Just got a visit from the TV Licencing people

PhylPho

Wind up by the OP or not, it does reflect the misapprehension so many have where TV licensing is concerned: that not only is it some kind of DVLA for televisions, it is indeed an "Authority" or government "Agency".

Oh, hooey. It ain't an "Authority" but a license fee collection service, contracted out because the Beeb has no provision in its charter to collect the monies it actually dishes out in £75,000 a year pensions to execs who already spent £1,000 a month using taxis to take Jonathan Ross out to dinner.

I've no sympathy with the OP, but then, I've no sympathy with the license fee, either. It should've been scrapped long since: the BBC is a self-indulgent monolith where funding that should go into programming instead lines the pockets of vastly over-paid nonentities.

If anyone gets a visit from the TV Licensing folk, simply: (a) ask for their name(s) and (b) the address to which written communication can be made. Don't divulge any personal or financial information to the person(s) on the doorstep; don't admit anything; and don't agree to anything: the doorstep contractors have no legal right to compel you to do anything at the time of their visit -- but as they will log that visit in the records, then you do need to sort yourself out sooner rather than later.

Not watching live TV is an option. Not paying for live TV, isn't.

anon_ymous

Im pretty sure that these so called "detectors" back in the 80s only checked for radio waves coming from people's houses and as people started to get internet, wireless routers, phones etc..., it would have become difficult for these so called "detector vans" to see whether a TV was in use, though it may have been using a different band

And, as someone said before-if theres no DVB tuner inside the TV then theres nothing the BBC can do. If you do however have a DVB tuner installed in the TV, and are not connecting to an aerial, then theres nothing that the BBC could do, as your not watching TV at all and your only using it as a monitor or for watching DVD's etc...

Id suspect that they dont have these detector vans(it wouldn't really be economical if fraud rate is at something like 5-6%), and instead they would probably have a look through the database, and have a look at who's not subscribed to the BBC

There was a guy in our town who didnt "believe" in TV's(he was quite a conservative man) and either the police/the BBC came around and saw that he did not indeed have a TV

There are also people of a certain religion(cant remember which) who disregard anything modern, and they would not be likely to have TV's either

[Deleted User]

Just a quick note - my brother worked on TV licensing for years and said that the 'detector' on the top of the van was just a silver painted cardboard box and didn't serve any purpose at all. The TVL did have vans that picked up a signal but it wasn't reliable and the equipment inside the van was just a computer with a list of addressess who were not on the TVL database as having a current licence.

lanavdt

Imo, if you use it then you should pay. End of. The tv licensing people were really helpful when I contacted tem to say I didn't watch live tv and did say they might send someone round but they've yet to do so. No tv means more time to live lol

Gers

LOTS of interesting info here:

http://tvlicenceresistance.info/forum/

marleyboy

Germany will change the licence fee for public TV and radio broadcasters into a flat-rate universal household payment. This decision was made by the prime ministers of the federal states on June 9 in Berlin.

The payment obligation, which has been subject to the existence of a suitable reception device in a household, will thereby be turned into a fee which has to be paid independent of the existence, type and number of reception devices. The new scheme will come into force on January 1 2013, until then the current system will remain intact.

Through the change, ARD, ZDF and national public radio broadcaster Deutschlandradio will be put in line with cultural and educational institutions such as schools, universities and theatres for which every citizen has to pay a contribution - whether they use them or not.

In May, Paul Kirchhof, a former judge at the German Constitutional Court, presented the results of a study commissioned by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF in which he recommended this scheme as a practicable model which would be in accordance with the German constitution. The exact figure of the new fee still has to be determined, but it is already clear that it won't exceed the current level of €17.98 per month.

With the change, the prime ministers react to the technical convergence of reception devices. Access to the public channels is no longer restricted to classic TV sets and radio receivers, instead programmes are also available through the internet on computers, mobile phones and other modern devices. The prime ministers also want to make licence fee collection less complicated and close loopholes.

As every household will have to pay the fee, the new system also puts an end to the much criticised detective-style investigations by licence fee collection organisation GEZ to uncover non-payers.

Lets hope the BBC dont get a whiff of this

ronnie_2

Fully understand why people do not pay this tax, we are living in a age where we watch our tv "on demand" and we should be given the choice.

I pay 13 odd quid and get unlimited cinema access or do should I pay the same for "live" tv?

Guess I will soon be a criminal when the pensioner of the house moves upstairs :A as I wont pay

Bamber19

Googlewhacker wrote: »

I presume you don't listen to any of the BBC radio channels then?

You no longer need a licence for receiving radio broadcasts, and haven't done since the 1970's...

CWCDiver wrote: »

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.

I'm pretty sure the 1949 Act was repealed by the 2006 Act

TurkishDelight

kje wrote: »

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.

Yep me too.

When my parents moved out of the family home they took the TV with them, leaving me with genuinely no need for a licence whatsoever.
I actually let the license people know this, and they said they would send someone round to check.

Pretty annoying as, well, it's a stranger poking around my house trying to find ways to charge me, but okay, I sort of see their point. Except instead of coming round they kept sending letters, telling me they were coming and asking if I wouldn't just rather pay.
That's a thinly veiled threat to me.

Now we do have a TV, a great big one, but we don't watch live TV because we don't want to break the law.
We do however take great enjoyment in listening to their radio, using their website and watching their iplayer as much as possible.

And all those nasty little threat letters?
Well, they are a better place to put dead batteries than the bin, obviously with no stamps on :A

I don't like being threatened, and I don't like having to pay for something even if I want to use something else.

CharlieBilly

No sympathy for the OP why should others pay so you get off paying, some may have less money that you but still pay

I think you are a troll anyway