No TV licence - Can I watch the Queen's funeral?

the_pink_panther_2

Hi, pretty much as per the title... I had to cancel my TV licence recently as I just can't afford it anymore as everything is so expensive now.  I realise that this means I probably can't watch the Queen's funeral, which I'm quite upset about, it feels like this is something which an exception should be made for.  Can anyone advise as to whether there is any way I can be allowed to watch the Queen's funeral?

pramsay13

Technically you won't be able to watch it live on TV as that is specifically what the licence is for. 
Either just crack on and watch it on BBC safe in the knowledge that it won't be a big deal or

Check YouTube or social media as undoubtedly there will be some live feeds or

Wait a while and catch up on ITV assuming it's being shown on there.

Cornucopia

The event is likely to be carried by non-TV Broadcasters - for example, newspapers' and radio stations' video streams.   You can watch those live without requiring a TV Licence.

You can find this content on their own websites, or on Youtube.

Neil_Jones

Cornucopia said:

The event is likely to be carried by non-TV Broadcasters - for example, newspapers' and radio stations' video streams.   You can watch those live without requiring a TV Licence.

You can find this content on their own websites, or on Youtube.

Every time something major happens (or a major vote in Parliament or something like that) there are copious live streams on YouTube from every newspaper worthy of mentioning (and the domestic broadcasters covering said event and international broadcasters as well if its major enough.  Indeed Sky News had like four live streams of the whole Mourning of the Queen going at one point.

Indeed for the Proclamation event this morning I found at least a dozen streams all being watched by thousands (according to YouTube), and I wouldn't be surprised if of the UK base the bulk didn't have a licence.

For a one off I wouldn't worry too much.

the_pink_panther_2

Thanks all.  That's useful.

Herodotus

For matters of national significance the necessity of having a TV licence is lifted, as far as I understand. The TV Licensing people did make a statement that you did not need a license to watch official coverage of the Queens Jubilee. I can only think that the Queen‘s funeral is an even more significant national event so I would imagine that you will not need the license to watch the coverage. It seems rather lazy of the licensing people to have not announced this especially as they did so for the Queens Jubilee. Perhaps money-saving expert can explore this and give them a bit of a nudge. 

mobileron

Tip look on youtube for tv enforcement, never open the door or talk to them, thousands of people dont have licenses .
Tv detector vans never worked and no longer used them. 

the_pink_panther_2

Herodotus said:

For matters of national significance the necessity of having a TV licence is lifted, as far as I understand. The TV Licensing people did make a statement that you did not need a license to watch official coverage of the Queens Jubilee. I can only think that the Queen‘s funeral is an even more significant national event so I would imagine that you will not need the license to watch the coverage. It seems rather lazy of the licensing people to have not announced this especially as they did so for the Queens Jubilee. Perhaps money-saving expert can explore this and give them a bit of a nudge. 

Thank you.  I actually just stumbled across that online earlier this morning.  That would be lots better and TBH as it should be.  Thanks for posting.

km1500

You don’t need a TV licence to watch the coverage of the funeral and other live ceremonial events during the national period of mourning up to and including Wednesday 21 September 2022

https://www.bbc.co.uk/usingthebbc/terms/can-i-screen-the-funeral/

. 

matelodave

mobileron said:

Tip look on youtube for tv enforcement, never open the door or talk to them, thousands of people dont have licenses .
Tv detector vans never worked and no longer used them. 

Actuall yTV detector vans did work - my Dad used to go out with them for night time trawls. However that said, he had a list of all the houses that had a licence so they really only concentrated on houses that didn't have a licence.

I went for a ride in it once, probably in the early 1960's and it was pretty easy to see which house and which room the TV was located as the directional antenna could be rotated to maximise the signal from the TV's local oscillator. Obviously this only worked in the days of analogue CRT TV's.
Have a look here - https://hackaday.com/2021/01/18/tv-detector-vans-once-prowled-the-streets-of-england/. The vehicle I went out in was the Morriis Oxford estate car with a ginormous steerable antenna on the roof

They also had the desired effect of scaring people into getting a licence when they were seen prowling around or a few people got prosecuted

Cornucopia

The Sun's live stream of today's funeral can be seen here (no Licence required).   Other no Licence streams are available.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omC2NzJj728