TV License - Is it harder to avoid paying?

[badass]

if your going to be using bbc iplayer or any other similar on demand system then you'll need a license.

Not true and I haven't bothered reading further, but Iplayer has a Q+A on that. They dont care if non license payers use Iplayer and you are not breaking the law by doing so.

Secondly, you are breking the law if you are capable of recieving the signals.

In practice, that means make sure you have no aerials plugged in at all and you're covered. They can't come in your house anyway so tell them where to go. They however have a habit of lying to get in your house or being very vague.
The whole enforcement is clouded with bull****. Their people just look through your windows to see if you're watching the TV if you haven't got a license.

[usxhe190]

Not true and I haven't bothered reading further, but Iplayer has a Q+A on that. They dont care if non license payers use Iplayer and you are not breaking the law by doing so.

Agreed, I don't think iplayer is at a stage where it is broadcasting live at the moment. It is just playback, like youtube.

Therefore, there is no need for a licence.

[jimbouk]

How about a vga cable for your XBox 360, a dvd player with hdmi out and a hdmi - > DVi cable. Sell the TV and get a monitor without a tuner. Seems a lot more effort than sending a letter every so often though.

People are right about the vauge wordings and general strangeness of TV licensing laws and enforcement practices. I remember a story about a guy who got fined when all he had the TV for was so his son could play snes, wasn't hooked up to the an aerial or anything.

[Saracen]

You don't need a license if you are not watching BROADCAST TV. It doesn't matter if what was the original intention. If you stop using your TV to receive TV broadcast, you don't have to pay anymore.

I.e. if you are using your tv just for DVDs and Xbox, you do NOT have to pay license.

HOWEVER, the BBC and TVL will keep harassing you with threathing letters (because they think no one in the right mind would have a TV just for DVD and not watching broadcast TV).

Just remember that they do not have police powers (i.e. cannot caution you), and you don't need to open the door to them - they are just salesmen.

You don't have to tell them you aren't using your TV to watch broadcasts. Even if you tell them you don't watch broadcast TV, they think you have to give them the right to access your home to check. That is a lie, you don't have to.

With one fine distinction, I agree entirely with that.

The distinction is this. It isn't whether your watching broadcast TV that matters (as per your first sentence), it's the receiving.

So if the TV is tuned and connected to an antenna, or even just tuned, then if it's turned on it's receiving and arguably you'd need a licence, whether you actually watch it or not. It certainly doesn't matter whether the signal is watchable or not.

But, that nit-picking point apart, I completely agree with you.

[usxhe190]

With one fine distinction, I agree entirely with that.

The distinction is this. It isn't whether your watching broadcast TV that matters (as per your first sentence), it's the receiving.

So if the TV is tuned and connected to an antenna, or even just tuned, then if it's turned on it's receiving and arguably you'd need a licence, whether you actually watch it or not. It certainly doesn't matter whether the signal is watchable or not.

But, that nit-picking point apart, I completely agree with you.

Yep, it is receiving broadcasts. As long as the TV is not connected to the antenna, the OP is fine. Ignore all letters and calls and other threats from TVL and BBC.

[Mblaster]

That's not how I understood the license act - it seems to say that usage isn't all that important, it's the fact you have a TV that's installed to recieve television services that causes you to need a license.

So even if you just use it for DVDs/Xbox, if you are capable of recieving channels on the TV then you have to have a license.

Yes, but by unplugging the aerial and de-tuning the TV you no longer have a 'TV that's installed to recieve television services', so you don't need to pay the licence fee, and can play DVDs/console games perfectly fine.

[Saracen]

Yep, it is receiving broadcasts. As long as the TV is not connected to the antenna, the OP is fine. Ignore all letters and calls and other threats from TVL and BBC.

Kinda depends on signal strength. Even without an antenna, a tuned set can still be receiving. If sufficient signal comes in, even without an antenna, and the set is tuned, the local oscillator injects the right frequency into the mixer and the reception occurs. If it's detuned, it doesn't.

