How to avoid buying a tv license?

Emmia

In comparison to the cost of the TV licence, the alternatives like Netflix, Prime, Now TV or Britbox (particularly if you take more than 1) aren't necessarily better value - and if she wants to watch live / current TV then the alternative services aren't really fulfilling that need. 

I know you're annoyed it's not free any more, but I personally think advert free tv (and radio) that tries to be impartial, and offers services in many languages  (and to many different sectors of the population) is something worth paying for.

Of the services listed above though, your mum might like Britbox most, its basically BBC / ITV (and some channel 4 / 5) programmes without adverts - mostly classic, but new stuff goes on all the time, at £5.99 a month. 

Edit: To be honest though, the drawback of these services is that they rely on a good internet connection and require signing back into / entering pin codes periodically (Prime asks me for the code for anything even vaguely racy) - would your mum be able to do that without assistance? Normal TV is simply a case of switching it on and potentially changing channel occasionally.

toadhall99

elsien said:

All of which is fine, but mum's best interests should come before your principles and being miffed with the BBC unless you can find alternatives which she will enjoy equally as well. 

I've already said that's what I'm trying to do,I do everything for my mother and have done for many years.We've been joined at the hip for nearly 50 years,I have even moved my bed down to the lounge to keep her company so she doesn't feel lonely at night,I have lived with mum all of my life,so please don't suppose that I'm going to do something that my mother may not appreciate.

elsien

toadhall99 said:

elsien said:

All of which is fine, but mum's best interests should come before your principles and being miffed with the BBC unless you can find alternatives which she will enjoy equally as well. 

I've already said that's what I'm trying to do,I do everything for my mother and have done for many years.We've been joined at the hip for nearly 50 years,I have even moved my bed down to the lounge to keep her company so she doesn't feel lonely at night,I have lived with mum all of my life,so please don't suppose that I'm going to do something that my mother may not appreciate.

My apologies, I could have phrased that differently.
I was wondering about the disney channel if she likes cartoons but that seems to be more internet dependent as far as I can see. 

pphillips

toadhall99 said:

elsien said:

All of which is fine, but mum's best interests should come before your principles and being miffed with the BBC unless you can find alternatives which she will enjoy equally as well. 

I've already said that's what I'm trying to do,I do everything for my mother and have done for many years.We've been joined at the hip for nearly 50 years,I have even moved my bed down to the lounge to keep her company so she doesn't feel lonely at night,I have lived with mum all of my life,so please don't suppose that I'm going to do something that my mother may not appreciate.

I think there are so many people out there who are emotionally wedded to the BBC and can't contemplate cancelling their TV licence out of guilt, fear, obligation or moral duty. They can't understand why not paying would benefit anyone.

toadhall99

elsien said:

toadhall99 said:

elsien said:

All of which is fine, but mum's best interests should come before your principles and being miffed with the BBC unless you can find alternatives which she will enjoy equally as well. 

I've already said that's what I'm trying to do,I do everything for my mother and have done for many years.We've been joined at the hip for nearly 50 years,I have even moved my bed down to the lounge to keep her company so she doesn't feel lonely at night,I have lived with mum all of my life,so please don't suppose that I'm going to do something that my mother may not appreciate.

My apologies, I could have phrased that differently.
I was wondering about the disney channel if she likes cartoons but that seems to be more internet dependent as far as I can see. 

No worries I know that you were intending well,I hope I didn't sound too crabby.She just watches the cartoons in the morning after she's had her breakfast just for half an hour,they just happened to come on after another programme and I was struck buy how fascinated mum looked.It's a new one that has cheerful characters and the graphics are nice and bright.

I'm lucky as although things have changed, mum's always happy in fact she even has a big smile on her face when she's asleep,I tell her how funny and nice that is to see that and tell her that it must mean that she's having nice dreams.

Emmia

pphillips said:

toadhall99 said:

elsien said:

All of which is fine, but mum's best interests should come before your principles and being miffed with the BBC unless you can find alternatives which she will enjoy equally as well. 

I've already said that's what I'm trying to do,I do everything for my mother and have done for many years.We've been joined at the hip for nearly 50 years,I have even moved my bed down to the lounge to keep her company so she doesn't feel lonely at night,I have lived with mum all of my life,so please don't suppose that I'm going to do something that my mother may not appreciate.

I think there are so many people out there who are emotionally wedded to the BBC and can't contemplate cancelling their TV licence out of guilt, fear, obligation or moral duty. They can't understand why not paying would benefit anyone.

Government offered the free licences and initially paid for them - but then decided to dump the bill (the budget cut) on the BBC.

The BBC has also driven forward things like digital tv (freeview) when the commercial companies failed, again at the behest of government, who wanted to sell off the terrestrial bandwidth to mobile phone companies.

The government can use the BBC  to deliver it's objectives - they have less ability to do this via Sky, Amazon etc as they're private companies.

elsien

toadhall99 said:

elsien said:

toadhall99 said:

elsien said:

All of which is fine, but mum's best interests should come before your principles and being miffed with the BBC unless you can find alternatives which she will enjoy equally as well. 

