Can we not have a tv licence?

lucylucky

Having spoken to more TVL people over the years than I care to recall I have no desire to phone them again. I have never been without a licence, as they were able to confirm, but still they letters arrive - and go in the bin.

If I stopped watching live TV (or programmes as they are broadcast) I would not need a licence, so I would not buy one. I see no need to tell people that I don't need something.

Hustle

We pay our TV License every year, but having to pay for BBC services when we don't use them (I think) is morally wrong, it's unfair. We watch commercial broadcasters. The BBC get £3.5 Billion (yes Billion) per year, that's a shocking amount, the people at the top get silly wages, one newspaper reported approx 12 member's of staff get paid more money than Gorden Brown, that's shocking.

moonrakerz

I had a long saga with TVL which I won't bore you with again. But, as usual, the same old inaccurate points are cropping up again - so........

Facts:

You need a licence to watch or record LIVE television, regardless of where it comes from. (Internet is a "grey" area )

You DO NOT need a licence to own a TV, watch DVDs or games on your TV.
You DO NOT have to de-tune your TV or disconnect it from your aerial.
TVL have NO right of access to your property.
You DO not have to speak to them - unless you wish to tell them to "go away" (in whatever terms you wish !)
You have a legal right to ban them in advance from setting foot on your property - I have done this, TVL have acknowledged this in writing to my MP. TVL have said in Parliament that they will not victimise anyone who has done this.
YOU do not have to prove anything, they do.
Even if they do take you off their "threatening letter" list, they automatically put you back on after 2 or 3 years.

If you are watching live TV without a licence - pay up, you sponging b*****d !!

boliston

I don't know what all the fuss is about. If you don't require a licence then there is no need to "prove" your innocence!

1) Bin all spam from TVL
2) If TVL inspector knocks, either don't answer door or simply close it in his face without saying anything.

They are specially trained to secure criminal convictions and are paid based on the number of criminal convictions they create.

Even if you think you don't need a licence they will stitch you up and you will get a criminal record, so DON'T speak to them, reply to their letters, or allow them into your home under any circumstances.

LittleMissAspie

moonrakerz wrote: »

Even if they do take you off their "threatening letter" list, they automatically put you back on after 2 or 3 years.

I think it's one year. My boyfriend phoned them soon after we moved in to say we hadn't got a TV but the letters started up again ages ago, and we've only been here two years. I don't see why we have to contact them in first place, we don't have to contact the DVLA every so often to explain why we haven't bought any car tax, or the Environment Agency to say why we haven't bought a fishing license, or tell Stagecoach that the reason we haven't bought a bus pass is because we don't take the bus. If they want to waste their money on postage, so be it.

Dinah93

Thank you everyone for all the replies. We haven't actually moved into our house yet, its good to know we do have the option not to have a licence, but it does sound like it has the potential to end up being a right headache!

neil9313

snugglepet20 wrote: »

I was not suggesting that OP was doing anything wrong if you actually read my post. I only suggest that ringing TVL will take 5 minutes and save hassle and stress from red letters, visits etc which will keep coming if they do not buy a licence.

As for my other comments it is a myth that you cannot be caught, people are prosecuted all the time and they do get warrants issued under reasonable suspicion (virtually everyone has a TV after all), they collect the evidence when they are there, if they already had it they wouldn't need to search the premises would they?!!

Your giving out incorrect information, to get a warrant they need evidence. If you dont open the door and you dont speak to them, they have no evidence.

Warrants cost money and very few are issued each year.

BLT_2

Schwade wrote: »

this is incorrect.

but to the OP, just ignore them and don't let them in. they have no right of entry.

Damn, you live and learn, I had always been told that you had to have one just by having a TV. I found this link which is quite informative and backs up the statement that they do not one.

http://www.jifvik.org/tv/

crazygaijin

lucylucky wrote: »

Just ignore them, simplest way.

They have no right of entry to your property and you can throw any correspondence from them in the bin.

Is that really right? They can get a legal right to enter to search cant they?

esuhl

Oh, blimey. Here we go again. This has been debated several times on these boards already.

BLT wrote: »

This is factually incorrect. The TV does not have to be linked up to an aerial or even be turned on to necessitate a licence, it merely needs to be capable of receiving TV signals. Any other method would merely resulting in people using internal TV aerials and hiding them when the licensing people arrived to inspect

The only option for viewing DVDs and not requiring a licence is to purchase a computer monitor with no TV receiving capabilities.

BLT, you are completely and utterly "factually incorrect". You can legally have a TV connected to an aerial with preset channels tuned in, but you DO NOT need a licence unless you actually access the tuned-in channels to watch broadcast TV. Personally I would de-tune the channels or disconnect the aerial if I didn't have a licence to avoid any suspicion, but you are not legally required to do so.

moonrakerz wrote: »

You need a licence to watch or record LIVE television, regardless of where it comes from. (Internet is a "grey" area)

Correct, although I don't think the Internet is a grey area. If you use the Internet to watch TV programmes as they are broadcast (with Zattoo, for instance) you need a licence; if you watch TV programmes that are not being broadcast live (by watching a programme on BBC iPlayer that was broadcast at another time) you do not need a licence.

crazygaijin wrote: »

Is that really right? They can get a legal right to enter to search cant they?

TV Licensing have no automatic right to enter your property. The only way anyone can enter your property is with a warrant to search the place. And the only way they can get a warrant is by getting magistrate to issue the warrant by court order. Evidence must be submitted to support the warrant before it is issued. Therefore an innocent person is fairly unlikely to be served with a search warrant.