Ok, so the rules are changing from September. You'll need a TV license to watch iPlayer.

However, it seems the rules are a trifle odd.
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-y ... tv-licence



So, if I take my laptop with me and use iPlayer to watch something, and I run it off the battery, then I'm covered by the TV license at home. BUT if I plug it into the mains using its power brick, then I'm not?

What's different? Same hardware, it's still me in a non-home location. Why is how the thing is powered defining how it's covered?

It's quite tricky to define whether a device should be covered by the licence fee paid by the owner vs any that apply to the place you're currently at. If you just say 'any device you own is covered' you'll get arguments about whether a television that a student uses in halls during term time but takes home in the summer is 'owned' by the student or the family and thus whether it's covered or not.

Basic logic seems to be if it's on battery power it's 'mobile' and therefore on the licence for your property, if it's plugged in somewhere else then it's not.

As it stands the rule that 'you must have a licence to watch iplayer' is in practice unenforceable anyway but I suspect it's a precursor to defining the licence fee in some other form.

Iirc wasn't that how it applied to portable televisions? No license if it ran on batteries but the moment you used a mains charger you needed a license.

How the hell are they planning to monitor and/or enforce this? Have they developed some scanning equipment that means they can sit outside my house and determine whether I am watching BBC programming on my laptop from my wireless internet provider?

No. They'll have to implement an ID system like Netflix for example use. You pay your licence fee (they'll probably make paying by direct debit mandatory), you get a login to iPlayer. That login allows you say three simultaneous streams/downloads.

Of course implementing a secure IDPM system that can handle the amount of traffic iPlayer gets will not at all be easy. Strangely enough a good friend of mine has exactly that skill set and has just finished a short term contract at the BBC in Salford quays. I haven't had a chance to ask him yet what he was up to there...

That's fair enough, I don't ever watch it anyway, I just want to ensure that we're not going to re-enter a fight with the TV licensing people, I only got them off my case for our current house 3 years ago and we've been there 6 years now! As long as they make it a pay-for service and make people opt in then it's fine.