TV Licence

debitcardmayhem

It applies to any "Live Television Broadcast" on any device , and any Channel

You need to be covered by a licence if you watch TV online at the same time as it's being broadcast on conventional TV in the UK or the Channel Islands.

flashg67

Can keep video & DVD players regardless though

Dave_C_2

aardvaak wrote: »

But it will be a bit more difficult to prove when the dectector van arrives!

Last time I looked you don't have to prove your innocence. This underpins UK law! It's up to Capita to prove that you are watching live TV.
You can make this more difficult for theb by de-tuning your TV (pull out aerial and autotune the tv.) Permanently disconnecting the aerial will also help.

You only need a licence to watch or record live TV
Catch up TV and DVDs are OK

No detector van evidence has ever been used in court.

More interesting reading here and here, but these are OTT. Wikipedia version here.

The official version is here. Note the recurring theme of only required to watch or record TV as it is being shown

Coincidentally I've just renewed my license

Dave

aardvaak

pogofish wrote: »

You are aware that TVL/Capita are going to bug the backside off you with letters and maybe even visits anyway?

If I'm not doing anything wrong - let them waste their time!

prowla

aardvaak wrote: »

But it will be a bit more dficult to prove when the dectector van arrives!

Can they get the info from your ISP?

HappyMJ

prowla wrote: »

Can they get the info from your ISP?

No they cannot.

Dave_C_2

First off this is information from the internet that I have found since my last post, so don't treat it as gospel. Either way, it's a fascinating subject.

For obvious reasons the BBC are keeping information about detector vans and the technology hidden from the public. They only worked as in the old days having a TV meant that you have to have a license. Then along came the change in the law, the FOI act and the Internet.

Now they must be able to detect which channel and program that you are watching, and as I said before, no detector van evidence has ever been used in court.

Just to start you off, there are only a few of them.

Even if there is a fleet of a hundred, you must take into account:

• The initial cost of buying the van
• Depreciation
• Cost of equipping the van
• R & D costs of the equipment
• Van maintenance
• Diesel
• Technician wages

These vans are costing us taxpayers a fortune for no return!

Dave

Figment

TV Licensing is a trade mark of the BBC, used under licence by companies contracted to the BBC.

Capita Business Services Ltd Administer and enforce the TV Licence fee.

In the good old days the TV Detector vans were a common sight on the streets of a town near you at least once a year, and were largely used merely as a deterrent.

With modern technology, the vans are obsolete. Detection is now done by reference to the TV License database, which holds details of every licensed (and therefore unlicensed) premises. In the first instance, correspondence is sent to unlicensed premises reminding the occupant of the need to have a license. If no response is received to a request for information, further letters are sent. If these are also ignored, a licensing officer may visit the premises.


More here and here

ChiefGrasscutter

I have not had a TV for 10 years and do not watch TV by any other method. Obviously I do not have a licence.

I get monthly letters here addressed to 'The Legal Occupier' - and I mean every month.
The content of the letters seems to go in cycles - becoming ever more threatening each month until suddenly they revert back to the start again.

There is no legal obligation on me to inform the TVLA that I do not require a licence in this property as I do not watch as it is broadcast TV.
If I did inform them they would merely send the same letters every month as now - only now they would know my name.

So I put their letters in the bin - every month.
This has now gone on for many years.....................

googler

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

I have not had a TV for 10 years and do not watch TV by any other method. Obviously I do not have a licence.

I get monthly letters here addressed to 'The Legal Occupier' - and I mean every month.
The content of the letters seems to go in cycles - becoming ever more threatening each month until suddenly they revert back to the start again.

There is no legal obligation on me to inform the TVLA that I do not require a licence in this property as I do not watch as it is broadcast TV.
If I did inform them they would merely send the same letters every month as now - only now they would know my name.

So I put their letters in the bin - every month.
This has now gone on for many years.....................

I went through the same over a 5-10 year period when I had no TV, and at that stage, the TVLA included a returnable form where you could send it back to them, giving a reason why you didn't hold a TV licence - had recently moved from another address and hadn't updated it, licence held in a different name, etc.

It always used to amuse me that amongst the selectable options, the option of "I do not own a TV" was never amongst them.....