TV Licence article Discussion

jodop

If I press pause on a BBC show while watching online and then press restart am I still watching live and if not do I need a TV license?

ROBDOLPHIN66

Black and white TV. Please tell me where I can buy a new B+W TV. How archaic can they get?

ewloe

I have been seriously thinking of ditching the TV as I watch most of my programs on-line (after broadcast) and will have a family discussion about the benefits later but one question I have not come across the answer to so far is, if I am in a pub or a club ( I play in a pool league) do I need a TV licence if they are showing live TV? same could apply if I am round a friends house.

ticketcollector

TV Licencing 'Enforcement' Officers have no more powers then you or I have under common law. (Obviously cos of my job I have some other legal powers at work).

Capita who run TV L (also fail to run the CRB, the NCCA (railway workers competence certificates) Appointments for the DSA).

TVL attempt to scare you into buying a licence. I have a TV, openly watch live broadcasts and have never ever had a tv licence for the last 10 years. However I have been careful.
The letters get thrown in the shredder, you can normally guess the time of year the mailshot comes. "Your house has been referred to the investigations team", "WARNING - your home is unlicensed", "we are now passing your details onto the persistent offenders team", etc etc.
They also use the common law of implied right of access to go onto your property.
If you withdraw this right, by letter, to TVL and to the BBC head of compliance, TVL will be committing trespass if they or any of their 'agents' go onto your property, and could actually technically be done for attempted burglary. In accordance with common law you can use "reasonable" force to eject someone off your property, however it is advisable to call the police to prevent a breach of the peach.

Oh and the reason they dont go into their technical wizardry is the fact that they dont have any and none of this technology has actually ever been used in a prosecution.

cw18

zed_sump wrote: »

tv inspectors can't enter your home without a search warrant which they won't get (unless you're a pub etc)
don't let them in
2 friends don't have tvs in their houses and the inspectors have tried to enter many times.

I cancelled my TV licence at the end of December 2010 and have absolutely nothing to hide, so why wouldn't I be willing to let them in? It seems to me that if I refuse they're likely to spend more time (and resources) checking up on me, which means the cost of YOUR licence will have to go up to cover this.

I have 4 TV sets in the house and not one of them is connected to anything that will allow them to receive a transmission. Before cancelling I disabled my aerial (it's in the loft space, so didn't require any climbing up ladders), so even if a cable were in place the TV still wouldn't be able to pick up a signal. I've actually bought 2 TVs since cancelling (first developed major faults so I insisted on a refund and then bought one from somewhere else), and simply responded to the letters I got from them by stating I still didn't need a licence.

I'd actually love to get home from an errand to find them on my doorstep, as I'd let them come in alongside me to check my set-up...... bet that would confuse the living daylights out of them

I don't even use catch-up services. My TVs are purely used for NetFlix or LoveFilm (when I pay them which I haven't for a while, though I think my son has an active NetFlix account) or for watching DVDs. My son also uses his for his X-Box. The money I've saved by not paying for a TV Licence (already over £300) has been spent on DVD box sets when ones I've wanted have been on sale, and my (grown up) children buy me DVD sets for my birthday, Mother's Day and Christmas. So I'm never short of something to watch, but I can watch a series in order without having to be around at set times (or remembering to set a recorder) and always have something on hand that I actually enjoy watching rather than the endless repeats of shows I didn't much like that were almost all I got on Terrestrial TV and Freeview.

RadioRay_2

Why is everyone down on the BBC, it’s the BBC that keptthe “free view” service alive when the commercial stations folded. Without theBBC we would still be watching TV in black and white 405 line, Analogue. It’sthe quality of all the BBC services that keeps the quality of the UK commercialstations so good, just visit any other country that has no central funding fora national broadcasting and you will get commercials 4-6 min long every 10-15min, mostly game/chat shows and sports that are cheap to produce.

Long live the BBC

Steve059

jodop wrote: »

If I press pause on a BBC show while watching online and then press restart am I still watching live and if not do I need a TV license?

If you were watching the first part live, yes. If you were watching the first part with a delay, no.

As Martin says, the government haven't caught up with technology, but I fear that it's only a matter of time, especially as they're short of cash.

Billy_Petrolle

I've not bought a licence in over 20 years. Never one knock at the door. Letters go straight in the bin unread.

I refuse to pay the BBC for permission to watch every other TV station, and if the BBC don't like it, tough tits.

esuhl

ewloe wrote: »

I have been seriously thinking of ditching the TV as I watch most of my programs on-line (after broadcast) and will have a family discussion about the benefits later but one question I have not come across the answer to so far is, if I am in a pub or a club ( I play in a pool league) do I need a TV licence if they are showing live TV? same could apply if I am round a friends house.

I think it's the premises that are licensed. So it would be a pub's (or your friend's) responsibility to make sure that they are licensed if you watch TV there.

And friends can still watch TV at your house so long as they have a licence for their main residence and are using a battery powered device (e.g. a laptop). What I've always wondered is whether you are allowed to watch over their shoulder...?

Sweetpeashez

Many years ago (late 80's)I only had a black and white telly but had a video recorder but I was taken to court because my video recorder was capeable of producing colour tv. When @court the magistrate was very nice and fined me £50 then tore a strip of the licencing agency as although yes it could produce colour images on another tv it couldnt on mine he then proceeded to get my fine paid out of court funds.He also said that I was to be allowed time 28 days to get the money together to upgrade my licence:(