TV licensing puzzles me.

[Jory]

So if you don't live somewhere with a TV license, basically in the UK you have to pay £140 a year if you watch or record LIVE TV. (iPlayer etc is free)

Now I'm a student so I've been hounded by threatening letters. And when I say threatening I mean insultingly so.

Pretty much accusations of being a criminal. So on these letters it says that I should ring them up to tell them that I do not require one (which I don't) or they'll come round and I could risk prosecution and a £1000 fine (bare in mind they don't even have the right to enter my property without my permission)

So I ring them up (On a premium rate number no less) and the man on the other end lectures me on the fact that I could be facing prosecution blah blah blah. Now I for one think this is ridiculous.

I've been labelled a criminal in their eyes. Even now he said they would send someone round to 'check'. What the hell was the point of ringing up in the first place?

Has anyone else had similar dealings with these people?

 

[Gunner 51]

Well, so long as you don't have any kind of access to an electronic gizmo that can receive a TV signal - you should be safe and won't have to pay anything. However, computer monitors are something of a grey-area seeing that you can probably pick up the BBC's i-Player so long as you have an internet connection to your PC.

But the way I see it is - No TV, No need for TV license fee.

 

[thylasos]

Almost everyone. And now you have to pay if you have an internet connection, too (i.e. if you can gte iplayer, you have to pay too).

You used to be able to get by by not having a television (or, in my case last year, totally disabling the tv from doing anything but connecting to old consoles, such that it didn't receive a signal when the bloke came round).

Also: the whole high-tech detector system they're meant to have? They've got a list of every address in the UK. Everyone who's not paid up gets a letter, and if they don't reply they get harassed.

 

[Jory]

Ah true but you don't need a license for iPlayer.

You only need one to watch TV while it is being broadcast live.

 

[Snork Maiden]

I've been labelled a criminal in their eyes. Even now he said they would send someone round to 'check'. What the hell was the point of ringing up in the first place?

Has anyone else had similar dealings with these people?

To be fair, sending someone round is the only way they have of telling if you're using a TV or not.

That said I've had all the insulting letters up to the one that threatens a visit if you don't get a license - my problem was that my first years license was under the name MJ Matthew rather than MJ Surname, and for some reason the database didn't update that my address *did* have a license. I took the email route rather than phone, and I think the only reason they were civil was because they realised I actually had a license.

I'm all for the license - the BBC is (on the whole) a quality broadcaster, and £20 a month isn't the end of the world, even on a student budget. That said the tone they use when contacting you is simply out of order.

 

[Scabadus]

I'm also a student in the UK and I've had "the letters" too... and I've ignored them. I'm not breaking the law so if they want to send somebody round on their expenses then that's fine by me, but my advice is to read the letters and their website (can't remember it offhand but British TV licensing does have a website) very carefully; I think you'll find that they don't actually require you to phone up.

On the flip side, they also claim to have vans that can detect a TV even without entering your property, so if you plan on getting one for any other reason than to watch TV live (i.e. you don't need to pay the license) then do fill in the form saying that you have a TV on the property but don't use it to watch live TV.

And in five years time I'll have a house of my own and I'll pay the license fee, and I won't care that one guy will have thought I was dodging bills five years ago. These people must face hundreds of students every day who try to avoid paying the fee, unfortunatly we're rather infamous for such things.

 

[Snork Maiden]

On the flip side, they also claim to have vans that can detect a TV even without entering your property, so if you plan on getting one for any other reason than to watch TV live (i.e. you don't need to pay the license) then do fill in the form saying that you have a TV on the property but don't use it to watch live TV.

This is, as far as I know, completely false.

 

[Rafe]

Yup you have to pay even if you just have internet. I don't even watch TV!

 

[adamje2326]

If they come ask to see the warrant that allows them entry, if they dont have it deny them entry. I ignored every letter they sent me last year, I'm sure they border on illegal activity with harrasment.
Dont need the license for on demand services.

 

[Nickolai77]

Not much of a problem for me since i don't have a TV, if i want to watch anything on the BBC i watch I player, which is of course free.

 

[Sir Ollie]

I don't have a license cancelled mine ages ago.

You should be fine if you don't watch or record live TV.

It even states on the website that if you use it to play video games or watch DVDs then your fine.

I've had tons of letters and ignore them.

 

[Plinglebob]

The only time you have to pay the licence fee is if you have a TV (or TV card) connected to an arial. Because the iPlayer is technicaly repeats, it isn't part of the licence fee and therefore don't have to pay. If you check the BBC website it should confirm this.

On this topic, if I have to choose between a licence fee or everything being commercial TV with the amount of ads americans have, I choose the licence fee every time.

 

[RYjet911]

On the flip side, they also claim to have vans that can detect a TV even without entering your property, so if you plan on getting one for any other reason than to watch TV live (i.e. you don't need to pay the license) then do fill in the form saying that you have a TV on the property but don't use it to watch live TV.

This is, as far as I know, completely false.

Certainly false. There's nothing really distinctive in TVs that aren't in any form of monitor or audio equipment. The so-called 'detection' is probably the man in the van peeking through your windows.

I too am being targetted by the TV License people. I do own a TV and a monitor in my accomodation, however, there is no aerial on the building, so no live broadcasts to my TV, and I don't watch live TV on my computer, so I'm fine.

 

[Jory]

I would rather pay £140 a year than the huge fine they slap you with!

Yes of course but I'm not breaking the law. The tone of writing they use in the letters would have me believe otherwise though.

 

[BubbaJeff]

When i was in university halls i got letters from them on a regualr basis. As its a lot of people living in a small space, they can't detect who's got a tv and who hasn't... apparently. I ignored them and in the whole year i lived in halls they didnt come round to check once - the warden told us that every few years or so they do pop in to make an inspection to keep everyone on their toes.

I for one welcomed it, as i didnt have a telly, and i refused to talk to the robot on the other end of the phone line they told us 'criminals' to ring.

 

[Lyri]

iPlayer isn't free, it's basically "If you have watch Live Tv, or have the internet with access to TV".

You need to be covered by a valid TV Licence if you watch or record TV as it's being broadcast. This includes the use of devices such as a computer, laptop, mobile phone or DVD/video recorder.

 

[carsenere]

I got letters in my 1st year even though I had a liscence, as far as I was concerned it was their problem and if they wanted to waste their time sending me letters I wasnt fussed.

Just throw the letters away and forget about it they wont come to check.

The only incident I do know of tv people coming to check student accomodation the warden asked if they had a warrent and they didnt come back.

 

[Vie]

Actually the law (I'm sad enough to have checked this a few years ago when I first got a TV card) requires you to have a licence if you own a device capable of receiving and playing back a TV program - that would arguably cover a computer with a net connection even if you don't use iPlayer.

And if you do use iPlayer, remember where the BBC gets its funding: the Licence Fee.

 

[x0ny]

Ignore them, they won't send anyone over. I managed for 2 years and they still hadn't sent anyone over. this guy's been ignoring their letters for years:
http://www.bbctvlicence.com/