You only need a licence if you actually watch television as it's being broadcast. If you only use your TV for gaming/DVDs etc then you don't need a licence. Similarly you only need a TV licence if you own a computer if you actually use it to watch live streams - if you only use iPlayer etc then you don't need a licence.

Also, please note that it's licenc, not license.

The absurdity of this always amuses me.

You do need a TV licence to watch live Italian football on the Internet, but you do not need one to watch BBC shows on iPlayer.

Because like obviously, the licence fee doesn't fund the BBC or anything like that...

However, the law is quite unambiguous. How the hell you prove that you don't watch streaming TV I do not know. You just hope it never comes to court I guess, because in a civil case you'll be assumed guilty until you can prove yourself innocent.

If you'll forgive the nature of the link (which I doubt any of you will, given recent conversations) you find this an interesting read:

http://www.tpuc.org/stoppayingtvlicencefees

**awaits excommunication**

Had the same situation in my student house at the start of this academic year, except that our ariel worked and we had a dish strapped to the side of our house. However, one visit from their inspectors and it was all okay, as we showed we only used it for films and consoles (which were connected to the internet) by...well, I think we just showed them we had no ariel cabale going to that particular room. So it's not like you're totally screwed at this point; just invite them round, show them the works, and hope that they're reasonable.

S0d that!! They can come and sit outside my house in their van and monitor us not watching tv on the tv we don't have, but there's no way they're coming inside to have a look around, they have no right to enter without a Policeperson and a warrant so they'd better make sure they've got cause before they try it. They send us letters every couple of years, but we don't have a tv and I am quite happy to call and tell them that every couple of years. They usually seem disbelieving as though people nowadays can't possibly live and *not* watch tv!?

- BBC response to a freedom of information act.

Okay I am confused as to why you gave your (ahem) real details. Either pay in cash and give them a fake address or pay by card but give your parents address.

If they don't know you have a TV, they won't bother you (until they find your property isn't licensed).

You only need a license if you receive tv broadcasts. If each of your channels was tuned to the microphone channel )was it 74?) then even if you plug an aerial in, you would receive no picture whatsoever.

They have to prove you were able to receive broadcasts and if they can, they will take you to court. To obtain a warrant, they musy have reasonable grounds to believe you are watching TV broadcasts. They can peep through your letterbox, they can peer over your fence, and if a door or window is open, they can come in. You can formally withdraw their
implied right of access by writing to them. This only makes them madder but if you are in the right, you can screw them bigtime. if they have reasonable grounds, they can obtain a warrant and arrive with police. Cops are there to make sure they don't touch or steal anything else other than examining the TV sets. However they (incl coppers) can be heavy handed. Eyewitnesses or better still a video camera will prevent them from doing anything other than touching the TVs since you could use it against them in a court of law.

No, seriously, dude :


Methinks it might be you who is confused.

I merely was seeking to find direction on how to honestly respond to the question of whether I needed a TV licencce. At no point did I intend to suggest I did so for nefarious reasons. I see no harm in providing my "ahem" real details as I have nothing to hide. Conspiracy theories abound on the "stealth tax" there may be, but I for one do not care about such matters. I merely wish to expunge any shred of doubt on the matter for I see no reason, as echoed by others here, to pay should I not need to.

I would gladly pay for a TV licence, as pointed out in my second post, had responses here been contrary to my own suspicions and findings elsewhere.

I appreciate your concern and suggestions on how best prepare for the inevitable collapse of mankind when society gives over to corrupted martial law and the hounds of hell themselves spew forth from the earth in the guise of TV licensing officials intent on wreaking untold Biblical acts of wonton carnality upon any such person not carrying formal papers accounting for birth, sector of government employment, credit history, restrictions to travel and yes, licence to recieve live TV broadcasts. But fret not, my circumstances are such that I need not have one. So nerh.

True but given the hassle they give, if you had provided say your parents details, they wouldn't have bothered you now, would they?

Sometimes telling them isn't enough.

I can't recall the site but there's a forum where you have stories of people who have been hounded by the BBC despite repeatedly demonstrating that their TVs aren't receiving broadcasts. They became so fed up, some of them went to the lengths of falsifying their details.

Wasn't tryig to help you evade the law, merely to avoid the hassle of the TVLA

Um, no. In a civil case the matter is decided on the "balance of probabilities" i.e. whichever side the Judge believes.

I'm not sure how TV licensing is enforced, chances are it's "beyond reasonable doubt". You don't have to prove you weren't, but rather they have to prove you wer.e

My understanding is that if you own equpiment that is capable of receiving a TV signal (regardless of whether you watch it or not) you have to have a TV license.
He owns a TV, therefor he requires a TV license.

You need a licence if:

"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. "

So, just being in possession of a TV does not mean you need a licence.

Many years ago when I was living in a studio flat I had a visit from the license people, and they had a policeman in tow, due to "problems" with the previous tenant.

They asked if I had a T.V. to which I replied yes. They then asked if I had a license, to which I replied no. I invited them in and showed them the telly, which was in bits, as I had bought it to repair, but hadn';t got around to it.

They invited me to a day out in court, which I was more than happy to do, and the judge told them, in no uncertain terms, that they were wasting his and my time and threw out the case. He did however ask me to make sure I bought a license once I'd repaired the set.



I think, legally speaking, this is correct, but if the aerial is banjoed then you can't receive a signal... it's a tricky one, but if it were me I'd stick to my guns.

It sounds a bit ridiculous to say we use it as a monitor to watch DVDs on, because you mean we use it as telly to watch our DVDs on. You use it as a monitor to play XBOX on - again you mean we use it as a telly to play xbox on. Plus you bought a telly so you have the means to recieve a broadcast, you clearly are internet savvy and have a home setup, streaming media etc, dont try to tell me you have never watch a normal tv broadcst on it because I just don't believe you.

If this is simply a matter of principal then actually I'm in total agreement with you, why should I be forced to pay the BBC an annual subscription fee - I literally watch nothing on the BBC except for Question Time (sad really) and yet I have to pay £12 a month!

In todays pay-per-view society the beeb should charge for their content they shouldn't get Tax payers money to squander on "talent" like Jonathon Ross and Chris Moyles, they both suck and yet I'm paying for them and their jollies.

However, good luck evading the telly police!

So... Snowy has decided that he'd like to waste his time and ours by coming on here and lying about whether he watches telly?

I don't think so.

I don't see why not.

Red & I have a home set-up, and play media from our server, we download the only two shows we watch from the iplayer, we use a monitor not a telly in the living room but we still have the facility to stream live tv, we just don't.