TV Licence required because i have a computer?
- Thread starter Keltik THC
- Start date
Sounds like TV Licensing officers are just trained to be law-breaking bullies, from what mollymoo says. Shame 
Does anyone know if this would stand up in court? As far as I am aware, I can have a TV plugged into the mains and the aerial, fully tuned, and have a fully active and paid for Sky box plugged in. As long as I do not use it to watch or record live broadcasts (perfectly plausible with On Demand services), I do not have to buy a license. Has this ever been legally tested?
Does anyone know if this would stand up in court? As far as I am aware, I can have a TV plugged into the mains and the aerial, fully tuned, and have a fully active and paid for Sky box plugged in. As long as I do not use it to watch or record live broadcasts (perfectly plausible with On Demand services), I do not have to buy a license. Has this ever been legally tested?
Soldato
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- 18 Oct 2002
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to all those people laughing. can they please give me some examples of this amazing content the bbc is producing? apart from the nature stuff, which i already mentioned im at a loss.
Best news service, F1, Wildlife and nature programs, anything ever on dave. comedy through to dramas.
I agree you don't need a license as long as you can prove that it doesn't have the ability to recieve broadcasts yes, the bbc don't though they will still make the assumption you are lying which is why they state that they will visit your property to make sure, and their decision as to whether or not you need a license isn't nescessarily right but they still assume that if you have a piece of equipment capable of recieving a live broadcast then you are going to use it as such hence why you have to declare your address at point of sale.
Unless you have forgotten the bbc used to let you off having a license if you couldn't recieve bbc channels which you could have blocked, they then changed this to requiring a license to use broadcast recieving equipment, technology went on and now you have a reason to not have a license again as a tv is not purely used for watching broadcasts, the bbc have embraced this yet they still maintain that you couldn't possibly not want to watch tele.
I left tv licensing because of the way they did things plus I don't agree with the tv license full stop.
I think the BBC have loads of great shows, Top Gear, Life, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Have I Got News For You, Friday Night JR. ALl the nature programmes with David Attenborough, nothing better than sitting down after a hectic weekend, on a Sunday evening listening to this guy and watching some amazing scenes.
that just isn't the case. Many people do not have a license and no not require one. From the TV licensing boards own stats.
No it is not to use, it's to use for watching/recording live broadcast. The fund isn't just used for bbc, it goes to other channels as well which is why you can't just block bbc.
Soldato
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- 21 Jul 2007
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The BBC does suck. Aside from Mock the Week & Screenwipe, I can't say there is much I would miss personally.
Their dramas simply cannot compete with the American shows for one thing.
As i said the bbc have embraced the idea that a tv is not nescessarily for recieving a broadcast anymore hence the statement on their website, however I can assure you when I worked there that the assumption was immediately that you were lying and it needed a visit to ascertain the truth.
On another note why are the other channels getting money? Do they not generate their own income by advertising?
Someone once told me it was to maintain the infrastructure, if so why are we now only just going digital after other countries without licensing did it years ago?
Yes that is their assumption. But they can not fine you, you do not prove anything. Their is still a court of law winch is above them. They have very few rights.
Their assumptions mean diddley squat and a unconnected aerial is not prove enough to fine.
Their assumptions mean diddley squat and a unconnected aerial is not prove enough to fine.
Yet I still got lots of phonecalls off inspectors who had visited people who declared they didn't need a license and realised that they did, usually on the back of a threat of a fine. I will admit though and maybe because prosecution was a seperate thing and had a seperate office above me that I never heard of anyone being prosecuted.
That's people being suckered in though. Nothing to do with what the law says or what they require.
It is a tax and has been declared as a tax for some years now.
Soldato
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Planet Earth, Nature's Most Amazing Events , Blue Planet, Walking with Monsters, Walking with Dinosaurs just some of the many great things the bbc makes
i said apart from the nature stuff and thats all youve come up with. thanks for proving my point.
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- 16 Dec 2008
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wow, so many people i guess are posting without reading the first page of the thread when we all agreed that you only pay a license if your TV/PC/Console is capable of recieving LIVE TV as its being broadcast, this does not include iplayer/channel 4 OD etc.. but does include SKY, and will now obviously cover Xbox Sky Player, Ps3 SKy Player and the soon to be Windows 7 Sky Player.
You can have as many TVs and Digital Recievers, Sky Boxes as you want, as long as they are not plugged in to an ariel to recieve anything you do not have to pay a license.
I was under the impression the license also applied to Radio, but it isnt listed on their website and they say if your TV picks up audio but no picture then you do not need a license.
Mobile phones with 3g TV are also part of the license, no idea how they would enforce or control that though.
I know where Mollymoo is coming from though, as soon as you buy a TV (i remember from working in Tesco when i was a little sprog) you have to record your name and address, the shop then passes this info onto the TV licensing folk and if your address has no license and you purchased a TV you will recieve a call or letter saying they will take you to court IF you are watching Live TV in your house.
You can have as many TVs and Digital Recievers, Sky Boxes as you want, as long as they are not plugged in to an ariel to recieve anything you do not have to pay a license.
I was under the impression the license also applied to Radio, but it isnt listed on their website and they say if your TV picks up audio but no picture then you do not need a license.
Mobile phones with 3g TV are also part of the license, no idea how they would enforce or control that though.
I know where Mollymoo is coming from though, as soon as you buy a TV (i remember from working in Tesco when i was a little sprog) you have to record your name and address, the shop then passes this info onto the TV licensing folk and if your address has no license and you purchased a TV you will recieve a call or letter saying they will take you to court IF you are watching Live TV in your house.
Then why on the TV advert do they call it a TV licence? They should call it TV tax and be done with it.
Miss my post
News, F1 and other sports, Top gear, doctor who, red dwarf (and anything on dave), mock the week, never mind the buzcocks (and other panel shows), documentaries like panorama a million and one pride of prejudice era dramas. And literally thousands of other good quality shows. Just because you don't watch them, doesn't mean they aren't good quality.
Why change the name, every one knows it as tv license.