TV licence 25 September 2020 at 11:04AM in Student MoneySaving 5 replies 339 views

mrjohnston

My daughter received  a TV licensing letter a few days ago. Is she liable to pay it, I thought it was decriminalised to stop paying the licence fee?
It's a hell of alot of money for a single student especially when she doesn't own a TV. But apparently the licence covers streaming tv from tablets, phone, laptops etc.

Mickey666

Classic scare tactics by TVL.  They will write to every unlicensed address in the country even though they have no idea if the occupants actually need a licence.
Check the licensing rules on the TVL website.  Basically if you watch or record LIVE television broadcasts OR watch anything on BBC iPlayer then you need a TV licence.  If you only stream non-BBC, non-live programmes (eg Netflix etc) then you don’t need a TV licence.
Anyway, students should either be studying hard or partying, so shouldn’t have any time to waste watching television

es5595

If she only watches it on her tablet, or laptop, when it isn’t plugged into the mains, she is covered by your TV licence.

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ32

Mickey666

es5595 said:

If she only watches it on her tablet, or laptop, when it isn’t plugged into the mains, she is covered by your TV licence.

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ32

Assuming her ‘normal place of residence’ while away at uni is covered by a TV licence.

pennyalb

She might want to consider just watching Netflix etc streaming platforms (if she's using any) that are not part of the public broadcasting. Or generally, just avoid watching live TV. It's definitely a huge cost to be paying for a TV license alone as a student, especially if you still would use another streaming service for movies as well.

General_Grant

mrjohnston said:

My daughter received  a TV licensing letter a few days ago. Is she liable to pay it, I thought it was decriminalised to stop paying the licence fee?
It's a hell of alot of money for a single student especially when she doesn't own a TV. But apparently the licence covers streaming tv from tablets, phone, laptops etc.

So if she were watching BBC iPlayer or live TV it would be OK not to pay the licence fee because it's not a criminal offence but a civil one?
Though there was talk of decriminalising non-payment, that hasn't happened.