I've already said that's what I'm trying to do,I do everything for my mother and have done for many years.We've been joined at the hip for nearly 50 years,I have even moved my bed down to the lounge to keep her company so she doesn't feel lonely at night,I have lived with mum all of my life,so please don't suppose that I'm going to do something that my mother may not appreciate.

My apologies, I could have phrased that differently.
I was wondering about the disney channel if she likes cartoons but that seems to be more internet dependent as far as I can see. 

No worries I know that you were intending well,I hope I didn't sound too crabby.She just watches the cartoons in the morning after she's had her breakfast just for half an hour,they just happened to come on after another programme and I was struck buy how fascinated mum looked.It's a new one that has cheerful characters and the graphics are nice and bright.

I'm lucky as although things have changed, mum's always happy in fact she even has a big smile on her face when she's asleep,I tell her how funny and nice that is to see that and tell her that it must mean that she's having nice dreams.

That is good - I always think how awful it must be to be the person with dementia stuck in an unhappy time of their life. 

toadhall99

elsien said:

toadhall99 said:

elsien said:

toadhall99 said:

elsien said:

All of which is fine, but mum's best interests should come before your principles and being miffed with the BBC unless you can find alternatives which she will enjoy equally as well. 

I've already said that's what I'm trying to do,I do everything for my mother and have done for many years.We've been joined at the hip for nearly 50 years,I have even moved my bed down to the lounge to keep her company so she doesn't feel lonely at night,I have lived with mum all of my life,so please don't suppose that I'm going to do something that my mother may not appreciate.

My apologies, I could have phrased that differently.
I was wondering about the disney channel if she likes cartoons but that seems to be more internet dependent as far as I can see. 

No worries I know that you were intending well,I hope I didn't sound too crabby.She just watches the cartoons in the morning after she's had her breakfast just for half an hour,they just happened to come on after another programme and I was struck buy how fascinated mum looked.It's a new one that has cheerful characters and the graphics are nice and bright.

I'm lucky as although things have changed, mum's always happy in fact she even has a big smile on her face when she's asleep,I tell her how funny and nice that is to see that and tell her that it must mean that she's having nice dreams.

That is good - I always think how awful it must be to be the person with dementia stuck in an unhappy time of their life. 

elsien said:

toadhall99 said:

elsien said:

toadhall99 said:

elsien said:

All of which is fine, but mum's best interests should come before your principles and being miffed with the BBC unless you can find alternatives which she will enjoy equally as well. 

I've already said that's what I'm trying to do,I do everything for my mother and have done for many years.We've been joined at the hip for nearly 50 years,I have even moved my bed down to the lounge to keep her company so she doesn't feel lonely at night,I have lived with mum all of my life,so please don't suppose that I'm going to do something that my mother may not appreciate.

My apologies, I could have phrased that differently.
I was wondering about the disney channel if she likes cartoons but that seems to be more internet dependent as far as I can see. 

No worries I know that you were intending well,I hope I didn't sound too crabby.She just watches the cartoons in the morning after she's had her breakfast just for half an hour,they just happened to come on after another programme and I was struck buy how fascinated mum looked.It's a new one that has cheerful characters and the graphics are nice and bright.

I'm lucky as although things have changed, mum's always happy in fact she even has a big smile on her face when she's asleep,I tell her how funny and nice that is to see that and tell her that it must mean that she's having nice dreams.

That is good - I always think how awful it must be to be the person with dementia stuck in an unhappy time of their life. 

Hi thanks, it's a blessing that mum is unaware that she has it, she hasn't been able to walk for 4 years but she still says"I will get up and help you son just give me a minute"when I'm talking about something like doing some work in the garden.She's a little treasure,our cat Milo thinks so too,he's always on her hopsital bed.

elsien

I bet he is - cat heaven. Comfy bed and company - what's not to like. 

pphillips

Emmia said:

pphillips said:

toadhall99 said:

elsien said:

All of which is fine, but mum's best interests should come before your principles and being miffed with the BBC unless you can find alternatives which she will enjoy equally as well. 

I've already said that's what I'm trying to do,I do everything for my mother and have done for many years.We've been joined at the hip for nearly 50 years,I have even moved my bed down to the lounge to keep her company so she doesn't feel lonely at night,I have lived with mum all of my life,so please don't suppose that I'm going to do something that my mother may not appreciate.

I think there are so many people out there who are emotionally wedded to the BBC and can't contemplate cancelling their TV licence out of guilt, fear, obligation or moral duty. They can't understand why not paying would benefit anyone.

Government offered the free licences and initially paid for them - but then decided to dump the bill (the budget cut) on the BBC.

The BBC has also driven forward things like digital tv (freeview) when the commercial companies failed, again at the behest of government, who wanted to sell off the terrestrial bandwidth to mobile phone companies.

The government can use the BBC  to deliver it's objectives - they have less ability to do this via Sky, Amazon etc as they're private companies.

At the time the BBC said they were happy with the deal and although they took responsibility for funding the over 75's, they were permitted to increase the licence fee each year at a certain rate as well as closing the iPlayer loophole. I think it's appalling that they broke the agreement as they would rather spend the money on diversity, indulging overpaid BBC employees and threatening the most vulnerable members of society with fines or a prison sentence.