[rover214]

what about if you are receiving from a "paid by subscription" source like sky or virgin

obviously they do not have to pay an individual TV license to broadcast BBC, or do they have to contribute to the licensing as we all do? and then pass on the cost to us (like paying twice)

[Flibb]

A close friend never watches broadcast TV, all they did was block of the aerial socket in the wall and inform the TV licensing people. Think they had a single visit, showed the bloke the capped socket and off he goes, never any hassle.

[Saracen]

what about if you are receiving from a "paid by subscription" source like sky or virgin

obviously they do not have to pay an individual TV license to broadcast BBC, or do they have to contribute to the licensing as we all do? and then pass on the cost to us (like paying twice)

Sky and VM count as broadcast TV and you need a licence.

[MadduckUK]

A close friend never watches broadcast TV, all they did was block of the aerial socket in the wall and inform the TV licensing people. Think they had a single visit, showed the bloke the capped socket and off he goes, never any hassle.

portable aerial ftw?

[Whiternoise]

Do you still not require a TV License if it's a battery operated device?

I believe it's a common trick to get a laptop tuner and only watch broadcasts when the AC adaptor is unplugged

FWIW

You don't use your television set or other device to watch or record broadcast programmes

If you do not use your television set, video recorder or DVD player to watch or record authorised broadcast programmes (that is, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, cable television or satellite television) you will not need a licence. This means that you would not need a licence if, for example, you only:

* use the television set as a computer monitor
* use the television set to play electronic games
* watch pre-recorded videos or DVDs, whether or not these have been bought or recorded by someone else.

However, the television set and must be incapable of receiving all authorised broadcast programmes. This could be done, for example, by making sure that neither the television set nor the DVD or video recorder are tuned into any channels and ensuring that they are not connected to an aerial.

and

You do not have to let the enquiry officer into your home. If you do allow an enquiry officer to come in, they will carry out a brief inspection of the main living areas. If they are satisfied there is no TV set, they can authorise a 'stop on contact' for four years. This means that no one will contact you about your TV Licence for four years.

If the enquiry officer is satisfied that you do not have a television licence and that you should have one, a statement will be taken under caution. The enquiry officer should not suggest that if you buy a licence within a certain period, no action will be taken.

If you do not let the enquiry officer in, they may apply to a magistrates' court (sheriff court in Scotland) for a search warrant. They can do this only if there is good reason to suspect an offence has been committed. Refusal to allow entry to an enquiry officer is not, in itself, enough to justify anyone applying for a search warrant.

From the CAB

[Konan555]

“television receiver” means any “apparatus installed or used for the purpose of receiving (whether by means of wireless telegraphy or otherwise) any television programme service, whether or not it is installed or used for any other purpose.

In this regulation, any reference to receiving a television programme service includes a reference to receiving by any means any programme included in that service, where that programme is received at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is received by members of the public by virtue of its being broadcast or distributed as part of that service.

Puts to bed the notion that one needs a licence just to own a TV. Bottom line is that if there's no antenna/skybox/cable connected, it's not installed for the purpose of watching live broadcast.

Of course, should you watch News24 live online you would need a licence. BBCi player doesn't fall foul of this.

I'm pretty sure you do need a licence for battery operated devices - even your mobile. The BBC put it in simple terms on their advice page.

You need a TV licence to use any television receiving equipment such as a TV set, set-top box, video or DVD recorder, computer or mobile phone to watch or record TV programmes as they are being shown on TV

[Saracen]

.....

I'm pretty sure you do need a licence for battery operated devices - even your mobile. The BBC put it in simple terms on their advice page.

The general case is yes, you do.

The exception is that students in full time education do not, if they use a battery (internal battery) powered device during term time and outside of term time, live with someone (like parents) that do have a TV licence.

[Kiminality]

In out last house, we never even had a TV plugged in.
One was supporting a rather immense pile of books, and the other was... Well, we had to look for it when they finally sent someone round.
Yet, as regular as clockwork, we'd receive the bullying letters, threatening fines and all, in big bold text.
Though I'd never really respected them, the absence of negative feeling towards them quickly faded with the first few letters. Now, I open them with a feeling of numb inevitability.
Like real-life trolls.

[SiM]

Lol. Been receiving all these threatening letters too. I find it quite funny. We get 9 of the same letter every time (about once or twice every couple of months) in our student hall/flat. None of us actually have a TV though