Watching TV on your PC or mobile phone? Get a licence!

aharrisreid

JMartin wrote: »

36p buys me lunch for two days with 6p left over. Now that's value for money.

I am intrigued - where can you get lunch for 15p?

Alan

JMartin

aharrisreid wrote: »

I am intrigued - where can you get lunch for 15p?

Alan

A packet of noodles (similar to super noodles) in Lidl is 15p. OK, not a balanced diet by any stretch of the imagination but it's filling and beggars can't be choosers.

Phil.Thomson

Stephenbw wrote: »

No, the BBC is independent from government, hence a licence fee, not a tax.

I am happy to pay my licence to keep it this way and to keep it commercial free:j

The government's own Nation Statistics department have reclassified the TV licence fee as a tax:-

The television licence fee has been reclassified as a tax, because the licence fee is a compulsory payment which is not paid solely for access to BBC services. Previously, the licence fee had been classified as a service charge. This reclassification means that the BBC will move from the public non-financial corporations sub-sector to the central government sector, effectively moving from one part of the public sector to another.

See http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=1341&Pos=1&ColRank=2&Rank=224

SunnyBrighton_2

That's a bit of inverted snobbery!! :beer: Certainly don't need your sympathy - I have a life!

I watched Fawlty Towers, Dr Who, M&W, TOTP, etc when I was young, and have no desire to sit around watching repeats or dramas or news or whatever (especially things like Eastenders)! Nor do I need a tv licence to listen to the radio.

Totally agree with the poster who said that all the cross-channel promos were like advertising - especially if you don't have the channels they're referring to.

I can't imagine what it would take to get me to have a tv again. Certainly not the programmes which are shown now. There may indeed be the odd gem, but it's not worth sitting through the dross to find it!

Stephenbw wrote: »

David Attenborough, Fawlty Towers, Wimbledon, The Olympics, Newsnight, Dr Who, Catherine Tate, HIGNFY, Spooks, Morecombe & Wise, Bleak House, The Street, Mike Leigh, Stephen Poliakoff, Michael Palin,The Proms, Glastonbury, TOTP, Radio 1-4, BBC4, Little Britain etc. etc...

If you really never watch or listen to any of these, then you have my sympathy.

Alfie_E

JMartin wrote: »

I regularly watch you tube videos and don't believe I am breaking any laws to do so without a licence.

That about sums it up. Any law where the people affected by it cannot tell with reasonable certainly if they would be breaking it is a bad law.

As Alan Udale found out, the current regulations include all material broadcast into the UK. It used to be only material broadcast from the UK, but then we got satellite and foreign nationals realised they could, quite legally, watch the TV from their home country without needing a TV license. That was deemed unacceptable, so that particular hole was plugged.

Role on to the Internet age. You can watch your streamed content, your narrowcast, without needing a license provided it is not also being broadcast into the country at approximately the same time. BBC’s iPlayer, 4oD, Sky Anytime, etc. are ok. They’re not streamed. The delivery process and viewing process are separate and distinct – like getting a DVD, then watching it. YouTube clips, archived programs streamed from the BBC’s website, etc. are ok. They’re not live. What about a live Internet stream produced by a non-UK broadcaster? Now you need to know if it’s being broadcast into the UK at the same time. If you could pick it up using Alan’s six-foot satellite dish, not having license would make you illegal. Otherwise, you’re fine. There is a huge number of TV channels broadcast into the country, and the line up is ever changing. But, if you don’t have a TV license you need to know this in complete detail so you know which otherwise legal parts of the Internet, if accessed without holding a TV license, will mean you’re breaking the law.

flying_teddy

Years ago, when I didn't have a a TV, I got regular letters from the licensing authority demanding payment for a licence. These letters were assumptive, very aggressive, as mentioned above, and clearly designed to intimidate. This would have been ok if I had a TV, but I didn't. Therefore I replied to each letter explaining that I didn't have a TV and would they please stop writing to me.

After the 4th or 5th letter from them, I wrote back and said that I had repeatedly and satisfactorilly addressed their letters in my previous replies and that unless they stopped their letters forthwith I would have no option but to issue a summons in the County Court for harassment.

The letters stopped.

MartynUK

Need a straight answer if a license is required for watching itunes tv episodes or other tv series downloaded from the Internet, does this require a tv license to watch on a tv-tuner enabled device such as a TV or laptop/PC but not connected up to an aerial or even tuned in.

From what I am reading is contradicting information, a license is required for recording or watching live broadcasts only. But a license is required for a TV with a tuner device (even if its not being used for analogue/freeview)?

[Deleted User]

So I can watch ITV1/2/3/4 on itv.com for free, because it's simulcast with a "small time delay"?

I wonder if, because it's illegal to sell a "device that can recieve TV signals" without taking down personal details, is it illegal that 3 sold me a Payasyougo mobile phone that could access the BBC channels over my mobile?

And as an afterthought:



:-)

tryfive

JMartin wrote: »

When they come round to check on you you just have to be able to prove that you can't get a signal (sound too) on the TV.

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

It is NOT up to you to prove that you can't get a signal.

It is up to THEM to prove that:

1. You need a licence, and
2. You don't have one.

You are NOT obliged to let a TV licence inspector in if one comes calling - and quite frankly, you're better off if you don't. Their sole purpose in paying "personal visits" is to gather evidence AGAINST YOU - it is not to "remove you from their list so they don't send you reminders", or for any other purpose they may claim.

Stuartli

!!!!!! wrote: »

Depending on how pedantic you want to be, mobiles and computers don't come in to it.>>

A computer PCI or USB TV stick is specifically detailed as requiring a licence (if there isn't one for a set in the household) on the TV licence renewal form and website.

You also need a TV licence for the privilege of being able to actually receive television transmissions, no matter what their source.

So saying, for instance, that you don't watch any BBC programmes, only Sky etc will not let you off the hook.