TV Licence article Discussion

Cornucopia

Live access must vary by platform.

I had a 3 month trial when I got my Chromecast, and that did have live channels... that I never used.

I thought it was okay-ish VFM. I'm somewhat reluctant to pay for TV, though. I keep meaning to try Netflix, now that I have it on both Youview and Chromecast.

cw18

Looking at the Now TV pages, it's possible I only had access to films on that one (I've had free trials of various services over the last 3 years). I know I got 3 months free to something, and was also entitled to a number of day passes for the Sports channels. Luckily the sports didn't interest me, because those ARE live and would require a TV licence. So by not activating those passes I couldn't receive them

My son pays for Netflix and has signed my TV into his account, but I've not used that for months either.....

[Deleted User]

Ditched mine over 18 months ago now I can watch everything that I need to over the catch up services & Netflix, cancelled all my TV services with Virgin Media and saved a fair few pennies over the duration of been legally licence free.

Still get annoying letters every week saying I don't have a TV Licence etc etc but these just go in the bin

Jon_01

Just noticed that BBC iPlayer suddenly has the option to watch live TV? Seems to be an upgrade to the platform.

Are the BBC trying to trick people into watching live TV so they can then fine them? Because there used to be a notice when you tried to watched the live stream telling you, you needed a licence, and now there isn't...
Or is the 'live' stream on iPlayer delayed by enough to not need a licence ??

Cornucopia

Yes, the BBC (in their wisdom) seems to be progressively rolling out more and more routes to iPlayer Live streams. You do need a Licence to watch them.

Is this incompetence (it costs them, per connection, to serve content this way) or an evil plot to convince a sceptical Government that it is universally available? Who knows.

In the meantime, whilst the law stands as it does, you can block iPlayer Live streams by adding this address to your Router's or ISP's block list:-

a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/

sniggings

Jon_01 wrote: »

Just noticed that BBC iPlayer suddenly has the option to watch live TV? Seems to be an upgrade to the platform.

Are the BBC trying to trick people into watching live TV so they can then fine them? Because there used to be a notice when you tried to watched the live stream telling you, you needed a licence, and now there isn't...
Or is the 'live' stream on iPlayer delayed by enough to not need a licence ??

You have to watch live TV to need a licence, it's as simple as that, don't watch it, you don't need a licence.

Jon_01

sniggings wrote: »

You have to watch live TV to need a licence, it's as simple as that, don't watch it, you don't need a licence.

Yes, I realize that. But in the old version of iPlayer if you tried to watch live you'd get a message telling you, you needed a licence.
This is a new feature that's just popped up. The fact that it is even live is in tiny text and there's no warning any more that you're going 'live'.
It looks just like the boxes that the OD programmes are displayed in.
Hence the question, I was hoping that the stream had been delayed by whatever time interval needed to ensure that it wasn't live any more that's why the message telling you that you were going to a live stream wasn't shown any more.
But by the sound of it, that's far too much to expect !

sniggings

Jon_01 wrote: »

Yes, I realize that. But in the old version of iPlayer if you tried to watch live you'd get a message telling you, you needed a licence.
This is a new feature that's just popped up. The fact that it is even live is in tiny text and there's no warning any more that you're going 'live'.
It looks just like the boxes that the OD programmes are displayed in.
Hence the question, I was hoping that the stream had been delayed by whatever time interval needed to ensure that it wasn't live any more that's why the message telling you that you were going to a live stream wasn't shown any more.
But by the sound of it, that's far too much to expect !

if it says it's live then it's live, no delay.

They just have took the decision now that they are not in the job of helping someone that wants to be LLF to stay that way.

Cornucopia

They have a history of Gerrymandering (can we still say that?)

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/sep/17/broadcasting.digitaltv

[Deleted User]

Cornucopia wrote: »

In the meantime, whilst the law stands as it does, you can block iPlayer Live streams by adding this address to your Router's or ISP's block list:-

a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/

Cheers for this little gem Works perfect.

PS added to my BT parental controls blocked list.