TV licence query

gfunk_2

What about if you just watch 'catch up' tv on virgin? Or will the fact that you have virgin mean you need a licence?

Is the licence JUST to watch BBC channels? I could live without those tbh !

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

gfunk wrote: »

Is the licence JUST to watch BBC channels?

No.

TV_Licencing wrote:

It covers the installation and use of TV receivers at the premises specified on the licence.

.................

gfunk_2

Fruit_and_Nut_Case wrote: »

No.

.................

Shame. I always have and always will pay it to be honest, just annoys me every now and then paying virgin for tv AND the TV licence!

And i know it's my choice to have Virgin, i just find that catch up feature so very handy!

leedsmodus

You send a letter advising if their officers set foot on your property they will be comitting an offence. You send them a letter withdrawing all implied rights of access to your property. You write your sick of them sending them stupid letters to your house when all you do is watch your tv for dvd's and your games console.

I did this 5 yr ago and not heard a whistle from them since. If they come to my house i ring the police. though i have been advised 5 yrs ago they noted my letter and i wouldnt hear from them again but reminded me if i ever buy a tv and use live broadcasts to get a license.

If your getting letters, fill them up with all the rubbish you can think off, tea bags and any other rubbish and post it back to them at the freepost address.

the letter which i send 5 yr ago is available on the net on many a site and it worked for me

leedsmodus

i know many a people whom have done the letter withdrawing all implied rights of access and some have tv, sky virgin or what ever.

leedsmodus

DUTR wrote: »

a fine will soon claw back any previous missed licenses

they cant charge you for previous licenses as they can not prove when you purchased the tv. When you buy a tv pay with cash and give someone elses address, so this address gets passed to tvl. or buy a 2nd hand one

i think it is disgusting that comet,argos,currys give your details to tvl to let them know you bought a tv. i got a new tv 3 months ago and used my mums address

asbokid

mrred66 wrote: »

if you have a monitor you would be breaking the law by downloading bbc stuff either watching it later or now.

You can download the BBC's rubbish and watch it whenever you damn well want.

It is only when you record the BBC's rubbish from a live broadcast, or watch it live, that you have to cough up the obscene licence fee.

With high speed internet and so many good TV torrent sites, there doesn't seem any point paying for broadcast TV nowadays.

The Digital Switchover is a frivolous waste of money that is propping up an obsolete technology. The cash could have been spent on bringing Fibre To The Home, so we could enjoy Video On Demand.

More Tory waste. When will it end?

Nilrem

asbokid wrote: »

You can download the BBC's rubbish and watch it whenever you damn well want.

It is only when you record the BBC's rubbish from a live broadcast, or watch it live, that you have to cough up the obscene licence fee.

With high speed internet and so many good TV torrent sites, there doesn't seem any point paying for broadcast TV nowadays.

The Digital Switchover is a frivolous waste of money that is propping up an obsolete technology. The cash could have been spent on bringing Fibre To The Home, so we could enjoy Video On Demand.

More Tory waste. When will it end?

You're a funny lad


Digital switchover is very cheap compared to fibre to the home, much faster to do, easier to do (not having to dig many thousands of miles of trench for cables, let alone the cost of the cables), and frees up bandwidth for other uses.

Seriously, the switchover has largely cost very little for consumers. they planned it to take years, and most people will have had digital reception gear bought simply because their old gear has died of old age/been replaced because they've gone from CRT to flatscreen.
The cost of supplying a few cheap digital STB's and assisting in making sure people's aerials are ok for digital reception is tiny compared to the cost of fibre to the home - the likes of NTL went tens of billions into debt just running a hybrid fibre/co-ax network to half the country (mainly reasonably sized towns).

And it wasn't even the Tories who decided on the digital switchover from memory...and when it was planned VOD wasn't even thought off seriously, most people didn't have a computer let alone an internet connection and it was extremely expensive to do what passed for VOD due to the hardware costs at both ends, let alone the quality was appalling.
I was attempting to watch video online back in about 1998-2002 first as one of the lucky people to get a good dial up connection on an unlimited service early on*, then as an early cable modem user, and it was around then the digital switchover was planned (with the idea that allowing 10 years or so meant that most people would have already bought a digital compatible TV by the time the transmitters switched over).

P.S.
Where exactly do you think your torrent sites get much of their content from...it's generally broadcast TV of one description or another:p


*I was lucky enough to get on the AOL 0800 fixed fee pilot which was surprisingly good (this was about a year before the first public services), and then the NTL free 0800 dial up for their customers - both connected at 48-52k which was superb for the time (about the fastest 56k would connect outside the lab).

Wig

Hi OP

Post #2 100% correct, but you don't need to 'de-tune' it it isn't being used for watching broadcasts so it won't have any aerials or satelite etc connected to it.

#4, #5 are incorrect you do not need a licence merely because you "might watch live broadcasts"

#7 correct. Clarification, this means you can watch iplayer itvplayer on your broadband connection without a TV licence but if they show a live transmission on iplayer (it is available on iplayer whilst it is also being broadcast to the nation on the network) you cannot watch it and there will be a message to ask if you have a licence before you are allowed to view the live feed.

#8 You can safely ignore all correspondence and personal visits from TV licensing. I barely get 1 letter a year now.

#9 mostly incorrect. You would only need a licence if you downloaded or recorded a live feed. If you recorded a live feed at another address and played it at your unlicensed one no licence required. If they saw a TV through the window, they could not say you need a licence.

#10 correct

#11 TV licensing always write to unlicensed addresses and harrass the owners by letter and sometimes by knocking on your door. This does not mean you have to listen to or read anything they have to say.
If you are going to buy a TV either give a fake address (on the TV licensing form) - and pay in cash or give the name/address of your parents sister whatever who do have a TV licence.

#12 incorrect

#13 100% incorrect

#14 incorrect such evidence would not stand up in court and with modern TVs there would be no signal to detect, unlike in the old CRT TVs. The only signal they can detect now is sound, using a directional microphone.

#15 correct

#16 correct as long is the signal is being watched.

#17 that's correct but you have interpreted it incorrectly

#18 first part correct, second part incorrect, you will be contacted regardless, and they cannot tell what signal you have 'picked up'.

#20 correct

#21 correct

#22 OP, No you will not need a TV licence for those activities you can also watch iplayer and itv player catch up TV, but not live iplayer stuff.
YES the TV licensing WILL harass you
NO, they cannot make you liable
EVEN if you get a desktop monitor they will still harass you because they harass ALL unlicensed addresses.

#23 Better not to contact them at all. If you contact them they will then just say "thank you for the information, however we need to confirm this, our officers will need to visit your premises, and so the saga will continue". They will not stop sending letters unless they have verified by a visit, and then only for 2 years.

#29 incorrect

#30 correct

lucylucky

^^^^Bloody hell, nothing on TV;)