[UK] TV License Needed?

[Axel]

Sooner we get advertising the better, then the tv licence which the labour government promised would be got rid of by 2006 will be gone for good.

NO THANKYOU! I'm quite happy watching the good quality programming that in my opinion the BBC provides - and the fact that I'm not bombarded with advertising every 15 minutes is an additional plus. This also means that many of the BBC's programmes are an hour long rather than 45 minutes with padding!

This again goes for radio - Commercial radio absolutely does my nut in - adverts here there and everywhere - this is the direction BBC would have to take if the fee was abolished! I personally listen to the Chris Moyles show on my hour-long morning commute and the Scott Mills Show later on - having to constantly listen to ads would be agony!

[acnpt]

I used a usb stick on my laptop, without a tv license last year at Uni.

Never got caught, no one came and checked(They would be allowed in halls, but was up to us to allow them into our rooms). Always hid it in a draw when not in use, and I didn't use it much tbh, had to hang aerial out of 6th floor window to get signal.

Didn't even reply to the FAR TOO AGGRESSIVE warning letters, which were sent as soon as we moved in. These letters really scared a couple of people! disgusting behaviour.

Much easier to go chill/be social in a room where somebody has an actual television.

[BigCheese]

It is not a case of NEED a licence. It is a moral choice on whether you think you should have one or not. However, if you live in a town or city, I would advise it as the vans might be close by. A work colleague who lives in a tiny hamlet (they don't even have gas!) hasn't paid and they haven't been round ever as it is simply too small to worry about, too far in the country to go with the vans, i guess.

You do know the TV detector vans don't exist, right? They're just a hoax made up to try and scare people into paying the TV licence.

[Neil]

With Formula 1 returning to the BBC and with Radio 5 Live I find the BBC pretty good value. When you look at ITV struggling for money since advertising revenue has dropped it good to know the BBC will last in its present form.

They do check at Uni's by the way so be careful, and if a shared house with locks on doors you need a separate license for each room, however if a TV in the lounge you could all chip in.

[Brian M. Veteran]

You do know the TV detector vans don't exist, right? They're just a hoax made up to try and scare people into paying the TV licence.

Yup - and another thing that people don't often realise - is that TVL are just a company (it's a trading name). They have no more right to enter/search your property than an employee of Argos, Tesco etc.

If you do get threatening letters (and don't receive broadcasts) you can write to them saying so, and that you consider their letters to be harrassment (you can also state that you are revoking their implied right of access to your property (the right of access they have to your pathway/doorbell etc)). If you continue to receive letters/visits, you can actually take them to court.

[smooth_criminal1990]

The way I understand TV licensing laws in the UK is that you only need it for watching live TV from a device that plugs into the mains or like...anywhere. Oh, and BBC iplayer dosen't need one cos its not live (confirmed in the terms of use) and I might be right in thinking a pocket TV powered off battery (and never plugged into the mains) would be acceptable, as would a TV in a common room provided by the university.

Of course all that is irrelevant if you are going to the University of Surrey and living in halls on campus, cos they track satellites with some specialized antennae, which means that TV licensing people aren't allowed anywhere near :D !!!

[Mike]

TV in a common room needs a license, but most uni run halls will provide the license for you

[._.Andy._.]

NO THANKYOU! I'm quite happy watching the good quality programming that in my opinion the BBC provides - and the fact that I'm not bombarded with advertising every 15 minutes is an additional plus. This also means that many of the BBC's programmes are an hour long rather than 45 minutes with padding!

I don't think the BBC is ahead of ITV in terms of programming... as for the big events they go back and forth on the contracts.

If BBC was that great they wouldn't have lost sporting events like match of the day in the first place.

[pyther]

Sorry to hijack the thread, if you are using an antenna to receive your tv signal how could they detect whether or not you have a tv licenses.

I can see how this would work for cable, satellite, etc.. but I fail to see how they can determine who is watching tv with an antenna.

[trek]

NO THANKYOU! I'm quite happy watching the good quality programming that in my opinion the BBC provides - and the fact that I'm not bombarded with advertising every 15 minutes is an additional plus. This also means that many of the BBC's programmes are an hour long rather than 45 minutes with padding!

hah, you'd really hate the media here in North America ;)

[BigCheese]

Sorry to hijack the thread, if you are using an antenna to receive your tv signal how could they detect whether or not you have a tv licenses.

I can see how this would work for cable, satellite, etc.. but I fail to see how they can determine who is watching tv with an antenna.

They can't detect it. As mentioned earlier in the thread, they have a database of every home that doesn't have a TV licence and also when you buy a TV, the dealer you bought it from has to pass your address onto the TV licensing company.

[pyther]

Ah thanks, thats screwed up.

[Kirobaito]

OK, I'm going to be a visiting student at U of Edinburgh this fall, and I have a few questions regarding TV licences.

I am a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys, an NFL team, and I'm not sure I can go three months without seeing them. The only other thing I really care about watching this semester is Heroes, which I guess is now being shown on BBC2, but I can watch that either on the communal TV for my housing or (this is a question) - on the BBC iPlayer? So, if I want to see the Cowboys, I have three real options.

1) My laptop does NOT have a TV tuner card in it. I do, however, have a Slingbox that I would be able to connect to my TV in the US, and then stream its broadcast to my computer through the internet. The broadcast is not being received on my laptop, per se, but on the TV at my parents' house in the US. Do I need a TV licence for doing this? Someone mentioned it a few pages back but there wasn't any clarification on the topic. I don't really care about watching anything on the BBC, sans Heroes, and think it's dumb that I'd have to pay an absurd amount of money, even pro-rated, to fund something that I have no real desire to partake in.

