How to avoid buying a tv license?

elsien

Although there are also many over 75s who are neither vulnerable or strapped for cash.  But we're digressing again so I'm going to leave the OPs thread so it can get back on track. 

pphillips

elsien said:

Although there are also many over 75s who are neither vulnerable or strapped for cash.  But we're digressing again so I'm going to leave the OPs thread so it can get back on track. 

That's not the point, originally the BBC were happy to fund the over 75's but broke the agreement.

Cornucopia

Probably the cheapest/most effective platform to do what the OP seems to want is Youtube, running on a device like a smart TV or Now TV hardware (although it's very widely supported).   

You can set up playlists of content, and there is a vast amount there from familiar old content from BBC & ITV, through crafting and gardening vlogs, to music of pretty much every genre, to relaxation videos. 

Alternatively, you can leave it to the Youtube algorithm to select the next video, which tends to follow on from the topic of the previous video.    Occasionally, and after many hours left unattended it may ask for confirmation that someone is still watching (I'm not sure if this applies to a user-generated playlist).   

Youtube is funded by advertising, but the ads tend to be short, few in number and they can be skipped.   A further advantage is that (unlike some other options), the risk of finding content on YT that requires a TV Licence to view is relatively low.  

Cornucopia

The exact details of the negotiation between the Government and the BBC are not public, and won't be for 30 years.

At the time of the agreement, the BBC is on-record as (a) greeting it as a good deal, and (b) suggesting that by funding its own concessions, it was much like many other arts organisations who do the same.   

However, the deal was never that the BBC would definitely fund the concession going forwards.   It was that it would be the BBC's responsibility and therefore its decision.   To that extent, neither side has reneged on the deal, though it's possible that they had different expectations from the outset.

jon81uk

toadhall99 said:

elsien said:

If mum is happy watching freeview, it seems a comparatively small price to pay to carry on with what you know she enjoys. Why change it if its not broke? 
With regards to the changes in the TV licence does she get pension credit at all, as if so she can still have the free licence. 

Hi mum is happy to watch anything she even likes watching cartoons in the morning now particularly the bright and colourful ones. It's just an idea at the moment,I just felt it was a cheek of the BBC to withdraw her free license so it's a reaction to that to see if there is another way,she isn't on pension credit.

It's the goverment that withdrew the free license. The government decided the BBC should pay for them and the BBC can't afford that, so they are giving free licenses only to those who really need it. Blame the Tories, not the BBC.

Cornucopia

jon81uk said:

toadhall99 said:

elsien said:

If mum is happy watching freeview, it seems a comparatively small price to pay to carry on with what you know she enjoys. Why change it if its not broke? 
With regards to the changes in the TV licence does she get pension credit at all, as if so she can still have the free licence. 

Hi mum is happy to watch anything she even likes watching cartoons in the morning now particularly the bright and colourful ones. It's just an idea at the moment,I just felt it was a cheek of the BBC to withdraw her free license so it's a reaction to that to see if there is another way,she isn't on pension credit.

It's the goverment that withdrew the free license. The government decided the BBC should pay for them and the BBC can't afford that, so they are giving free licenses only to those who really need it. Blame the Tories, not the BBC.

The government withdrew funding in 2015.  The BBC at the time agreed to it.   (Or at least if they were opposed to it, they had a strange way of saying so).

The BBC's issue is that they expected the deal to be "cash neutral".  i.e. the BBC would be no worse off based on various assumptions.   Some of those assumptions turned out to be wrong, and we are where we are.

brewerdave

TBH if I was 80+ years old ,and already in receipt of a free license, I think I would refuse their kind offers of paying for one and wait for them to summons me!!

Swipe

brewerdave said:

TBH if I was 80+ years old ,and already in receipt of a free license, I think I would refuse their kind offers of paying for one and wait for them to summons me!!

You wouldn't get a summons unless you confessed to them that you were watching TV without a licence.

hopperdennis

Hijaking this thread with a slightly different question. I’ve recently bought a property (in Scotland) that is empty, and will stay that way until I move in. I haven’t got a TV however every month I’m getting a letter to the occupier to let them know who is living there, as we haven’t got a TV license etc. Until I get a TV, is it even worth replying to that latter by letting them know that’s it’s presently empty, or informing them I’m the occupant, or should I just ignore the letters for now especially whilst the place is empty?

elsien

I’d ignore it. Previous experience has shown that telling them doesn’t stop the letters.