Why the F should I tell BBC every year that I don’t watch TV ?

@x2boys how many ‘’investigations’ have they started against your address? actually not you as they don’t know your name !
I must be in double figures by now 🤔

More fool you for paying a bill that you don't need to ,would you pay for a bag of shopping you didn't need or someone else's gas bill?

Yeah I've heard that. They're a nuisance. I don't watch live TV at all but obviously watch Netflix and YouTube.

The trouble is with this insidious company though is the goons they send around lie through their teeth and claimed they saw you watching live TV through the window etc. Horrible people.

@FutureMarchionessOfVidal

yeah good old ‘auntie’

it’s almost as if other streaming / pay per view / catch up as and when you want them with no adverts sometimes didn’t exist isn’t it

it is 2025 not 1955

I declared I didn't need one and still get letters so personally I would bother wasting any time letting them know.

Yeah I have hundreds of them they start off quite gently reminding you, you don't have a licence, and they get increasingly threatening promising visits etc, then the whole cycle starts again such a waste of paper.

Cancelled mine about a year or two ago and I've had an email saying it's run our and I have to tell them again. Unsure whether to do that or ignore it.

This thread has made me cancel my tv licence duevto renes at end of month genuinely tv is just used for gaming and I watch stuff on my phone ( not iplayer) I did watch sewing bee but the cost versus hours watched is really high so that’s £170 saved!

Quite. I fill my long lonely nights browsing on mumsnet! 🤣🤣🤣

Honestly, DH and I work long hours, we do a lot of sports, I like reading and Duolingo, we have a social life, DS has a lot of clubs and activities, and likes playing Minecraft and various Switch games. If I do want to watch something I’d rather go to the cinema or theatre. If there is a sporting event we want to watch, we go to the pub and watch it with friends. CBeebies is a hotel/holiday/gran’s house treat for DS. We lived overseas when he was a preschooler so I promise he didn’t miss out on Numberblocks 😆

I do listen to R4 but you don’t need a licence for that. If you did, I would pay it. But I’m not paying for a tv licence when we genuinely don’t watch it.

Or just close the door on them no need to be rude.

Christ @Rosesfornoses why don't you just marry cbeebies if you love it so much? 🤣

Collecting revenue is not a free exercise. Adding it as one line to another bill is much cheaper.

CBeebies has great content and back when we had a tv licence it was the only thing my children were allowed to watch. Numberblocks and Alphablocks were a staple. I would love to buy these separately and would welcome a subscription model that made paying a monthly sum for children’s programming an option. I still don’t agree that the BBC should be allowed to flout its own impartiality charter whilst aggressively demanding annual declarations of non-use.

I was on our local SACRÉ and organised many trips to religious buildings and faith communities. In many areas it can be hard to find an appropriate building and I know from my own experience that many parents will not contribute towards the cost of a trip to a religious building.. The BBC does a brilliant job of introducing faith community

No licence needed for radio

I've been getting letters about this for 4 years now. I have a TV licence but due to an issue with the address database their system thinks I don't have one. I've spoken to them about this an followed their advice but the letters continue. I've had one visit so far, no doubt they'll turn up again at some point. I'm not wasting any more of my time trying to resolve this. The letters are quite comical really.

I think you will find that the very elderly often encounter certain problems listening to the radio!

No, my tv free elderly relative has never listened to BBC radio (even in the days when she could have heard it). Nor do I (I don’t have a licence either: it must run in the family).

I don’t even have a radio (just never thought of it tbh) and I have never seen one in her house.

There is a really prevalent assumption being displayed throughout this thread that tv, and the BBC in particular, is a vital integrated part of all of our lives - in particular for entertaining and educating children & consoling the elderly - and that those of us denying this must be lying, or miserable, or mistaken, or mad haired weirdos praying to a Boris Johnson shrine when not weeping over our loneliness. I find this very sad and a bit alarming. Humans lasted a long time in functioning communities without tv you know, educating children, caring for the elderly, & filling those long tv-less evening with eccentric things like having sex, reading books, and cleaning the bathroom.

Good advice. But if you're an elderly person living alone, it can be very intimidating.

My grandchildren are not allowed to watch YouTube etc. Their parents do allow CBeebies and CBBC. It is a life saver. Hate to think it will disappear in the future

Yes, the language is clearly designed to catch people out, it isn't plain English and will be difficult for many to understand.

The BBC has presided over several serious safeguarding failures. Savile being the tip of the iceberg. There is plenty of alternative great provision.

Our school actually visits local synagogues, mosques etc. I think it's far better for it to be rooted in the local community rather than whatever the BBC thinks is correct.

They once had an article describing 14 year old victims of rape and child sex trafficking as 'sex workers'. I don't want my daughters being taught that shite by the BBC. Complained and got the brush off.

I must say you made me laugh when you accuse me of paranoia and then go on to talk about the BBC " bullying and harrassing" you. That sounds just like paranoia to me!

And you go on to talk about the need to " discuss" what you perceive to be going on but try and shut down anyone who doesn't feed into your narrative. Not much of a discussion if you just want to hear from people who agree with your view point.

@HelpMeGetThrough

terrifying 🤣🤣🤣

They weren’t detecting anything, the vans were empty. 🤣

You can ignore it. They will send a series of increasingly hysterical letters and then… nothing happens. They just cycle round with the letters again.

I never responded, because the options on the form all seemed designed to try to trick you into admitting you needed a tv licence. There was no “I don’t have a tv and don’t watch any tv in any form whatsoever” option, it was all “I have a tv but don’t watch the bbc” or “I only watch live tv on my computer”. So I ignored it, and all bin the letters. They can come round if they want, because I don’t have a tv. But they never have.