Just got a visit from the TV Licencing people

Widelats

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2544815

jamespir

Widelats wrote: »

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2544815

sorry dont see your point

Widelats

jamespir wrote: »

sorry dont see your point

maybe if you took your shades off in the house .... just kidding.

OP said he was cold called, and the link i posted has what i did when i was cold called. Info link.

corbyboy

I find the whole TV Licence debate quite interesting.

The BBC are very secretive about their detector vans and their handheld equipment. Evidence from these sources has never been used in court as it has been be available for the defence to scrutinise, which the BBC won't do.

In order to get a court order the BBC has to prove there are reasonable grounds to suspect you have are using a TV in a way that needs a licence. I dont understand how they will ever get this proof. If they obtained it using a detector van then surely the case would be thrown out when the BBC wouldn't let the defence scrutinse the workings of the detector van.

I know they like to use a lot of wooly legal language. Like interviewing you under caution. This literally means nothing. They haven't been granted any extra powers to interview you under caution. Anydody can do it.
They have also been caught out quite a few times lying about their detection figures.

What is the story behind the people who have been sent to prison? Has it all relied on the confessing.

derrick

marleyboy wrote: »

Incidentally, are B&W licenses still valid, considering that Digiboxes or Cable/Sat are classed as colour receivers? There was a time having a B&W Tv hooked up to a VCR would mean having a colour license, whereas just a B&W TV meant you could just get a B&W license, which was all well during the analogue era, now we have gone digital, I am not sure there are any such B&W Digital boxes, rendering a B&W License pretty pointless.

They are still valid, (not all the country has gone digital),
From TV Licensing;-
"Black and white licences:
A black and white licence is valid only if the digital box is not designed to record television programmes."



.

kje_2

People can get sent to prison for not paying the fine that they get for not having a TV license (if they need one). You cannot be sent to prison for not having a TV license.

marleyboy

Do you need a licence to watch TV on your computer?




Has the man in the detector van really got the tech to tell if you'rw watching TV on your laptop?

Officially, yes – depending on what you watch. The law states that anyone watching or recording TV programmes as they are broadcast must have a licence. It really doesn't matter if you use a TV, a computer or a mobile phone – if it's live, you have to pay. Catch-up services such as the BBC iPlayer or 4oD fall under different rules and don't require a licence.


But how does TV Licensing, which collects and enforces licence fees on behalf of the BBC, know when a PC is receiving a live broadcast? Have the mysterious detector vans been fitted with some new kit?
TV Licensing is very secretive about its detection methods, fearing that disclosing too much could help potential evaders.



In a Freedom of Information request last year the BBC refused to reveal the technical equipment used by its vans, stating it "relies on the public perception that the vans could be used at any time to catch evaders".


This lack of information has only encouraged speculation. A common theory is the vans can pick up a signal transmitted by components from within the TV. To receive a broadcast, the TV must be tuned to the correct frequency, which is generated by a local oscillator. TV Licensing could potentially use this signal to find licence-dodgers.


Whatever the method, it can't be used to detect unlicensed computer use, as TV broadcast over the internet doesn't generate a TV signal. TV Licensing admits it has no separate strategies for catching those who watch online, and while it has caught people watching TV illegally on something other than TV sets, it won't provide records of the equipment used. Is there a danger that people will ditch the set and go online in order to avoid paying? TV Licensing doesn't think so.


A spokesperson said: "It is clear more people are beginning to watch TV online, in addition to watching on their TV sets. But while we do constantly review our enforcement methods to keep pace with technological change, the reality is that more than 97% of UK households have TV sets which need to be covered by a licence, and evasion remains low, at 5.2%."


The licence fee is safe for now then, but this could change. According to the BBC Trust, which published a review of TV licence collection this March, 40% of students in halls of residence use a laptop as their main way of watching TV. While this may just be due to the nature of student living, it could indicate the beginnings of a change in the nation's viewing habits – and the need for a new form of licence-fee enforcement.

www.guardian.co.uk/.../29/watching-tv-computers

Sharon87

OlliesDad wrote: »

I have known a few people to be caught out and forced to sign up on he doorstep. TVL tell the person that they will be less likely to receive any further action if they sign up on the spot.

When I moved into my house at uni. 2 days after moving in I got a visit from TVL people. I signed up on the door. We didn't have a phone line/internet at that point so I couldn't have done it any other way, especially I was busy unpacking!

I hate people for not paying for the TVL it hurts the industry I work in and I am glad when people are fined. I have no sympathy if anything happens to the OP, just pay up you selfish (presumably) daily mail reader.

kje_2

If someone, genuinely, should have a TV license then they should buy one as it's the law, however, there are many people (myself included) who do not need a TV license as we do not use any equipment to view or record TV as it is broadcast but TVL do not seem to accept that people like this can possibly exist and that we're all liars/criminals when we choose not to buy a license that we do not need. That winds me up.

Fruitcake

CWCDiver wrote: »

No they don't, there is an amendment to RIPA (the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) that applies to BBC/TVL, an authorisation has to come from a senior BBC manager (head of sales or head of marketing BBC) but no judge is involved.

The authorisation is "the detection of television receivers" and if they have a belief that they will be detecting an offence under section 1 or 1Af the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 orfor the purpose of assessing or collecting sums payable to the British Broadcasting Corporation under regulations made under section 2 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949.





(Can you tell someone here spends a lot of time doing RIPA authorisations)....

Thanks for the info. I stand corrected.