Living without a TV license?

[SammEl]

You have to have a TV license to buy a Freeview box in Argos now, ha!

[Blastuk]

So.. I have a friend who are told they are being taken to court because a tv inspector tricked their way into their house by claiming to have a letter for them and finding a broken tv that can't receive broadcasts.. they never checked the tv.

[mycarsavw]

I particularly admire your exquisite sense of timing.

He wasted my time it was only fair I wasted his

[santa claus]

I had a couple of run ins with a TV licensing a few years back when I did in fact have a TV and was using it to watch TV.

Goddamit you're a thief as well as a traffic law-breaker.

Only joking G4Z. Heehee!

[jnm21]

When he was done searching, I showed him a copy of the letter I wrote to the TV Licensing dept. in 2003 advising them that the TV/VHS would only be used to watch recorded media and a copy of their reply which told me that this was perfectly acceptable.

He was not a happy chappy.

Classic - I like it!

I got a pair of scissors, snipped out anything that could have tied the letter to me, then wrote "**** off", "**** OFF", "**** OFF (just in case it wasn't clear the first time)" on the three sides, and posted it back to them in their pre-paid envelope. Made me feel better anyway.

Another classic! Reminds me of a letter I got offering me a loan - nearly died when I read the APR (well over 100%, possibly 200+%) - cut out my details, wrote "no thanks - bit steep" & sent it in their prepaid envelope. Read once that someone kept the prepaid envelopes, gathered up junk mail (the senders + others) & sent it back crammed - theory was the heavier it was the more it cost them. One caveat, don't get shirty with phone pests - they may work shifts & ring you back in the middle of the night...

This thread has cheered me up (appeals to my devilish side... or sides LOL).

I blame my Granda - he recalled being called to the office where HMRC were waiting - when they suggested they had dipped his van, he craftily suggested "not my van, couldn't have been - I never got a chit", to which they replied "doesn't matter, we couldn't even identify what it was running on!"

[JPreston]

I also have no TV, and don't miss it at all. Everything broadcast really is rubbish. The only problem is that whenever I encounter one now I get lost in time and stand transfixed, especially by adverts. In any case I intend never to own a TV for as long as I live in the UK.

I'm disappointed to have had no run-ins with TV Licensing - which is just a trading name operated by the BBC, they are not in any way a government authority or tax-collection agency or whatever. This is because my landlord pays for one license for the whole shared house (before anyone points out that technically we need individual licences for each room, I'd like to say that naturally I do not give a monkeys).

Anyway, here's a great and funny site apparently operated by the kind of grumpy old fart I hope to become one day, who documents the various tactics and deception TV Licensing (TM) has tried on him over the years:

http://www.bbctvlicence.com/

Just don't ask him not to write below this line:

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[Kata]

Looking at the latest letter on that licensing site: why the hell does a blind guy have to pay more for a colour TV license than for a black and white!?

[scaryjim]

... my landlord pays for one license for the whole shared house (before anyone points out that technically we need individual licences for each room, I'd like to say that naturally I do not give a monkeys). ...

Besides, that's only true if you have signed individual tenancies rather than a single joint tenancy, and (I think) if you have televisions in your own rooms rather than in a communal room. I'm pretty sure TV Licensing wouldn't win a case asking you all to buy separate licenses if there was only one TV in the house...!

[Jiff Lemon]

Lived without TV for 6 years plus now. Its simpler than you think!

Zakk recently introduced me to newswipe via the I-player; Brooker's views on TV pretty much sum it up!

[format]

http://www.bbctvlicence.com/

Just don't ask him not to write below this line:

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That's an awesome website.

[petrefax]

Another classic! Reminds me of a letter I got offering me a loan - nearly died when I read the APR (well over 100%, possibly 200+%) - cut out my details, wrote "no thanks - bit steep" & sent it in their prepaid envelope. Read once that someone kept the prepaid envelopes, gathered up junk mail (the senders + others) & sent it back crammed - theory was the heavier it was the more it cost them.

i constantly do that with junk mail, it amuses me no end

anything that comes with a pre-pay envelope gets whatever other junk mail is to hand rammed in the pre-pay & sent back.

a few years ago i was looking after my sister's flat, she'd emigrated & it was on the market, i was dealing with the sale & keeping an eye on the place. the place was empty but once their TV license ran out the letters started arriving

what i particularly didn't like was the tone of their corespondance, their letters are only just short of abusive. something i mentioned to the phone monkey i spoke to when i rang to tell them to behave themselves, i got a similarly curt "its been checked by our lawyers & is within acceptable standards" i was half expecting him to add a "so there..ner ner"! at the end of it