TV Licence article Discussion

I had a reminder from the BBC ("TV Licensing") on 17 July to say "Your TV Licence expires on 31 July 2019" "Remember to renew by 31 July 2019"

Does my TV License really expire on 31 July? If so, then at what time? Do I need to renew my TV license on Tuesday 30th if I want to watch live TV or iPlayer on 31st July? Or is the BBC lying to me?

My understanding was that my license expires when the month ends.

Not planning on buying another license, but I was expecting to be able to watch Sky News tomorrow night for the last time.

On an old Sky dish (15+ years old) will it "lock up" if nothing is connected to it for a year or two?

So, my understanding is that there's some type of switch on the dish that is given power by the Freesat box and it flicks horizontal/vertical. I guess that every day it does an EPG scan so gets some use, even though I don't tend to use the box for actually watching anything. But, if I cancelled the licence and disconnected it, I'm wondering if it may stick and then cost me more money to fix next year in time for watching the Olympics.

Also, on AppleTV 4K, I can uninstall the pre-installed iPlayer app (that I've never used), but its recommendations still appear in the TV app. I'm guessing that's unavoidable?

Thanks.

Does anyone know how long it takes tvl to send a refund? I cancelled my licence at the end of june and the lady on the phone said i should have a couple of months refund to come back but no sign of a refund yet ��

Got my latest letter from TVL.


"Officers have now been authorised to visit XX XX"

Not by me they haven't so they will not be visiting my home without a warrant.


I notice in the official MSE article these people are referred to as "enquiry officers". Nothing so mundane in the letter, they are called "Enforcement Officers" (their capitals).


So people have been "authorised" to "enforce" something at my address?


I look forward to closing the door on them.

I think it's quite tricky for reputable consumer outlets like MSE to hit the right line with this - the BBC puts them in an invidious position.

There is plenty of misleading BBC lore and jargon that heavily suggests legal powers over the main enforcement activities where there are none, and I don't think any mainstream organisation wants to be seen to be undermining law enforcement activities unless there is a very compelling reason.

At the same time, there are some basic, and unanswered questions about TV Licensing that any investigative journalist really should be asking themselves, and then asking the BBC:-

- How is the process supposed to work to catch evaders?
- How is the process supposed to work to "check" households that are not evading?
- Is it true that there are no legal powers covering the main enforcement activity and, if not, what statutory power is there and where in legislation is it?
- If householders refuse to co-operate with TV Licensing, is it true that TVL are largely powerless?
- Why won't TV Licensing disclose the tiny number of TVL warrants that are issued each year?
- Is it right that TV Licensing has a tendency to be economical with the truth, and is that lawful where the matters concerned are within the scope of the Human Rights Act (like privacy in one's own home)?

I should say that we know that there are issues in some of these areas because TVL and the BBC make contradictory statements on them within their own communications.