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Student TV license ?

jimbo19
jimbo19 Posts: 73 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
in Student MoneySaving
My daughter will be off to uni next week.
She is not taking a TV , but will be taking her laptop and a usb tuner card.
As the laptop is essentially battery powered and the tuner will be running from the batteries as well , am I right in assuming that this means she will be covered by our home TV license ?

snippet taken from tv licence website

"Aren't I covered by my parents' licence while I'm away?


No. Unless your TV is powered by internal batteries, such as a pocket-sized TV. If you think that this is the case, please call us on 0870 241 5973 to check that you are eligible for cover on your parents' licence. "
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Comments

  • jimbo19
    jimbo19 Posts: 73 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    Well just rang them and confirmed that is the case :)
    As long as its not plugged into the mains whilst watching TV
  • dmg24
    dmg24 Posts: 33,920 Forumite
    10,000 Posts
    I'd be very careful with this.

    What if the laptop runs low on power and she plugs it into the mains whilst watching tv through it?

    There are several discussions on MSE about watching tv through a laptop. I would be extremely weary about doing it, and balance the cost of the licence with the cost of the potential fine.
    Gone ... or have I?
  • s0198362
    s0198362 Posts: 57 Forumite
    dmg24 wrote:
    I'd be very careful with this.

    What if the laptop runs low on power and she plugs it into the mains whilst watching tv through it?

    There are several discussions on MSE about watching tv through a laptop. I would be extremely weary about doing it, and balance the cost of the licence with the cost of the potential fine.


    And how are the lisence people going to know she is watching TV on her laptop? If the do come around, all she has to do is shut the lap top.

    Not that I am condoning anything illegal here....
  • Snow_Angel
    Snow_Angel Posts: 764 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Is she living in halls or a student house with seperate rooms? I used to work for an accommodation dept at a uni - I understand IF the TV licence people knock on the front door they have to have a name AND room number of the person they want to speak to about the lack of tv licence. This should bide some time to switch it off. Also, in halls of residence over a period of 3 years my friend had a tv, no licence (naughty!) and not once did the tv licencing agency visit.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
    Holiday Haggler
    I spoke to the porters at my halls of residence when i was in uni.. they said they'd never let a TV license inspector in unless he had a court order. Good blokes those porters were
  • Snow_Angel
    Snow_Angel Posts: 764 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    ringo_24601 wrote:
    I spoke to the porters at my halls of residence when i was in uni.. they said they'd never let a TV license inspector in unless he had a court order. Good blokes those porters were

    That's what my job was - a student warden in halls. We all did the same thing :D
  • t-elle
    t-elle Posts: 244 Forumite
    Mortgage-free Glee!
    Hi jimbo19
    I emailed the tv licensing company and they wrote back confirming about the use of laptops, so we have it on paper that a battery powered (internal battery of course) laptop is acceptable on our license.
  • MercilessKiller
    MercilessKiller Posts: 7,143 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Im confused. What if it was running through a UPS system... (stores the power then u run the laptop off the UPS rather than the main plug socket)

    If so.. then what if your running your tv through a UPS.. :s
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The internet is a great way to get on the net."
    - Bob Dole, Republican presidential candidate    [/FONT]
  • t-elle
    t-elle Posts: 244 Forumite
    Mortgage-free Glee!
    This is a quote from my email
    Any television that is plugged into the mains or uses an external battery cannot
    be treated as portable. A separate TV Licence is needed in this case.

    Email to clear up any questions tvlcsc@capita.co.uk
  • Gorgeous_George
    Gorgeous_George Posts: 7,964 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    So, what if your Sky+ runs off the mains but the laptop TV has internal batteries?

    Where can I get 32-inch laptop for my home?

    :)

    GG
    There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those that don't.
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