Why do you have to have TV Licence if you buy a TV?

Wildswimmer_Pete

pogofish wrote: »

Apart from S4C, Channel 4 has not been funded by the licence fee since 1998! The six year bail-out from the licence fee that was planned for 2007-2012 was cancelled by DCMS before any money changed hands.

Radio was zero-rated for licence purposes back in the 1960s.

The Radio Licence was abolished in February 1971 because it simply became unenforceable. There IS no Radio Licence.

A TV Licence has never been required to buy or own a TV. That was the situation back in 1946 when the TV Licence was introduced despite the only obvious use for a TV was to watch the single BBC tv channel on the 405-line VHF service. Nothing's changed.

Despite the Wireless Telegraphy Act having been superseded by the Communications Act the rule remains the same. It is an offence to install a TV set with the intention of using it to watch TV at the same time as it's broadcast to the general public, without a licence.

"Installation" means connection to a power supply and aerial. Disconnecting the aerial uninstalls the TV meaning it can be legally used to display content from DVDs, VHS tapes, game consoles or catch-up TV via the Internet - with the sole exception of TV iPlayer which now requires a licence. Radio iPlayer remains licence free as of course the Radio Licence was abolished.

With a modern digital TV it would be best to perform a system restore or "reboot". As long no aerial is connected the electronic list of available channels will never be loaded. Analogue TVs are completely safe because the analogue TV service was switched off in 2012.

Cornucopia

One or two of the early posts on this thread are a little "fact-light".

Just to clarify and confirm:-

- A TV Licence covers watching/recording TV broadcasts and using BBC iPlayer for TV.

- The offence as specified by TV Licensing is just that: watching/recording/using iPlayer. However, the Courts can and do judge that possession/installation of equipment is indicative of use UNLESS a reasonable reason is given. This is known as the Rudd precedent.

- These rules provide a ready option for people to avoid paying the Licence Fee legally. Without a Licence you can still use Video-on-demand and commercial catch-up services such as: Netflix, Amazon, ITV Hub, All4, Demand 5, UKTV player and the catch-up element of Now TV.

- The vast majority of the Licence fee is used to fund the BBC, with a small amount going to S4C. No other major TV broadcaster receives any funds. World Service Radio has been brought under the Licence Fee and then subsidised by Government again in recent years.

- Only TV Licensing and Paypoint shops are able and authorised to sell TV Licences. ISTR there also being a scheme for a small number of rural Post Offices to also do so. No major stores have sold TV Licences in recent history.

- The requirement for TV dealers to notify TV Licensing of sales of equipment was abolished in 2013. No UK stores have required sight of a TV Licence before selling a TV in recent history. (However, I understand that this is a requirement in South Africa).

- iPlayer is due to be locked-down to Licence holders during 2017. The details of how this will work have yet to be released.

- The TV Licence is not a universal tax, and in fact, most UK taxes are not universal (having some form of exemption or discount for people in certain circumstances).

VisionMan

Before this thread loses sight of the original question, which was -

Why do you have to have TV Licence if you buy a TV?

You don't.

Just to back up Cornucopia's excellent post 13,
''The requirement for TV dealers to notify TV Licensing of sales of equipment was abolished in 2013.''

silverwhistle

Cornucopia wrote: »

- iPlayer is due to be locked-down to Licence holders during 2017. The details of how this will work have yet to be released.

At the moment they ask you if you have a licence, and if you say 'no' it seems any iplayer video you come across (possibly indirectly) will then not be playable. I think clearing cookies gets around this, but I haven't tested this as I'm not sufficiently interested.