TV Licence article Discussion

Cornucopia

keyskeys wrote: »

Can't see anything about those who are exempt from the license fee due to being over 75. Should they answer yes or no to the question on IPlayer?

Yes. Because they do have a Licence.

[Deleted User]

bsod wrote: »

Try not paying car tax/income tax/inheritance tax/council tax/stamp duty/parking fines.

What do you consider to be quality programming?

Most of the above can be minimised, e.g.


Income tax, Pay more into my pension, wife's pension and daughters pension. Claim allowances.


Inheritance tax, give money away... well daughters pension anyway, set up trusts etc


Council tax, live alone, suits some... Appeal banding etc


Car tax [or whatever it's called this week], Ours is £20. Some cars are zero, personal choice...


Stamp duty?


Parking fines?


I find it staggering that the BBC has not moved with the times and is so self important it has invented this loophole to block iplayer far catch-up!


It must be the only catch-up service in the world that is effectively subscription through the license fee that requires no logon credentials. Beggars belief....


LLF here and the last thing I watch is the BBC's London centric fist fed crap.

Rosemary7391

cw18 wrote: »

I've not had any communication from them about it. Can't say about messages on iPlayer as I don't use it anyway.

I haven't either. It seems odd given how keen they are on sending letters!

[Deleted User]

biggsy137 wrote: »

Has anyone else who's not got a TV license also not had a letter or have the message on iplayer to say they'll needing now??

My last Threat-O-Gram contained a slip of paper, explaining the changes.

Side 1.



Side 2.

Cornucopia

It's disappointing that the attached MSE article was updated yesterday, but there are still factual errors with it, some of which seem to have been brought forward from the old version.

In the order they appear in the article:

1. "It used to be you only needed a TV licence if you had a telly". This has not been the case for a long, long while (certainly not since the current legislation was introduced in 2003).

2. "The BBC contracts the collection and administration of the TV licence out to TV Licensing". TV Licensing is part of the BBC, and a BBC brand name, it has no published remit or mandate and is regarded by many people as a rogue operation with highly questionable tactics. TV Licensing contracts out its work to a number of commercial companies, the main one being Capita.

3. "...you can formally let TV licensing know. Although there's no legal obligation to do this, it says doing so will prevent an increasing number of letters coming your way". This is factually correct, but legally dubious. MSE has simply repeated BBC PR without questioning the obvious issues with it. Why is it sending these letters? When is it sending them? What is their content and purpose?

http://www.bbctvlicence.com/


4. "Then fill out the declaration...." There is no legal requirement to do this, and MSE has repeated the BBC's weasel-word "can" without questioning why it is that rather clumsy word that they have chosen.

5. "TV Licensing may visit. Once you've cancelled, you might find you get a visit from TV Licensing to check whether you actually do need a TV licence..." Again, MSE has repeated BBC wording without questioning it. It is simply not normal for UK authorities to operate like this, and they have no legal authority or mandate to do so. The whole issue of TVL home visits and searches is an economy-sized can of legal, practical and cultural worms that MSE should be reporting and challenging.

6. "They have an implied right under common law to come to your front door and let you know they are there". Which can be refused formally or informally, permanently or temporarily, and any reasonable conditions attached at the occupier's sole discretion. This is the basis of the sanctity of our homes, and MSE needs to exercise more care in how it presents it.

7. "... a warrant from court..." Recently leaked figures show around 100 TVL Search Warrants per year for the entire country. This useful information should have been used to set the context.

8. "They may also use detection equipment such as vans and hi-tech handheld detectors". There is no evidence of this, save for a couple of very old PR puff-pieces.

9. "So you don't need a licence to ... watch clips on the BBC Sport app or website". It would be useful to say whether this is official advice from BBC/TVL. Is there any guidance on how to tell the difference between a clip and an embedded program?

10. "If you watch 'live TV' from a channel that isn't broadcast in the UK (including those picked up ... online), you need to be covered by a valid TV licence". The Legislation appears to say something different - a Licence is not required to live stream foreign channels that are not broadcast to the UK via satellite or cable TV. The TVL website also said this until last year, and the law has not changed.

Ron246235

Cornucopia wrote: »

10. "If you watch 'live TV' from a channel that isn't broadcast in the UK (including those picked up ... online), you need to be covered by a valid TV licence". The Legislation appears to say something different - a Licence is not required to live stream foreign channels that are not broadcast to the UK via satellite or cable TV. The TVL website also said this until last year, and the law has not changed.

Thank you, this is really useful information (all your other points probably are too)

Cornucopia

HTH.

It's my interpretation of the Legislation as it stands. It's a mark of the BBC's ridiculous levels of secrecy that I've got no basis on which to compare my interpretation with theirs because they don't say why they changed their advice, nor do they reference legislation.

(See the Highway Code for an example of rather better practice on this).

abandonded

Picked the following up on another forum. Just how accurate is the following statement?:
"You don't ''need'' a tv licence. You simply ignore the letters and door step callers and watch it anyway. The only way you can be caught is if you tell them who you are, and why would you be stupid enough to do that ?.. apparently some people are :mrgreen"

[Deleted User]

From a strictly technical POV, it's pretty accurate, abandonded.

From a legal and moral POV, it's questionable to say the least.

I wouldn't advocate, support or encourage evasion.

cw18

Question being pondered on another forum I'm a member of.....

Prior to the latest change a lady purchased a box set on iPlayer, so she can watch a show that's no longer available on catch-up - meaning she's already paid £17 to be able to watch it. Does she now also have to have a licence to watch it as she can only access it via iPlayer?