MSE News: Watching BBC iPlayer on catch-up to require a TV licence 'soon'

Cornucopia

VisionMan wrote: »

Netflix aside, who at the moment are losing money hand-over-fist (at a rate of 4 to 1) name me 3.

Now TV. Amazon. Spotify.

Not sure what the relevance of profitability is?

My point is that it is technically possible. Therefore all the posts in this thread suggesting various pitfalls and how the BBC's probable naivety of design might be circumvented are all a little premature.

I don't know what data and systems expertise the BBC have access to, but it seems pretty simple to lock down iPlayer to a Licence-payer account, with an initial allocation of a fixed number of sub-accounts for different devices, some of which could be locked to a IP-address pool. Maybe more sub-accounts can be requested subject to an overall maximum of, say, 15 per household, with additional iPlayer licences available at a cost.

If the system suspects fraud (through unusual access patterns, high levels of concurrent usage and unusual IP-address patterns) it could possibly challenge with a code number exchange between the device and the master account.

[Deleted User]

I think the main change is that it will no longer be perfectly legal and above board to view the Catch Up TV service without a TV license.
Regardless of whether this is circumvented, it will still be unlawful.

Marvel1

The new requirement to have a TV licence would only apply to those watching BBC iPlayer on catch-up, and not other catch-up services such as the ITV Hub and Channel 4's On Demand, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has confirmed.

So if you don't watch I-Player are ok? How do they know though?

When this comes in, I have no doubt of a TV Licence increase for all.

VisionMan

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

I think the main change is that it will no longer be perfectly legal and above board to view the Catch Up TV service without a TV license.
Regardless of whether this is circumvented, it will still be unlawful.

Again agree. And will also include the ITV Player, All 4 and Demand 5.

[Deleted User]

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

I'm a bit puzzled by this as although the UK and Japan are both region 2, Japan uses the NTSC system not PAL.

Region coding is nothing to do with NTSC and PAL and it's been decades since the two systems were incompatible anyway. A modern PAL TV will comfortably display NTSC and vice versa
Region coding of DVD and Blu-Ray is a simply Rights Management tool, not a technical specification.
Read here;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code

[Deleted User]

cjdavies wrote: »

When this comes in, I have no doubt of a TV Licence increase for all.

The license fee is currently frozen, that's one of the main reasons the BBC has to make dramatic cuts (including closing BBC 3).

This change will not lead to an increase in the license fee.

VisionMan

Cornucopia wrote: »

Now TV. Amazon. Spotify.

Not sure what the relevance of profitability is?

OK.

Cornucopia wrote: »

"He probably knows more about the Licence Fee than anyone I've ever met".

Thats an insult. I told you months ago this was going to happen, you didn't believe me.

[Deleted User]

VisionMan wrote: »

will also include the ITV Player, All 4 and Demand 5.

The news article would seem to contradict this...

[Deleted User]

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

I bought my Japanese equipment more than ten years ago so that timing makes sense. You had to go to specialist shops to buy multi format TVs back then.

Perhaps you are also confusing this with multi-region enabled DVD/Blu-Ray players? These play worldwide regardless of NTSC or PAL encoding.

chattychappy

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

So you're blaming the BBC for Region Coding on DVDs?
Region coding is an international agreement and the BBC has no ability to circumvent this.

Point is I went into a BBC shop, told the guy where I was going, spent a load of dosh on DVDs which then didn't work when I got there.

However, nowadays, if I buy content, I want it to work wherever I am. Just like my razor or my towel. Else I won't buy.