Tv licence to watch iPlayer on own equipment in a hotel room?

robbo223

Can anyone advise if watching iPlayer on your own laptop in a hotel room is legal, without a licence (on the assumption that the hotel has a licence covering all rooms etc).

Just had a "gotcha" email from TV Licensing, and I recall I watched some iPlayer a few months ago in a hotel, otherwise never look at it.  Any advice appreciated!

penners324

Hw would tv licensing know you were in that hotel room on that night?

I doubt they have legal right to request that information from the hotel.

DullGreyGuy

penners324 said:

Hw would tv licensing know you were in that hotel room on that night?

They may or may not know if the OP was in a hotel that night or not depending on their IP. What they will likely know is the OP has accessed iPlayer using their laptop.

Doesn't answer the question of if they can say they were using it under the hotel's licence or if they needed a personal licence for using their own device to access the service when away from their home.

Petriix

Normally you are covered by your own licence if you're watching on a device powered by its own internal batteries (i.e. not plugged in) otherwise the building you're in requires its own license. 

stu12345_2

they can't find out your home door number via log in. details just your email, password and postcode.

imo they are sending fishing emails, cos that's all they have , an email address ,not a postal address.

what is the email asking you to do, pay them 50 pence for the hours you viewed iPlayer or asking you to buy a licence backdated to the time you logged in?

or does it say someone with email address logged in to iPlayer and our records show that email at has no licence or does it say Mr smith of 10 arcasia road, logged on to iPlayer , he doesn't have a licence 

you have got away with it imo.

they can send emails till they are blue in the face 

if any companies think you owe them money, they write to you at your home address, sending emails to your junk box, does not mean they are even ever read


when you log in to iPlayer it asks do you have a license, yes or no, you clicked yes, but it doesn't ask what is your full name and address or licence number 

anyway you could have given your password to friends or family and they could access your iPlayer account and login anytime and then it would think that it is you that has logged in

if you still feel guilty, buy a licence on installments, then cancel it soon after  via the declaration saying you don't watch live TV, sky etc in their declaration form.

but doing so means they have your full address details, so could backfire.

have you ever had a licence at the address you currently live at
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37477229.amp

stu12345_2

personally eg if I accidentally cancelled my DD for my council tax or road tax , I would be closely monitoring my emails and reading posted letters to my address.

but if I cancelled my TV licence and one day watched iPlayer I would not be closely monitoring my emails, anyway there are so many spam emails that look like they are from TV licencing that carry viruses, and I expect hundreds of thousands of  folk don't read emails that maybe come from TV licencing through fear of a virus spam

unless they have recently bought a licence and maybe the Installment details and licence details  are all online and expecting an  instant confirmation email

Emmia

robbo223 said:

Can anyone advise if watching iPlayer on your own laptop in a hotel room is legal, without a licence (on the assumption that the hotel has a licence covering all rooms etc).

Just had a "gotcha" email from TV Licensing, and I recall I watched some iPlayer a few months ago in a hotel, otherwise never look at it.  Any advice appreciated!

At universities, students in halls of residence rooms need their own licences (they can't rely on one their parents have), even if the halls of residence they live in has a licence. I would have thought a similar approach would apply to a hotel room.

You don't have a licence, so weren't covered by a licence when you watched something.

DullGreyGuy

stu12345_2 said:

they can't find out your home door number via log in. details just your email, password and postcode.

Assuming you've given real details when registering they have your postcode and full name... not hard to find the door number unless you've recently moved or you live next door to someone with the same name and date of birth. 

stu12345_2

they only have his/her email address, password and postcode. with iPlayer 

it could be ilovecakes @ Hotmail, password  donutsfortea1 for example  and a postcode.


the point of registering is to state you are over 13 years old and a postcode to produce local content in your viewing 

it doesn't give enough info to trace , but read on.

it would be more awkward if every time you log in to iPlayer, or watch a sky movie  or when you start up your TV,etc you have to type in your licence number , but you don't.

I think the problem has only arisen cos the same email.address has been used to register with iPlayer and register with a previous licence that the OP has cancelled in the past 

( cos that's the reality of how TV licencing got the fact that they are viewing iPlayer without a licence, they have put 2 and 2 together, the iPlayer email login and the TV ex licence email address)

like I said TV licencing sending out junk folder emails is just fishing for a response.

any company worth their salt writes to you on paper snail mail to your address 

imo I would wait to see if I got any mail in the post from TV licencing and then act on it
you could state someone else logged in with my email and password 

Luke I said the OP needs to state what does the email ask him to do now 

Detail_Merchant

I assume that the hotel had a TV in the room?

If so, and it's usually been the case in my experience of hotel rooms, then they should have one or more TV licences to cover their bedrooms:

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/cs/media-centre/news/view.app?id=1369784543051

It seems one licence covers the first 15 bedrooms, and then they should buy an extra licence per 5 extra rooms.
Of course you have no way of knowing whether they actually have bought the required licences, but it seems reasonable to me for you to assume they have, and hence you are covered.

But regardless of that, I don't think you have any obligation to prove anything to the TV licencing people.

stu12345_2

TV licencing doesn't know he logged in to iPlayer in a hotel room, it just knows someone logged in with an email address that on the tv licencing database that that email has a licence that was stopped or cancelled.

we need to know what the email is asking the OP to do next.