2) NFL.com offers a service called Game Pass - basically, I pay like $160 (80-some odd pounds), and I can watch all of the Cowboys' games on my laptop. There are two things here - I can watch them live, but the games are archived for up to 48 hours after the games are played. Sooooo, if I were to watch the games live, would I need a license? And two, if I were to NOT watch the games live, would I? If the BBC iPlayer does not require a licence because it is "On-Demand" - is this situation any different?

3) According to a schedule I read, the Cowboys' three remaining games this month will be broadcast on either Sky Sports 1 or 3. Don't know the schedule for the remaining months, but hopefully that means that they're popular enough that the games are all broadcast here. Unfortunately... they come on at 1:30 in the morning. SO, I have two questions here. 1) Are NFL games shown at pubs that are open this late (ARE pubs open this late)?, and 2) I know that Edinburgh has communal areas. Obviously, this is a rather specific question, but for those of you who were recently at Uni, are the communal TVs available for use this late at night?

[former1]

1 and 2 you don't require a TV Licence.

3 You most likely won't find a pub open that late, the only time that they are is during the Edinburgh Fringe where they apply for special licenses to stay open 'til 4am. As for the TVs being avail. that late at night in communal areas, I think it depends on your halls but that shouldn't be a problem... although I don't know of a halls that gives you SkyTV :p

[Kirobaito]

1 and 2 you don't require a TV Licence.

3 You most likely won't find a pub open that late, the only time that they are is during the Edinburgh Fringe where they apply for special licenses to stay open 'til 4am. As for the TVs being avail. that late at night in communal areas, I think it depends on your halls but that shouldn't be a problem... although I don't know of a halls that gives you SkyTV :p

Thanks for the response. The third one doesn't matter if #1 is good to go, fortunately. :D I guess I have my solution!

[acnpt]

Be a good idea to check that the slingbox will work on the university network. As some universities close alot of ports.

[DigitalE]

What..? You have to buy a license to watch TV in the UK? That's crazy! Broadcast TV is all free here in the States :whistle:

[shadowmatt]

What..? You have to buy a license to watch TV in the UK? That's crazy! Broadcast TV is all free here in the States :whistle:

You pay through subscription and or advertising. The BBC is paid for by the TV license, has no ad breaks / sponsors and still produces world class programs. Its a different business model and keeps the BBC independent and its news channel unbias.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

I don't think the BBC is ahead of ITV in terms of programming... as for the big events they go back and forth on the contracts.

If BBC was that great they wouldn't have lost sporting events like match of the day in the first place.

1) The BBC cultivates a lot of shows, invests heavily in upcoming ideas, acts, performers and develops them. ITV does not.

2) Sporting events are now just massive bidding wars. The BBC has to justify it's spend, and as such, they could not justify the massive costs for what actually summed up to a small amount of airtime.

[Xtreme2damax]

Don't drink and drive while watching TV, you might get your license suspended.. :laugh:

Joking....

[Julius Caro]

You don't need a TV licence to use the iPlayer or listen to the radio. Why should my TV tax be paid toward services that many people get for free and don't need a licence for? I don't wholly disagree with the TV licence, but I DO disagree with the way it is implemented. We are not a communist nation.

iPlayer can't be used outside the UK and considering that the license is paid by almost every household, it's not like you are paying to allow hundreds of thousands to watch the things for free.

What I really don't get is having to pay the license if you have a tuner even if you don't use it. In Spain for example I have a tv but I do not watch spanish tv, the news if anything. I use it for the PS3 (DVD/BD player, and playing games). But that's to do with the quality of spanish tv of course.

But with a laptop equipped with a tv tuner, it's kinda unfair that you have to pay for a license just because the thing is capable of tuning FTA TV even if you never do that.

[crazzyyfool]

If we didn't have the TV licence in the UK all BBC channels would be full of advertising, 5 minute ad breaks every 10 minutes and poor quality programme output.

[Richard Hammond]

You pay through subscription and or advertising. The BBC is paid for by the TV license, has no ad breaks / sponsors and still produces world class programs. Its a different business model and keeps the BBC independent and its news channel unbias.

Id rather have adverts than be forced to pay ?120+ a year if i wanted a TV to watch ITV or Ch4 but not BBC.

[crazzyyfool]

iPlayer can't be used outside the UK and considering that the license is paid by almost every household, it's not like you are paying to allow hundreds of thousands to watch the things for free.

What I really don't get is having to pay the license if you have a tuner even if you don't use it. In Spain for example I have a tv but I do not watch spanish tv, the news if anything. I use it for the PS3 (DVD/BD player, and playing games). But that's to do with the quality of spanish tv of course.

But with a laptop equipped with a tv tuner, it's kinda unfair that you have to pay for a license just because the thing is capable of tuning FTA TV even if you never do that.

You could also argue the fact if you have a TV but have all BBC output blocked you still have to pay the TV licence. :huh: What's that about? The licence only pays for the BBC, if you don't watch the BBC why should we pay the licence.

I like how a lot of people complain about paying ?120 per annum for a TV licence yet they are quite prepared to pay ?40 per month for Sky/Cable TV:rolleyes:s:

[Neil]

You could also argue the fact if you have a TV but have all BBC output blocked you still have to pay the TV licence. :huh: What's that about? The licence only pays for the BBC, if you don't watch the BBC why should we pay the licence.

I like how a lot of people complain about paying ?120 per annum for a TV licence yet they are quite prepared to pay ?40 per month for Sky/Cable TV:rolleyes:s:

Yeah and Sky is mostly full of repeats and trash. The fact the BBC News website is ad free for UK users and when you click to play a video you don't have to watch an ad before hand is good enough for me.