News - BBC licence fee may soon be mandatory for iPlayer users

[danroyle]

I have a problem with this myself and my partner are not married, we only need one TV licence for the house, it is in her name, however the TV licensing people seem unable to grasp this fact, and I get threatening letters every now and them which I have given up even responding to, (every time you buy a TV/reciever the shop has to send in your name). If we have to have one for Iplayer, they will probably insist it is for the licence holder only, not member of the household.

i used to get the same issue, I bought a monitor from pc world and got a letter in the post about not having a tv license as its always been in the missus name and never saw the point in adding my name to it,

[dav532000]

They should make the Tv licence like the cable channels instead of paying for a Tv licence as they like to call as we all no it's a BBC licence, you should only need to purchase a BBC licence if you actually watch the BBC and not the other channels that use adverts to maintain there services. I would love to see how many people would opt out of watching the BBC as to not paying for it then.

[shaithis]

I'd rather pay for BBC.....of course, if your a brain-dead-reality-TV-show-nut, then it's a different ballgame....

[krazy_olie]

It all gets a bit confusing because iplayer includes past programmes as well as live tv.

That aside, I can't see how this can be implemented properly as it's a household thing. Can you watch iplayer in a building with no tv licence if you live in a household with a tv licence? *scratches head*

[AGTDenton]

Hands up if the cynic in you has a strong feeling that said license law change will merely eliminate the 'TV tuner' requirement, thus forcing all computer owners to pay for the licence regardless of if they own a TV.

*raises*

The added complication of Channel 4 and Channel 5 uploading their shows to YouTube will no doubt have to be included somewhere.

[Saracen]

0.2% of viewers use iPlayer? I thought it would be higher than that?

Hmmm. Interesting.

It;s worth pointing out, I think, that the Guardian said one thing (when quoting a BBC spokespernson) and the HEXCUS article said something rather different.

The BBC isn’t so concerned, telling the newspaper that only a small percentage (0.2 percent) of its viewers use the iPlayer. "We believe the current system works very efficiently and do not see a need to change its scope at present," said a spokesperson for the channel.

but the Guardian said

The BBC insists no changes are needed, pointing to its own research showing that only 0.2% of households watch only catch-up television, with no live viewing, each week. A spokesman said: "We believe the current system works very efficiently and do not see a need to change its scope at present."

The way I read that is that neither the BBC nor the Guardian are saying that only 0.2% use iPlayer. They are saying that only 0.2% use iPlayer without ever receiving live broadcasts, which is, of course, very different.

This is not a point about the prospect of licencing iPlayer reception, as anyone receiving live (or almost live) broadcasts needs a licence anyway. And if a requirement for a licence to receive iPlayer were introduced, that figure success that it'll make no difference at all to 99.8% of households, as they either don't watch iPlayer, or don't have a TV (or at least, don't have a licence for it).

[Saracen]

It all gets a bit confusing because iplayer includes past programmes as well as live tv.

That aside, I can't see how this can be implemented properly as it's a household thing. Can you watch iplayer in a building with no tv licence if you live in a household with a tv licence? *scratches head*

Don't think about buildings, think about "households". It might become clearer.

If the building is a family home, occupied by one family, then it's one building and one household, so it's one licence needed. If it's a block of flats, it's one per household, which will be probably be one per flat, but certainly not one per building. If it's a single flat with multiple, individual occupants, (like many student flats) then it all depends on the arrangements. If the lease is a single lease to which all occupants are bound, then it's one household. If, though, each occupant has a separate rental agreement, and therefore typically a locked/lockable room, then those separate rooms require a licence, though a TV in a common area could be used by all under one household licence. But anyone other than the person holding that licence would need a licence for a TV in their own room.

All as I understand it, of course. And, assuming it hasn't changed recently.

Confused yet?

[Saracen]

Hands up if the cynic in you has a strong feeling that said license law change will merely eliminate the 'TV tuner' requirement, thus forcing all computer owners to pay for the licence regardless of if they own a TV.

*raises*

That, it seems, has been ruled out. The Culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said specifically ""We are not going to introduce a PC licence fee."".

[simonpreston]

Hands up if the cynic in you has a strong feeling that said license law change will merely eliminate the 'TV tuner' requirement, thus forcing all computer owners to pay for the licence regardless of if they own a TV.

*raises*

This was along similar lines that I was thinking. Very soon you'll have to by a licence for any device that's even capable of watching the iPlayer. And given the TV Licensing peoples way of thinking it'll be a case of:

"I see you've just got a new PS3 there, sonny. Well, I'm afraid that now makes you a criminal until we decide otherwise."

[shaithis]

That, it seems, has been ruled out. The Culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said specifically ""We are not going to introduce a PC licence fee."".

But he is a politician....so he's allowed to omit the last part of that sentence...

We are not going to introduce a PC licence fee, at least until will decide we will introduce one.

[rabbid]

They should make the Tv licence like the cable channels instead of paying for a Tv licence as they like to call as we all no it's a BBC licence, you should only need to purchase a BBC licence if you actually watch the BBC and not the other channels that use adverts to maintain there services. I would love to see how many people would opt out of watching the BBC as to not paying for it then.

Definitely would opt out.
Anything worth watching has gone or is in the process of going, although probably not everyone feels that way!

[rabbid]

Hands up if the cynic in you has a strong feeling that said license law change will merely eliminate the 'TV tuner' requirement, thus forcing all computer owners to pay for the licence regardless of if they own a TV.

*raises*

*raises*
yeah, the government is so broke and unable to budget effectively so it needs to grab more money however it can.

[rabbid]

But he is a politician....so he's allowed to omit the last part of that sentence...

We are not going to introduce a PC licence fee, at least until will decide we will introduce one.

Haha nice, seems they can omit any part of the truth whenever it suits them

[mark22]

*raises*
yeah, the government is so broke and unable to budget effectively so it needs to grab more money however it can.

But surely the bbc work for Labour so why would they give money to the government?

[Noxvayl]

If they manage to produce a system where I get to pay one fee to watch ad-free television however I like and when ever I like then I'll be happy.

/Start rant

Recording television isn't good enough and I'm fed up with the pathetic choice when it comes to sport, 10 games being played in the premier league on the weekend and only 3-5 of them viewable live on TV... pathetic. We had more than 20 sport channels in South Africa in 2004, there was 1 for every single sporting event in the Olympics and you had the option to choose what athlete you wanted to watch if 1 event had multiple games running concurrently. 7 years later Sky boasts about having 4 sports channels, it's shameful.

/end rant

[OilSheikh]

Why can't this utter crap of a license fee be scraped? What good TV shows does BBC have?