do a need a tv licence to buy a tv ?

chrisw

I have a licence anyway but whenever I've bought a tv or whatever from a shop rather than online, I've always put made up details on the form as a point of principle. How would anyone ever be able to check?

Richie-from-the-Boro

pogofish wrote: »

Complete rot!

Sellers are obliged to take your details and convey them to TVL but the worst the OP can expect is a letter or three that are easily dealt with.

And TVL stopped being a government authority years ago when they were outsourced to Capita. Whose enforcement is awful and again, easily dealt with. See many previous threads on here.

I'm happy to be corrected, I didn't read the O/Ps qualification as to its selective use. On this one it appears I'm 20 years out of date.

DCodd

I've bought a couple of TV's recently and was not asked for confirmation of having a TV licence. The retailers took my Name, Address and Post Code, which i assume they sent to TV licensing but the strange thing was that TV licensing must have checked for a TV licence by my name only as the Licence for the property is in my o/h's name and they sent a letter to the house saying that I did not appear to have a licence.

23n1th

DCodd wrote: »

I've bought a couple of TV's recently and was not asked for confirmation of having a TV licence. The retailers took my Name, Address and Post Code, which i assume they sent to TV licensing but the strange thing was that TV licensing must have checked for a TV licence by my name only as the Licence for the property is in my o/h's name and they sent a letter to the house saying that I did not appear to have a licence.

Thats what happened to me when I bought a TV Card for my computer. Its the property that needs the TV licence so really they didn't check at all.

JasX

balmk wrote: »

With most major high street retailers, you will be required to complete a TV license application form when you buy your TV.

Complete tosh, we could do with fewer idiots clearly with no idea what they're talking about comming and posting misinformation.

They'll take your name and address when you buy it, you'll then likely get a letter from the TV licensing people following it up asking if you should have a license. You;ll need to reply saying you have no broadcast recieving equipment installed and don't need a license.

I believe the key test in the unlikely event they ever bothered to pick you out for a spot check is -> is broadcast recieving equipment installed and available at the premesis?

If you are particularly paranoid about needing to argue anything then the more you can do to disable the receiver upstream of the TV the better -> ie be certain you don't have an areial or areial cable anywhere near your TV or easily accessible, even perhaps go so far as install a blanking plate over your areial socket / disconnect your aerial in the loft / deliberately put your TV in a part of the room away from the areial socket if you fancy.

Enterprise_1701C

We bought our last TV from Makro and had to give no details. Maybe cos it is a wholesaler.

asbokid

hudgebadger wrote: »

So I think the answer is yes you do need a TV licence.

No, no, no!

No TV needed, so long as the OP only uses the box for the things she initially stated..

The thing you mustn't ever do without a TV licence is watch live TV.

You can use the TV to watch recorded TV footage, DVDs and MPEG4 etc, but you mustn't ever watch live TV without a licence.

With no licence, you cannot and must not watch live TV via an aerial, via satellite dish, or via a digital stream sent over the internet. All of these things are ultra naughty no-nos.

When you buy a new idiot box, the store is obliged to ask you for your name and address. This is then sent to an espionage team at the Department of Television Licensing Enforcement Agency.

Today, this state spying unit, which performs covert surveillance operations across the country, is run by the stockmarket darling, Crapita plc.

However, returning to the purchase of a new television: if you pay for the TV receiver with cash, the store has no way of verifying, nor any obligation to verify, that the details you provided are genuine.

When I bought our Technika TV from Tesco, I gave the details of Sir Terry Leahy, the then chief executive, and the address of the Tesco HQ offices in Cheshunt. The sales assistant obligingly recorded these as "my" licensing details.

Meepster

asbokid wrote: »

The thing you mustn't ever do without a TV licence is watch live TV.

You can use the TV to watch recorded TV footage, DVDs and MPEG4 etc, but you mustn't ever watch live TV without a licence.

Or RECORD live tv. If you record a TV show and then watch it later, you need a TV licence. If you watch it streaming online after it has been shown on TV, then you don't need a licence...

everett_psycho

If you are only using DVD player and a PC why not buy a monitor with HDMI input? absolutely no need for a TV license for one of those and it's how i got around it at uni

The TV license for online programming is crazy and needs addressing, IMO you should need one for watch anything on demand in the last week (like iplayer 4OD and ITV on demand). Mainly because it's a confusing point and people will push it by just saying "I don't watch live online" but i don't think they will ever ask you to prove it, the middle ground rule of no live TV but on demand is fine seems weird, it should be all or nothing realy as even 5 days later it's still as it was shown on TV, the doctor will still save the world and someone will still walk away with the 1p box.

JasX

everett_psycho wrote: »

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

Wouldn't necessarily recommennd the monitor route myself as who knows what you'll want to do in future.

However as for the online ambiguity wasn;t there a site sonewhere dedicated to streaming certain shows/events with a 5 second delay purely to get round the 'not live' TV license restriction