Soldato
Just realised I’ll need to pay now, too. Just moved into a place from abroad. Have a TV. £170 a year seems rather steep. I assume someone will come knocking to check I have paid, right?
TV Licence Super Thread
- Thread starter Ken
- Start date
Well they would lead to to believe that will happen, but in the real world probably not.
The question is why do you watch anything live though
Soldato
Having a TV doesn't mean you need a license, depends what you do with it, but assuming you watch live tv then yeah you need a license. I agree it's very steep. Whether someone checks or not isn't really the point unless you plan on trying to evade, in which case I can't give advice as that's illegal.
Soldato
The question is why do you watch anything live though
Watching the formula one after the race has ended, isn’t fun.
Soldato
Watching the formula one isn't fun 
Soldato
We have Sky TV. So yea we definitely need a license. I’ll have to get that sorted at some point.
Soldato
Watching the formula one isn't fun
To be fair, it’s gotten a lot better this season.
I haven't bought a licence since i moved to the new place 7 years ago. I basically use my TV as a glorified PC Monitor and I don't watch anything live.
Its better.
You can skip any boring red flag hour waits.
You don't miss the best hours of the weekend (midday) especially in summer.
If the forum rates it 4 or less you can skip wasting 2 hours of your life.
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I think this will be my 13th year with no licence
Soldato
That's a new PC worth of money, nice
That's a new PC worth of money, nice
Or a really nice holiday in my case
Holidays are a unit of currency I use a lot.
When I was looking for a new front door and the cost was "1 holiday" I decided that front door was absolutely not worth it!
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For those who are considering not paying the license fee and are concerned, this is the sort of BS they send to scare you (and it's just that, total BS)..
I get roughly one a month and have done for years, and they go straight in the recycling bin where they belong.
I get roughly one a month and have done for years, and they go straight in the recycling bin where they belong.
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 16,678
What confuses me is that you need a licence for watching ANYTHING being broadcast live, including the live channels on iplayer through a TV or mobile device.
If you own a TV and only watch sky news, do you need a licence?
If you don't own a TV, but watch live iplayer on an ipad do you need a licence?
If you own a TV and watch sky news through the youtube app do you need a licence?
If you own a TV and only watch sky news, do you need a licence?
If you don't own a TV, but watch live iplayer on an ipad do you need a licence?
If you own a TV and watch sky news through the youtube app do you need a licence?
Soldato
Yes to all three questions.
The tv license isn't for "anything being broadcast live", it's for "live tv".
So because sky news is broadcast via normal tv, it's live tv, so you can't get around the license by watching it on youtube.
The device you watch it on makes no difference, it can be a tv, phone, computer, anything.
Owning a tv doesn't make a difference either, have a tv or don't have a tv, you can't watch sky news live on youtube because it's "live tv".
However, you can watch sky news on-demand videos on youtube because it's not "live tv".
iPlayer is a special case, anything live or on-demand on iPlayer requires a license.
So the majority of live youtube, because it isn't also on tv, is fine to watch. Same for twitch.
All the on-demand youtube content is fine to watch. Same for amazon, netflix, etc, but not iplayer.
Parliamentlive.tv content is all fine to watch, live or on-demand, because it is not "live tv". But BBC Parliament is a tv channel, so is "live tv", so requires a license.
So yeah... it's unreasonable to expect all citizens to be able to understand this. TV Licensing employees even struggle and give incorrect information. TV Licensing website is deliberately vaguely worded. Add the threat letters and goons, it's daunting for people.
If the goal is to have everyone paying a license to fund a state broadcaster then a much more straightforward way of doing it is via general taxation. The TV Licensing organisation and the TV License wouldn't need to exist at all.
If the goal is for people to have a genuine choice about what media they consume and pay for, then the TV Licence needs binning and the BBC has to find alternative funding.
A middle ground can be used where part of the BBC's activity is funded via taxation (news) but not all of it (entertainment). This can be the end goal or for a transitional period.
You don't need a tv license for radio btw. If you gave up the live tv you could listen to the radio for free.
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For those who are considering not paying the license fee and are concerned, this is the sort of BS they send to scare you (and it's just that, total BS)..
I get roughly one a month and have done for years, and they go straight in the recycling bin where they belong.
Have you ever had a visit ?
Soldato
You misunderstand TBH.
1. Any TV channels being broadcast live (the content doesn't need to be live. EastEnders counts and so does Match of the Day).
2. All TV content in iPlayer (regardless of what device you use).
Those are the things that require a TV license.
Edit: the answer to all 3 of your questions is yes, because Sky News is broadcast live over the TV network. And iPlayer because iPlayer.
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