TV Licence Super Thread

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ken
  • Start date Start date
The "Live TV" rules are currently that you need a license to -
  • watch or record programmes as they’re being shown on TV, on any channel
  • watch or stream programmes live on an online TV service (such as ITV Hub, All 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now TV, Sky Go, etc).
  • download or watch any BBC programmes on iPlayer.
and it is that middle one usually requires a little more clarification as, to me at least, it's been left deliberately ambiguous in an attempt to scare people into paying who don't need to.

So, when they say "watching or streaming programmes live on an online TV service (such as ITV Hub, All 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now TV, Sky Go, etc).", they mean that this applies ONLY if you're watching content that is being simultaneously shown on a TV channel or is being broadcast live, such as a Premier League football match or a Concert etc.

So watching Coronation Street on ITV+ at the same time as it's being shown live on ITV1 requires a license whilst only watching Coronation Street 1hr later on ITV+ does not require a license. That clarification only comes once you dive deeper into the Licensing website.

However, if you only use online services like those mentioned above to watch content "on demand", such as pre-recorded and streamed videos on YouTube* or The Witcher on Netflix, Chernobyl on HBO or even Twitch Streamers playing games etc, then you don't need a TV licence as these are not classed as either "Live" or, in the case of Twitch/some Youtube, "TV".

*Youtube/Twitch - You do not need a license to watch old TV episodes on either. However you do need a license if you watch a video/stream of something that is also being shown Live at the same time as the stream is showing it, i.e. a Youtube/Twitch streamer watching Coronation Street on ITV1. I can imagine that something like this must be extremely rare!
 
ianh said:
*Youtube/Twitch - You do not need a license to watch old TV episodes on either. However you do need a license if you watch a video/stream of something that is also being shown Live at the same time as the stream is showing it, i.e. a Youtube/Twitch streamer watching Coronation Street on ITV1. I can imagine that something like this must be extremely rare!
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Yeah, that part is being worded very vaguely, very likely to cause confusion. For example, I watched the SpaceX test "Live" on YouTube earlier, but I don't need a licence to watch it because it's not been shown anywhere else and certainly not on TV as it happened.
 
robgmun said:
Yeah, that part is being worded very vaguely, very likely to cause confusion
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Yeap, I think it's deliberately made vague and only to catch out the vast majority who'll just buy a license to avoid any chance that their understanding might be wrong, "just in case".

For me the License can't be de-criminalised fast enough. The BBC should be made to "earn" our money by providing the quality that they did in years gone by, when the BBC was still the most trusted name in broadcasting and set the standard around the world. Look back at all the stuff thats still loved globally, from wildlife shows by David Attenborough, to drama's like Doctor Who and Life on Mars, to entertainment like Top Gear and The Office, to game shows like Weakest Link to almost every single BBC comedy like Faulty Towers, Young Ones, Black Adder and Red Dwarf etc.

Look at the BBC now! Outside of Attenborough's wildlife shows the stuff thats loved everywhere stuff is over a decade old, there's no BBC3 comedy shows being loved around the world, no new game shows sold around the world, no new entertainment being remade in other countries and even a previous best seller like Doctor Who has been ruined with it's lowest ratings ever.

There's still a few "good" BBC produced shows which have escaped the BBC's collapse like Strictly Come Dancing or Doctor Foster but the vast majority of successful shows aren't made by the BBC, they're made by outside companies and then sold to the BBC which might explain why they haven't succumbed to the BBC's poison - shows like Sherlock (not made by the BBC) and The Bodyguard (not made by the BBC) etc.
 
stockhausen said:
It probably needs Boris Johnson, Matt Hancock, Michael Green, Corinne Stockheath, Sebastian Fox or some other great Tory "communicator" to make it clearer ;)
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Completely unrelated political post just so that you can shoehorn a jab. You really have some deep issues mate
 
ssjninjamonkey said:
100% not a fan of how the BBC conducts itself I personally have not had tv in nearly 10 years I still get letters and also I have many friends that feel they MUST pay it or get fined no matter what
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There are a lot of people like that, usually older people. They are scared of not paying due to decades of threats and they double down on it. It's part of their business model.
 
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