBC, iPlayer
The licence fee is £145.50 a year which equates to ~£12 a month.
Do I think £12 a month is good value for: Masterchef, Doctor Who*, The News, The occasional David Attenborough series*. Which is all I use the BBC for.
*These end up on streaming services eventually anyway.

Quite frankly, no . . . . . I mostly watch Netflix and that's £8 a month.
I think when this years licence runs out I'll ditch it and might pick up Amazon Prime again instead which is a) cheaper b) infinitely more useful.
The BBC better be hoping that not too many people are inspired to do the maths I just did, or their income might drop quite substantially.

As for enforcement, yeah it's all bluff and BS. If anyone does knock on your door (unlikely) they have zero power to do anything, just refuse them entry. . . . they'll then probably mention getting the police but a) they won't and b) the police also have no legal power to force entry to your house under this particular premise. There are any number to videos on YouTube of people proving exactly how toothless licence enforcement is if you merely refuse to cooperate. The iPlayer change is interesting simply by virtue of the fact that this is an area they CAN enforce via technical means.

[BugMeister]

mine's paid quarterly by the bank - has been for years..
great value for money, especially their Radio output..

[Praefectus classis]

mine's paid quarterly by the bank - has been for years..
great value for money, especially their Radio output..

You don't need a TV licence to listen to BBC radio.

[BugMeister]

yeah, but you do need the BBC..

[exogenesis]

Are you saying that if you don't 'subscribe' & pay the TV licence that BBC radio will die off ?


Personally I like the concept of an 'advert free' national TV/radio broadcast institution (probably could only in the UK),
& would be willing to continue support that, but recent iPlayer mandatory changes turn me right off,
so much so that I have stopped subscribing - I've only been using iPlayer for BBC TV for a ~decade now.

The only other real use I have for BBC is radio alarm clock, such that I get news update on awakening,
but that's easily substituted with something else.

Would like to see less endemic 'naval gazing + self concerns' from the BBC,
and a much better distribution of licence payer resources...(e.g. ridiculous pay, & pay-outs).

@Bishop
Even if you TV doesn't have an arial, if your house does, I think I read that counts as 'could watch terrestrial broadcast TV'
and requires a licence - regardless of if you do or not use it - Catch22.

edit:
literally just now recieved my first 'TV licensing' letter, 2 weeks after cancelling direct debit, they're certainly 'on the ball'
I didn't get an answer here as to whether it was 'mandatory' to inform them I've stopped paying...
tvlicensing.co.uk/noTV "we may confirm this with a visit"

[pjknibbs]

Are you saying that if you don't 'subscribe' & pay the TV licence that BBC radio will die off ?

Um, yes? The BBC's primary source of income is the TV licence, if they don't have any money, of course all their services would shut down. Whether radio would be one of the first to go is another matter.

[esd]

@Bishop
Even if you TV doesn't have an arial, if your house does, I think I read that counts as 'could watch terrestrial broadcast TV'
and requires a licence - regardless of if you do or not use it - Catch22.

They have to catch you in the act, I'm pretty sure...

Related:

edit:
literally just now recieved my first 'TV licensing' letter, 2 weeks after cancelling direct debit, they're certainly 'on the ball'
I didn't get an answer here as to whether it was 'mandatory' to inform them I've stopped paying...
tvlicensing.co.uk/noTV "we may confirm this with a visit"

They have no legal authority to enter your home without permission or a warrant, so don't let them in if you don't want to. That doesn't mean they can't look thru your window and spot you watching BBC News, of course.

[Bishop149]

The TV licencing people can't force entry to your property under any circumstances at all, they are completely powerless.
They could call the police, who could force entry to your property but in order to do so they would need either a warrant (which they wouldn't get) or a strong suspicion / evidence that a crime was currently in progress.
So is the police looked through your window and saw you watching the BBC they could perhaps, in theory, force entry.
However I think it's rather unlikely they'd be willing to accept the legal responsibility that comes with exercising that power to the end of prosecuting this particular "crime".

[red assassin]

@Bishop
Even if you TV doesn't have an arial, if your house does, I think I read that counts as 'could watch terrestrial broadcast TV'
and requires a licence - regardless of if you do or not use it - Catch22.

No, the rules are clear: you only need a license if you actively watch or record broadcast TV or use iPlayer. You can have a house literally full of TV receiving equipment with no license as long as you never use it.

[Antilogic]

@Bishop
Even if you TV doesn't have an arial, if your house does, I think I read that counts as 'could watch terrestrial broadcast TV'
and requires a licence - regardless of if you do or not use it - Catch22.

No, the rules are clear: you only need a license if you actively watch or record broadcast TV or use iPlayer. You can have a house literally full of TV receiving equipment with no license as long as you never use it.

Correct. I can watch freaking BBC1 on my phone, do I need a license? Is it "could watch terrestrial broadcast TV"?

No.

[Alan Phipps]

Bishop149 wrote: "So if the police looked through your window and saw you watching the BBC they could perhaps, in theory, force entry."

Hmmm. "Er sorry Sarge, when you said "then disable his reception" I thought you meant I should trash the hallway once I kicked in the door. Think they can get it rebuilt? Am I in trouble with the Inspector now?"

[esd]

Correct. I can watch freaking BBC1 on my phone, do I need a license? Is it "could watch terrestrial broadcast TV"?

No.

Incorrect, you need a license to legally watch iPlayer on your phone. Linky.

You must be covered by a TV Licence to download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer – live, catch up or on demand. This applies to any device and provider you use.

[Antilogic]

Correct. I can watch freaking BBC1 on my phone, do I need a license? Is it "could watch terrestrial broadcast TV"?

No.

Incorrect, you need a license to legally watch iPlayer on your phone. Linky.

You must be covered by a TV Licence to download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer – live, catch up or on demand. This applies to any device and provider you use.

My point was is my phone is capable of running BBC1, therefore should I need a license just because of that capability? Not do I need a license if I am watching it.

And no, I don't.

[esd]

AAh, yes, capability to listen doesn't require license, you're right - tho I'm pretty sure the Beeb tried to make that something that needs one.

[pjknibbs]

AAh, yes, capability to listen doesn't require license, you're right - tho I'm pretty sure the Beeb tried to make that something that needs one.

I recall there being an issue when video recorders became a thing back in the 70s--the VCR itself was capable of receiving colour broadcasts, so you technically needed a colour licence if you owned one even if you only had a black and white TV attached to it. I don't know if they ever changed that or if I imagined the whole thing, mind you!

[Ronald Sandoval]

have a nice day oficer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-Fn4BiHekk

[birdtable]

The use of the law to enable one to break the law ( if he was watching tv without license) results in more draconian laws to which we all puff out our chests and complain about living in a police state, all the guy had to do was let the police check and common sense would have prevailed... but no.