TV Licence article Discussion

Cornucopia

Nick_C wrote: »

Sorry to be pedantic, but you mean must not. Or cannot lawfully.

Which bit?

- Cannot lawfully watch BBC services.

- Cannot lawfully watch commercial TV channels as broadcast (or record them).

- Can lawfully watch commercial catch-up, box-sets and on-demand movies.

Cornucopia

Britannia12345 wrote: »

Ah ok. There only seems to be Sky sports news on there and I certainly won't be watching that so I guess we're ok to carry on with the subscription then.

If you have a Now TV box/stick, then there is more on there that you'll need to think about. I would suggest deleting the BBC iPlayer app, for example.

If you are watching Now TV on your computer, smart TV or games console, then there are live versions of selected channels within the Now TV app. You cannot remove them, but you also cannot watch them without a Licence.

Britannia12345

It's on our smart tv.

cw18

Britannia12345 wrote: »

I have Now tv - will I have to cancel this?

No. As long as you don't watch anything through it as it's being shown on the 'live' Sky channels - doing that is classed as watching Live TV and requires a licence. If I'm watching a series (currently SWAT and The Rookie) I watch them the day after they show on Sky. I avoid a premiere film for a week or two, and then have to do a quick check of the listings (or get my fella to, as he has a licence and a Sky account at his home).

cw18

Cornucopia wrote: »

If you have a Now TV box/stick, then there is more on there that you'll need to think about. I would suggest deleting the BBC iPlayer app, for example.

I can't delete iPlayer from my Smart TV, my Now TV stick or my Firestick. But I currently have a web address block on my router that means iPlayer can't be used (and video on the BBC news website generally won't play either, as a lot of that seems to come from iPlayer!).


However, I recently discovered that not all routers seem to allow you to block urls (my fella and I were 'playing' with one at someone else's house a couple of weeks ago) which is a bit of a worry. I'm currently having some issues with my interent dropping out in the same half hour window most evenings, but before my ISP will look at it I need to change the router I'm using to the one they provided - which I can't do myself as I currently have some kit connected to it that I don't have admin rights for but will need updating to use the new one (to do with a survey company). One of their engineers is coming out next week to work on another piece of their kit, so while he's here I'm going to get the router changed - and am hoping I'll be able to block iPlayer on the new one !!! I also need to make sure he leaves me with admin rights to the ISP provided router, as when they did the initial survey kit install I lost it from the one I'm using now

Cornucopia

Ah, okay. I had iPlayer on my Now TV box, and I deleted it. I can also delete it on my Smart TV (and have done) .

It's no big deal. There are 4 different layers of blocking between "you" and iPlayer, and everyone will have access to at least one of them, which is all it takes:-

1. Delete/disable the app.

2. Block URLs on the Router.

3. Block URLs on the ISP's access controls (might be called child protection or similar).

4. Don't create a BBC ID for the iPlayer and don't add it to the app.

Cornucopia

cw18 wrote: »

No. As long as you don't watch anything through it as it's being shown on the 'live' Sky channels - doing that is classed as watching Live TV and requires a licence. If I'm watching a series (currently SWAT and The Rookie) I watch them the day after they show on Sky. I avoid a premiere film for a week or two, and then have to do a quick check of the listings (or get my fella to, as he has a licence and a Sky account at his home).

I should say that I don't bother to do this, and I don't believe it's necessary. It is the fact that the catch-up mechanism is technically different to the broadcast infrastructure that makes it Licence-exempt.

cw18

Cornucopia wrote: »

I should say that I don't bother to do this, and I don't believe it's necessary. It is the fact that the catch-up mechanism is technically different to the broadcast infrastructure that makes it Licence-exempt.

Having had a dig around the TVL website, I'd rather do my utmost to avoid watching while something is showing on Sky

Do I need a TV Licence to watch subscription services like Netflix, Amazon or Now TV?

You don’t need a TV Licence if you only ever use these services to watch on demand or catch up programmes except if you’re watching BBC programmes on iPlayer.
Remember, if you watch or record live TV online, on any device or channel, or download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer, you need to be covered by a TV Licence.

Live TV means any programme you watch or record as it’s being shown on TV or live on an online TV service. It’s not just live events like sport, news and music. It also covers soaps, series, documentaries and even movies.

cw18

Oh, and I thought it worth mentioning.....


I delivered a load of letters from TVL today - all marked 'important information'. I hadn't delivered many of them before I realised they were going to houses with elderly occupants (based on those where I've met the occupants), so I'm guessing they were letters to those currently in receipt of an over-75 free licence to be sure they're aware of the possible/probable need to pay for one from June next year. I assume any of these free licences they issue from next week won't run for a full year because of it either.

Cornucopia

cw18 wrote: »

Oh, and I thought it worth mentioning.....

Interesting. Thanks.