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

Nick_C

oldernonethewiser said:

Nick_C said:

If you are outside the UK, I don't think iPlayer works anyway.

A VPN can solve that problem

If you are lucky!  I used to watch the BBC News when I was overseas, in the days when I had a TV Licence.  But the BBC tries to block the use of iPlayer with a VPN.  Used to really annoy me when I was funding the BBC.  Now, I just watch the news on Sky when I'm travelling.

oldernonethewiser

Lots of sites are getting better, from their point of view, at stopping VPNs being used.  Some VPNs are better than others.

Cornucopia

Nick_C said:

Interesting video posted by Black Belt Barrister today.

The BBC has admitted buying data from a data broker - sagacity Solutions - which attempts to match email addresses with physical addresses.  The BBC are doing data matching against their "no license needed" addresses, and trying to identify people who live at an NLN address, but who have nevertheless watch iPlayer using an email address that the BBC believes might relate to the physical NLN address.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryv_rT41Jks

For me, that video puts the whole issue into pretty comprehensive clarity.   And it explains why there have been a number of claims of falsely receiving these communications from TVL - because there is not one but two sources of sketchiness in the data.   1) is what the BBB describes - whether the data from the broker is accurate and timely, and 2) is that iPlayer is portable, so even if the email address is kind of linked to a property, the iPlayer usage may not be.  

It looks like a classic TV Licensing mess that brings shame on the BBC.

Nick_C

@Cornucopia it's your second point that worries me.  I often use a Roku stick to watch iPlayer when I'm staying in hotels in the UK.  I answer the question that they should be asking when you log on "are you covered by a TV licence" rather than "do you have a TV licence".

I now plan to set up a new BBC account with a new email to cover my iPlayer usage in hotels etc. 

Cornucopia

Nick_C said:

@Cornucopia it's your second point that worries me.  I often use a Roku stick to watch iPlayer when I'm staying in hotels in the UK.  I answer the question that they should be asking when you log on "are you covered by a TV licence" rather than "do you have a TV licence".

I now plan to set up a new BBC account with a new email to cover my iPlayer usage in hotels etc. 

At the moment, there aren't any further enforcement steps that directly follow one of these emails or letters.  So whilst TVL shouldn't be accusing people without proper proof, the consequences of them doing so are limited.