Buying a firestick,can I avoid paying for a tv licence

toadhall99

Hi folks I'm considering buying a firestick and only watching content through that,most likely amazon prime content.Would I be able to cancel my tv licence if I do this,I would be blanking off the ariel ports

Neil_Jones

You only need a licence if you watch live TV as its being broadcast.  This probably includes the live content that occasionally turns up on Prime like the tennis or the football.  The on-demand stuff - no.  Anything live, yes.  Somebody will be along shortly to clarify.

Were_Doomed

Neil_Jones said:

You only need a licence if you watch live TV as its being broadcast.  This probably includes the live content that occasionally turns up on Prime like the tennis or the football.  The on-demand stuff - no.  Anything live, yes.  Somebody will be along shortly to clarify.

The above is correct to my knowledge. The only catch up mechanism that requires a TV licence is BBC iPlayer (even for catch up/on demand stuff); all the others which are On Demand (like ITV Player, All4 etc.) do not require one.

matelodave

Assuming that you dont watch or record anything that's being broadcast at the time its being broadcast (even if it is Mongolian TV) then you can get away without having a licence. It also includes mobile phones, laptops, tablets etc so if it's being simultaneously streamed whilst it's being broadcast you cannot watch or record it.. However if the broadcast programme has actually finished and is then available five minutes later on catch-up then you can.
Stuff like Netflix, Amazone Prime and other purely streaming services are OK unless they stream a programme whilst it's being broadcast (I guess you might have to be a bit wary about which news feeds you might want to watch)

You cannot watch anything on BBC I-Player without a licence. What you can do is watch catchup TV from channels other than I-Player.

You are likely to get lots of nagging letters from the TV Licencing Authority unless you make a declaration.

Lots of info here and on T'interweb https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/broadband-and-tv/tv-licence/

macman

You don't need to block any aerial ports off. Ariel is a washing powder.

mac.d

macman said:

You don't need to block any aerial ports off. Ariel is a washing powder.

Lol, they don't need to block any aerial points either. 

Were_Doomed

macman said:

Ariel is a washing powder.

And a cartoon mermaid.  

Cornucopia

I blocked my Arial ports and couldn't post anything for 6 weeks.  

Yes - as above.  

In the specific case of Amazon - if you only ever watch Amazon content then you don't need a TV Licence unless you watch their live sport.

toadhall99

Thanks folks,I shall give Amazon prime tv a trial and see what I think and will then cancel my tv licence if it's good

toadhall99

I cancelled my tv licence this afternoon by way of a quick phone call,my 4k firestick was delivered yesterday and it's great.I love the way you can speak to the remote to find programmes,mum watched a Coldplay concert this morning on youtube on HD and she she really enjoyed it,there is so much more to watch

Were_Doomed

toadhall99 said:

I cancelled my tv licence this afternoon by way of a quick phone call,my 4k firestick was delivered yesterday and it's great.I love the way you can speak to the remote to find programmes,mum watched a Coldplay concert this morning on youtube on HD and she she really enjoyed it,there is so much more to watch

It seems there's always a first for everything.