Period TV License?

[robgil]

How come it's 2/3 rds cheaper if you watch TV in black and white?

 

[Feltwell]

Just history I guess. Back in 1969 they made you pay extra to receive their expensive new colour transmissions I presume.

I'm surprised it's an anomaly that has never been removed. I can imagine it must be a favourite check of the TV licence people to see if B&W licence holders are using colour sets.

 

[JohnB]

It's 100% cheaper if you don't have an evil one eyed mind control device :wink:.

 

[robgil]

I wouldnt be able to watch Meet the Fokers then , in B&W .
By the way , if you have a computer at home you still need a Tv license. :shock:

Next they will be making us buy a licence for keeping a pet dog.

 

[Me!]

Or even a fish - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmyHup4TpkU

 

[MdB]

By the way , if you have a computer at home you still need a Tv license. :shock:

Only if you watch the online programs live. If you are "catching up" using iPlayer then you don't need a license currently - I believe this is changing some time soon though...

 

[Flyfisher]

Correct about not needing a tv licence for iPlayer. But I'm not sure about the changes that may be made to this.

At present, a tv licence is needed if you have apparatus capable of receiving tv transmissions, even if you never switch it on. I can't see that being applied to computers (it would be outrageous if it was) so how will they monitor whether you actually watch any tv anyway - live or otherwise?

And what about tv viewing on smart phones?

Another nail in the licence fee coffin perhaps?

 

[Feltwell]

Next they will be making us buy a licence for keeping a pet dog.

I remember buying those - 37.5p if I remember rightly, it had been the same for years, and by the time they finally abolished them it was costing the government over £1 per licence to administer the scheme.

We didn't even get a discount for our old collie, and he was in black & white as well :roll:

 

[robgil]

On my reminder letter from the kind thieving barstewards in Bristol it states,

Tv receiving equipment includes,

A Tv ,
A Computer,
A mobile phone,
A Games console,
A Digital box, (bit gray that)
A DVD/VHS recorder (any other recording device must be exempt, betamax anyone?)

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I'm going to go and count how many mind-control TV receving devices we have in the house.... back later.

Of course, we only ever use them to look at the news and David Attenborough...

 

[d49xc]

Never ceases to amaze me the rubbish that is written on forums everywhere about TV licences.

You need a licence if your household receives live, and by that I mean "as they are broadcast" TV programs.
As well as TV's this would include receiving "as it is broadcast" viewing onto a computer, a video recorder, smart phone etc.
You can buy TV receiver cards for a computer- effectively turning them into a TV.
I am unaware of whether any internet site offers live as it is broadcast TV viewing facilities over the interet so cannot comment.

You do not need a licence if you are receiving delayed broadcast material - the most obvious being iplayer.
I believe also that youtube has delayed broadcast streamed some TV material (? Royal Wedding) and I presume this would fall into the same category as iplayer.

I have no idea of the regulations in respect of temporarily moving your licence to another place - such as using it in a caravan while on holiday and especially if others remain in your house possibly using the TV as well - so I cannot comment on this aspect either.

It is not an offense to merely be in posession of an item capable of receiving a live TV broadcast without having a current licence.
It is quite legal without a licence to use your TV only for viewing pre recorded video tapes being one such example of this - though it would be wise to re-tune the TV and video "off signal" to avoid any doubt as to your intentions.

Just for the record I do not have a TV licence and I do not watch TV and have not done so for over 10 years. I do have an old set in the house somewhere.
I get regular on the dot monthly letters every month from Capita acting on behalf of the TVL authority virtually demanding I buy a licence, containning all sorts of threats, all addressed to The Legal Occupier. These are all ignored. I told them once 10 years ago that I not receive TV broadcasts and I do not intend to tell them again - or tell them my name for that matter. Despite many "promises" of a visit from an inspector none has been received - possibly as I'm on a private road so an act of trespass would occur (there is no google street view either for the same reasons).
They are welcome to put a TV licence van detector outside my house - much good would it do them.

You do not need to give your name or answer any questions to any such person visiting. Only a police office is entitled to require you to supply your details to them.
The only way they can legally enter your home is if they have a court order - which would not be granted unless the court is given prima facie evidence that TV viewing IS occuring at the property. Merely that the property is unlicenced is not sufficient.
...of course if people are stupid enough to have the TV on full blast in the background in the middle of the day unlicenced when the inspector calls and he/she can clearly hear it then the court would grant an order for an inspection of the property and I have no problem with this.

