Trick for students to still watch BBC iPlayer or live TV without a TV licence

boliston

phillw wrote: »

.....

I am surprised they never classified the Wifi/adsl router as part of the device receiving the broadcast, so y

almost any broadcast would come via a mains operated transmitter so they could not say wifi is mains powered so different rules from a mains powered tv transmitter or mains powered 3g mast

Cornucopia

phillw wrote: »

You are allowed to install a device somewhere else, if you are staying away and the installed device at home isn't being used.

Yes you are (under certain circumstances mainly to do with the type of accommodation away from home - caravans, etc.)

But that is not the exemption we are talking about here.

It remains relatively straightforward, and is as the MSE article suggests:-

Students may watch TV on equipment being powered by its own internal batteries, and not connected to an external aerial, whilst being covered by a TV Licence at their parents' home.

AndyWernham

Does a laptop in a university bedroom still count as a mobile device if it is plugged in to a cabled internet connection, rather than Wi-Fi?

jenniewb

AndyWernham wrote: »

Does a laptop in a university bedroom still count as a mobile device if it is plugged in to a cabled internet connection, rather than Wi-Fi?

Nope, not if the laptop is connected to anything which belongs to the house itself. (Assuming that the bedroom is not in a home with a license). It needs to be downloaded then played back but downloaded from a building with a license then played back mobile; mobile meaning not connected by wires or otherwise to the building you are in.

Cornucopia

jenniewb wrote: »

Nope, not if the laptop is connected to anything which belongs to the house itself. (Assuming that the bedroom is not in a home with a license). It needs to be downloaded then played back but downloaded from a building with a license then played back mobile; mobile meaning not connected by wires or otherwise to the building you are in.

This is confusing two different exemptions.

Option 1: Use a parental Licence to watch TV on a battery-powered laptop, phone or tablet. I agree that it needs to be connected via Wifi (not Ethernet or any other kind of wired connection).

Option 2: Go to a Licensed location, download content and take it away to watch anywhere with/without a Licence. The device can be connected to mains power and/or a network - it doesn't matter.

AndyWernham

Thanks for the reply. Where do you get your information from jenniewb?

PasturesNew

I suppose one could simply use all the telly you like ... just never answer the door.

The_Groat_Counter

Cornucopia wrote: »

...
Option 1: Use a parental Licence to watch TV on a battery-powered laptop, phone or tablet. I agree that it needs to be connected via Wifi (not Ethernet or any other kind of wired connection).
...

I'm not sure I agree with that.

The law is all about portable devices that are not powered by the mains electricity (so power either from a battery or some sort of generator).

Wired ethernet is not mains power. I don't necessarily see anything that bars one from using a wired ethernet connection as opposed to a wifi connection, just like there's nothing that would bar you from using a battery powered TV plugged into an aerial socket (or indeed a battery powered laptop with TV tuning dongle plugged into an aerial socket).

The basic truth is the law is from a different era, before any of the current technology was envisaged.

Cornucopia

The_Groat_Counter wrote: »

I'm not sure I agree with that.

...

Wired ethernet is not mains power. I don't necessarily see anything that bars one from using a wired ethernet connection as opposed to a wifi connection, just like there's nothing that would bar you from using a battery powered TV plugged into an aerial socket (or indeed a battery powered laptop with TV tuning dongle plugged into an aerial socket).

I don't think you can use a Battery powered TV with an aerial socket on the wall. (That's in the TVL info and repeated by MSE in the article that this thread is linked to).

I see Ethernet as similar to that.

However, IANAL, and the rules are not law, as such, anyway. Only TVL know for sure and they aren't saying - this is typical of their overall lack of helpfulness.

Perhaps MSE could ask them?

The_Groat_Counter

Cornucopia wrote: »

I don't think you can use a Battery powered TV with an aerial socket on the wall. (That's in the TVL info and repeated by MSE in the article that this thread is linked to).

I see Ethernet as similar to that.

However, IANAL, and the rules are not law, as such, anyway. Only TVL know for sure and they aren't saying - this is typical of their overall lack of helpfulness.

Aha sorry I hadn't clocked the bit in the article referring to the advice from TVL, i.e. it's only legit if the devices "aren’t plugged into an aerial or the mains".

I can see that a wired ethernet connection is somewhat similar to an aerial connection in this regard, though perhaps only up to a point.

One would need to go and read the relevant legislation, and even then it wouldn't necessarily be definitive - it's old law, written well before the time personal computing and internet technologies existed, so it could well be a matter of interpretation... ultimately, if a member of the public disagrees with TVL's interpretation then it'd be up to a court to decide.