Is a TV licence needed?

98jdougl

your best bet is to get in touch with the tv licensing peeps and explain the situation to them.
I was in this situation as a student and frmo what I recall from speaking to them, you are generally not required to pay the fee if you are unable to receive a signal, if you tell them and let them check it- although they never did check it in the end.
If, however, you simply continue to use the tv without paying the fee I think that they are able to come down on you.

That is just how I remember it being with myself and a couple of the boys I used to live with. Plus, if you get in touch with them then they will be able to clear things up quickly and easily for you

Swan_2

roddydogs wrote: »

Do people posting along the lines of "We never watch live tv, or She never watches Tv recorded on videos" or suchlike really expect people to believe it? its just trying to squirm thru "loopholes" so the rest of us have to pay!

that's just a tad presumptious

I have little or no interest in most of what's shown on telly, & during a two year period when I lived alone was delighted that I didn't need a license to watch my DVDs or play my games

no squirming going on here, TVLA would have been welcome to come & see that my telly was de-tuned & disconnected from the (rolled-up-&-taped-to-the-skirting-board-8-feet-away) ariel

I do have a license now that my teenage son's moved in with me & broadcast telly's been re-instated for him to watch

JohalaReewi

HelenKA wrote: »

To OP, your DD does not need a license, she is not receiving a signal, unless as has been stated she has a tv card in her laptop.

And even if she does have a TV card in her laptop, A TV licence is not needed unless she actually uses the laptop to watch live TV.

And even then, if she is watching live TV on her laptop while it is powered by its own batteries, she is covered by your home TV licence.

JohalaReewi

98jdougl wrote: »

your best bet is to get in touch with the tv licensing peeps and explain the situation to them...
..., if you get in touch with them then they will be able to clear things up quickly and easily for you

Not the TVL I know and love Perhaps this is TVL in a different universe in another dimension?

Inactive

Swan wrote: »

HERE's the link to that other thread, there's quite a lot of reading in it, bit IIRC there are quotations from TVLA's site relevant to the issue

Thanks, it is no different to this thread, just a load of " experts " giving their invaluable opinions.

moonrakerz

The actual law concerning a TV Licence is very simple.

You must have a licence to watch or record LIVE TV broadcasts, regardless of their origin.

You can have a thousand TVs in your house connected to DVD payers, games consoles, etc, etc. It doesn't matter if the TVs are connected to aerials, and are capable of receiving ten million TV channels - if you don't watch or record LIVE programmes you do NOT need a licence. Your neighbour can record programmes for you and you can watch them without needing a licence (there may be copyright implications - but that wasn't the question !)

TV Licensing deliberately make the wording on their site and on their paperwork confusing for one reason - they would like to have every one in the country have a TV Licence - just to make their job easy.

Their so-called "officers" have to no right of access to your home, they have no right to question you.

I have just written a very ******** letter to Mr Richard Goodbody (if there is such a person) at TV Licensing complaining about their threatening tactics. I have also written to my MP about this.

Swan_2

Inactive wrote: »

Thanks, it is no different to this thread, just a load of " experts " giving their invaluable opinions.

what is it that you want to know? maybe someone will come along & help out

I'm certainly no expert, I can only go by what my own experience with TVLA has been, & pass on what I've learned to others who could be wasting their money buying an unnecessary license

oldMcDonald

Jumping in here with what may turn out to be a really dumb question - please forgive me if it is

When you de-tune a TV, is it something that you do yourself ? eg by it just not being tuned into any stations, or is it something which you have to have done for you? (I'm assuming by taking a wire out type thing)

Someone mentioned once that they got their video recorder detuned for £25, so I assume it is more than just not tuning it in yourself?

Also, my TV self tunes, so if it is something you do yourself then how do you do it?

I'm seriously thinking of stopping receiving a tv signal when our contract with NTL runs out in June. I have a tv card in my pc so would have to get that taken out too (I'm not techie minded and wouldn't have a clue how to do this myself). Legal or not, I don't think I would be brave enough to have to just unplug the ariel and fight my corner against the tvla

Swan_2

albertross wrote: »

you don't have to detune anything, it is a myth. Pull the aerial cable out if you are worried, you can't get TV without a signal.

yep, that's about the size of it ... I was being super cautious, by de-tuning & removing & taping up the aerial away from the telly (see my previous posts)

I'm constantly amazed every time one of these threads start & people like myself who have actual experience of legally being without a license post that it's ok to watch DVDs & play games, & you get a whole lot of people coming along & telling you that you're wrong

oldMcDonald

Swan wrote: »

yep, that's about the size of it ... I was being super cautious, by de-tuning & removing & taping up the aerial away from the telly (see my previous posts)

I'm constantly amazed every time one of these threads start & people like myself who have actual experience of legally being without a license post that it's ok to watch DVDs & play games, & you get a whole lot of people coming along & telling you that you're wrong

I am not doubting wether it is legal or not as I am sure that you are correct

Like yourself, I want to be super cautious and de-tune my tv, should we decide not to recieve a signal anymore.

May I ask, was it as simple as just messing around with the channel settings to be sure that it didn't recieve a signal?

Thanks