Query about cancelling my tv licence.

Bluefairie56

I realized that I hardly ever watch bbc and most of the things I do watch on other channels I can watch via ITVX or ch4 apps as on demand and therefor do not require a licence. I have deleted my iPlayer account and am not recording live tv.

this is my query…. If I am watching on demand tv through my smart tv ,lets say an old episode of something on ITVX, which I can legally do if I read it correctly, if they park a detector van or however they do it how do they know I am watching an on demand episode or one that was on the tv last week and I illegally recorded it. 

If push comes to shove I want to be able to prove that I was watching an on demand episode.

FlorayG

They don't have 'detector vans' and as far as I am aware they never did - and, as you say, even if they did all they would know is if your TV is on or off, useless information to them in these internet days.
When you cancel they hassle you for a while and then just send you a declaration to sign every two years. Nobody is going to come round your house to check

teaselMay

so long as you're watching/recording nothing live and nothing on iplayer you're fine.

Don't worry about detector vans. 

I completed the declaration that I didn't need a license 3 years ago, they left me alone for 2 years and then asked me to redeclare earlier this year, again have left me alone since. 

I watch A LOT of telly, but nothing live and nothing on iplayer. I should have done it years ago as I was effectively paying the license for 2 series, I can well live without them

Bluefairie56

Thanks both it’s put my mind at rest a bit. I found I enjoy reading much more than watching tv anyway

teaselMay

I was quite paranoid initially too, in fact around the time that I stopped paying my license I tidied up the metres of aerial cable coming through holes in the walls and put them tidily into aerial sockets, but intentionally didn't connect the cable to the socket terminals. So that I could demonstrate I wasn't using it - I've never use it even when I had a license. Completely unnecessary but it made me feel better.

FreeBear

FlorayG said:

They don't have 'detector vans' and as far as I am aware they never did - and, as you say, even if they did all they would know is if your TV is on or off, useless information to them in these internet days.

Back in the days of valve TVs, it was possible to detect the energy being radiated, but as you point out, this would only show that a TV was on. Today, modern TVs radiate very little energy, and it is next to impossible to differentiate between TV, laptop, or any other digital device.

fatbelly

You can do the declaration online

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/telling-us-you-dont-need-a-tv-licence

Alpha_5

The onus is not you you to prove that you do not require a TV Licence - it is on them to prove that you do.

The only way TVL would ever know what you are watching is if you tell them or you let them into your home. 

TVL have no legal right to enter your home without a court-issued warrant and, to obtain one of those, they would need to provide a judge with sufficient evidence of wrongdoing to support issuing such a warrant. If anyone from TVL ever visits your home, simply do not engage in any conversation (eg what you watch or what equipment you use) and definitely do not let them enter your home or sign any paperwork for them. That way you can be sure that there are no misunderstandings made by their staff which could lead to an unfair prosecution.

Cornucopia

There is no electronic detection of TV reception currently in routine use.   

When TV Licensing suspect Licence evasion, their main tactic is to ask the householder.   And that's it really.  In the majority of TVL cases, people have confessed (perhaps without proper recourse to their legal rights).

Reddleman79

A Denial of Right of Access letter will keep them off your back for a long time. I did it ten years ago and they haven't hassled me since.