TV licence costs to rise from April - MSE News

The cost of a standard colour TV licence will rise to £154.50 from 1 April – an increase of £4...
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'TV licence costs to rise from April'
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  • mr_jrt
    mr_jrt Posts: 65 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 2 February 2019 at 12:30PM
    Probably would be worth reiterating that the best way to avoid the increase is to decide if you actually need a license at all. You only need a license if you watch broadcast TV via any means (yes, even on a mobile or computer!), or use iPlayer. Ownership of a TV does not mean you need a license as you may quite legally use it to play video games, watch non-iPlayer on-demand services (Netflix, Now TV, Prime Video, 4OD, ITV Player, etc), watch DVDs/Blurays, etc.

    https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/telling-us-you-dont-need-a-tv-licence
  • Kernow666
    Kernow666 Posts: 3,480 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped!
    i am surprised the licensing people haven't chased down the B&W people who I expect the majority have a colour TV but continue to lie saying they only have a B&W set


    surely it would pay to actually check as everyone caught means an extra £100 I expect it would cost less than £100 to actually go and check in person
    "If I know I'm going crazy, I must not be insane"
  • pphillips
    pphillips Posts: 1,631 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Kernow666 wrote: »
    i am surprised the licensing people haven't chased down the B&W people who I expect the majority have a colour TV but continue to lie saying they only have a B&W set


    surely it would pay to actually check as everyone caught means an extra £100 I expect it would cost less than £100 to actually go and check in person

    Interesting point, I don't know how log the old B&W set last and how they easily they can be fixed / replaced but my guess is that those who do upgrade never report it. It is also worth noting that a colour tv with the colour turned off is still classed by TV Licensing as a colour tv.
  • Neil_Jones
    Neil_Jones Posts: 9,521 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    pphillips wrote: »
    Interesting point, I don't know how log the old B&W set last and how they easily they can be fixed / replaced but my guess is that those who do upgrade never report it. It is also worth noting that a colour tv with the colour turned off is still classed by TV Licensing as a colour tv.

    It is the ability to receive colour that is of interest, not how you set your telly up to display that colour. As a B&W set cannot receive colour it qualifies for an appropriate licence (for backwards compatibility reasons the colour information IIRC is transmitted in such a way that black and white TVs can just ignore, while colour TVs process it).. A TV that can receive colour but has it turned off is not by definition a black and white TV.
  • Mister_G
    Mister_G Posts: 1,945 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 2 February 2019 at 5:39PM
    Does anyone actually make a black and white digital TV anymore?

    None of the old analogue ones will work now.

    If you are talking about using a digibox with a B&W TV, then you are actually receiving a colour signal, so surely you will need a colour licence.
  • Cornucopia
    Cornucopia Posts: 16,440 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Mister_G wrote: »
    If you are talking about using a digibox with a B&W TV, then you are actually receiving a colour signal, so surely you will need a colour licence.

    A set-up consisting solely of a B &W TV and a normal Set-top Box is permitted as long as the STB has no recording capability.
  • Cornucopia
    Cornucopia Posts: 16,440 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Kernow666 wrote: »
    i am surprised the licensing people haven't chased down the B&W people who I expect the majority have a colour TV but continue to lie saying they only have a B&W set
    I think they probably do check.
    surely it would pay to actually check as everyone caught means an extra £100 I expect it would cost less than £100 to actually go and check in person
    There are so few left that it wouldn't make a huge difference.
  • Cornucopia wrote: »
    There are so few left that it wouldn't make a huge difference.
    In September 2018,
    Precisely 7,1611 UK households are still watching television via black and white TV sets, rather than enjoying modern classics like Bodyguard, Mc!!!!! and Killing Eve, in full colour.
    https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/cs/media-centre/news/view.app?id=1369785628266
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