TV Licence article Discussion

Cornucopia

"Requirements" is a complicated thing.   

In the past, it's been more a question of technical changes provoking BBC/TVL into giving misleading guidance.  

Farway

CompulsiveSaver said:

Cornucopia said:

CompulsiveSaver said:

Can I check my understanding on this:

• I don't watch the BBC (the only program I actually miss in the weather), I also don't watch any other terrestrial TV stations, although most of the others are better than the BBC, most of it is repeats!
• I occasionally stream things; Disney plus, Sky Movies etc, all on-demand streaming.
• I never watch iplayer.
• I occasionally watch things on Youtube, but nothing is live, but some it might be BBC originally (several years ago).
• I have a TV licence, but do I need to? please explain why so I have a clear understanding?
• No doubt. the BBC will change the requirements next year when more people realise they don't need it...

Thanks

You need a Licence to watch/record all TV broadcasts, or BBC TV programs via iPlayer.

If you're only watching commercial on-demand content, you don't need a Licence for that.  The only Youtube content that requires a Licence are parallel live streams to TV broadcasts.  e.g. Sky News.   You can watch old BBC content via any commercial on-demand service (even UKTV Play, which is owned by the BBC).

There are no immediate plans to change the rules. BBC/TV Licensing do have a bad habit of changing their guidance (although they don't make the law).    The next major upheaval is due in 2027 when the BBC's Charter is renewed.   It's too soon to tell what that might consist of.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/broadband-and-tv/tv-licence/

So from what you are saying I don't need a TV licence, that is good to know. Thank you.
Although it means 2027 when they change the requirements (again) as I am quite sure there are lots of others in a similar position.

If you want weather, there is up-to-date Met Office on YouTube, much the same as the broadcast ones but not requiring a licence

tjmunn

Would I need a TV license for the following scenario?  I access ITVX on my laptop and select a programme that has been running live for say, 30 minutes.  I choose watch from start and not watch live.  Does the watch from start still count as watching live due to the fact that the live broadcast is still in progress?

Cornucopia

tjmunn said:

Would I need a TV license for the following scenario?  I access ITVX on my laptop and select a programme that has been running live for say, 30 minutes.  I choose watch from start and not watch live.  Does the watch from start still count as watching live due to the fact that the live broadcast is still in progress?

Some time ago, TVL were asked about this, and they said that in their view, a 2 hour gap was required between the start of a commercial broadcast and its catch-up version being available to watch without a TV Licence.   That isn't specified in law, but it gives a flavour of how they see things.

The other thing is if the platform requires you to watch live, possibly momentarily, in order to reset the stream to the start of the program then that live snippet would require a Licence.

Olinda99

Watching live means exactly what it says i.e you have to watch it at the same time as it is being broadcast.

since the chance of you being caught watching it on your laptop is precisely zero then it really comes down to what your moral compass says a reasonable delay is. Clearly 500 milliseconds wouldn't be whereas maybe 10 minutes would be

ignore what tvl recommend that's just nothing to do with the law

castle96

On AOL today "10,000s giving up licence fee" etc, there were pictures of detector vans. Is this myth surfacing again !?

Cornucopia

They are saying another 500,000 households have given up their Licences.

FreeBear

Cornucopia said: The problem with an IP address from their POV is that it doesn't provide the name of the alleged evader, and obtaining a street address might well require a Court Order.

The other problem with IP addresses handed out by most broadband providers is that it isn't static (unless you pay for a fixed IP address). Even if you get an ISP to supply a physical street address, someone outside the property could have connected via WiFi, so the IP address proves nothing - And yes, TVL would need a court order to get the information.

brewerdave

castle96 said:

On AOL today "10,000s giving up licence fee" etc, there were pictures of detector vans. Is this myth surfacing again !?

The funniest bit of the scare pieces that appeared yesterday !
 Also, nearly as comic,  the "stern" warning that even watching the Olympics live on Discovery+ (£3.99pm) on a mobile phone, required a £169.50 TV licence......As if.......

wild666

CompulsiveSaver said:

Can I check my understanding on this:

• I don't watch the BBC (the only program I actually miss in the weather), I also don't watch any other terrestrial TV stations, although most of the others are better than the BBC, most of it is repeats!
• I occasionally stream things; Disney plus, Sky Movies etc, all on-demand streaming.
• I never watch iplayer.
• I occasionally watch things on Youtube, but nothing is live, but some it might be BBC originally (several years ago).
• I have a TV licence, but do I need to? please explain why so I have a clear understanding?
• No doubt. the BBC will change the requirements next year when more people realise they don't need it...

Thanks

If your not watching live as shown TV or using iPlayer then no licence is required, just cancel the licence and get a two year exemption where a goon might call once to see if you require a licence. After the two years, less actually more like 22 months, just bin the letter asking you to renew the declaration or buy a licence and bin every TVL letter that has things like will you be in on a date, investigations opened or other TVL letters. The chances of getting a goon visit are very slim as they only have 135 goons knocking on doors. Never sign anything no matter what the goon says, for example, " Just sign this to say I called" this is a TVL 178 that they fill in later and say that the person admitted to watching live TV or using iPlayer.