 

[Feltwell]

we only ever use them to look at the news and David Attenborough...

Ahem - I think not Mr Wiggs. Kirsty Allsop counts as neither news nor David Attenborough, and we know you watch her....... :lol:

(Even if some of us fail to appreciate why!)

 

[Nigel Watts]

In the 1950s my father built his own TV set from two surplus RAF radar receivers (ex Lancaster bomber, I think), plus a cathode ray tube and some homemade device for upping the voltage to drive the tube. He used to set it up once a year to watch Wimbledon. He consigned the whole thing to the tip in the mid eighties when clearing his attic. Shame really, as it was quite a sight.

 

[MdB]

I am unaware of whether any internet site offers live as it is broadcast TV viewing facilities over the interet so cannot comment.

Err, the BBC website, the ITV website, Channel 4 website, Sky website... All require a TV licence to watch live TV via the web.

Correct about not needing a tv licence for iPlayer. But I'm not sure about the changes that may be made to this.

Live iPlayer you do need a TV licence for (and it comes up with a message to warn you of this). Catch up iPlayer you do not.

Basic rule is that you need a TV licence if you watch or record live TV on whatever device you use to do this. Otherwise you do not.

How come it's 2/3 rds cheaper if you watch TV in black and white?

Interestingly, if you have a video recorder that works in colour but only a B&W TV set, you still need a colour licence.

 

[LadyArowana]

I get regular on the dot monthly letters every month from Capita acting on behalf of the TVL authority virtually demanding I buy a licence, containning all sorts of threats, all addressed to The Legal Occupier. These are all ignored. I told them once 10 years ago that I not receive TV broadcasts and I do not intend to tell them again - or tell them my name for that matter. Despite many "promises" of a visit from an inspector none has been received - possibly as I'm on a private road so an act of trespass would occur (there is no google street view either for the same reasons).
They are welcome to put a TV licence van detector outside my house - much good would it do them.

We get those too, I used to fill in the form and explain that we don't have a TV, but they just start sending the letters again a few months later so I gave up. I have no idea if they have ever turned up when I'm not there, they have never appeared when I'm in residence. It would actually be quite amusing if they did, because technically we do "own" a television, it's just that we keep it many thousands of miles outside their jurisdiction.

 

[robgil]

They update their records every 6 months, usually it would appear by way of sending out threatening letters.

 

[Penners]

Basic rule is that you need a TV licence if you watch or record live TV on whatever device you use to do this. Otherwise you do not.

Hmmm - interesting theoretical proposition: does that mean that, if you time-shift everything you watch, using a PVR, you don't need a licence?

 

[skier-hughes]

No, because if you time switch, you have to record it to do so.

What about if you only ever watch the +1 channels?

 

[Flyfisher]

Despite many "promises" of a visit from an inspector none has been received - possibly as I'm on a private road so an act of trespass would occur (there is no google street view either for the same reasons).

I'm not so sure about the trespass thing. I thought there is an implied right of access across private property for anyone with a legitimate purpose. Thus postmen, milkmen, couriers, trick-or-treaters and the little old lady delivering the parish news are all quite legally entitled to cross your private land to knock on your door. It is, of course, possible to revoke that entitlement and I've read about people writing specifically to TVLA for that very purpose.

This is the BBC's policy about dealing with 'no licence needed' properties:
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/downloads/What-if-tv-licence-is-not-needed/NoLicenceNeeded.pdf

 

[Flyfisher]

What about if you only ever watch the +1 channels?

That would surely be a live tv broadcast, regardless of the content.

The TV Licencing website states that "You need to be covered by a valid TV Licence if you watch or record TV as it's being broadcast." I wonder how the law would interpret the delay of several seconds between the transmission source and a digital television receiver? Anyone who has a mixture of analogue and digital radios in the house will have experienced the delay inherent in digital transmission and will know that the digital 'pips' are no longer an accurate way to set one's watch, so a legal definition of "live" might be an interesting argument depending on the letter of the law. :wink: