Has anyone cancelled or considering cancelling their TV licence?

[Plump82]

We rarely watch live TV and have Netflix so are considering cancelling our TV licence. I know we can't watch Iplayer but looking on the TV licence website it seems we can more or less watch everything else on catch up.
I know we can declare not needing one online but will we get hassled with people knocking at our door?

I don't understand why someone not watching or owning a t.v. is so odd @loniceraJaponica.
I find it odder that someone wants to fill their time watching crap, but it's their business.
I've just looked at today's tv listings, there is absolutely nothing to interest me.
I'm certainly not going to pay out for a box to sit in my lounge gathering dust, therefore when mine packed up some years ago I didn't replace it.
I also get a smug satisfaction from knowing that I didn't contribute to the salaries of the paedophiles that the BBC seemed to love.

I don't listen to radio or look at the BBC website, so I am unsure why I should pay for something I don't use and actively dislike.

I've never called the fire brigade out. Why should I pay tax to support the maintenance of fire services when they don't do anything for me personally

We all know the answer to this question. It's a public service that needs supporting through contributions from the public as (mostly) a whole. Lots of spurious arguments here from people who think 150.50 a year is an imposition, but apparently Amazon Prime (95.88) is fine. Either that £55 difference is absolutely critical to their yearly income, or they've realised that they can wriggle out of paying the licence fee and still getting at least some of the benefits of what the BBC and other terrestrial broadcasters do, so they are keen to defend doing that (I don't see anyone worrying about the bias or lack of coverage on Amazon or Netflix). All comes across as penny pinching 'I'm all right Jack' self justification tbh.

Not everyone who doesn't watch a tv watches Netflix or Amazon Prime etc. I don't. I wouldn't even know where to start with that type of stuff.
I don't understand why anyone thinks it's so hard not to watch stuff.

I don’t agree with non-payment being a criminal offence, though. That is completely unjustifiable, even to someone who values the BBC.

But presumably somebody walking into a shop or restaurant, or taking out a payable service, and not paying for it - that should still be criminal?

Sold being the operative word, they are selling programs paid for by the licence holders, bbc is a business when it suits

Please tell me you don’t think the licence fee covers all of the BBC’s output.

Even if technically you don't need a TV licence for this, the TV licence financially supports the BBC and thus its radio output too. So you're effectively saying 'I consume lots of what they provide but I'd like other people to pay for it for me'.

This.

The BBC also offers apps, events and initiatives providing genuine value beyond its traditional broadcasting. As some have also rightly pointed out, the BBC does not receive 100% of the fee, either. Apologies if that reduces the scope for been-bashing.

Also very keen to hear more about the BBC’s alleged political bias. Strange that so many will cite it and never quite elaborate (this also on a site where so many news links in threads seem to be from the DM, ffs).

It seems quite fashionable these days to loathe the BBC. Very sad.

*beeb-bashing

Can anyone explain why I might be paying 30.10 every month for a tv licence after moving house?

I had a tv license at an old address and cancelled this on moving out, 3 months before I started paying for the tv license at my new address, I stayed with family in the 3 month period....

@LoniceraJaponica correct, I don't want to watch any of that. I just do not like watching it. The things I do watch on YouTube and Netflix are vloggers and old films I already have seen a thousand times. I'm not hard to please, I just know what I like.

@Butterymuffin are you comparing a television channel to the fire brigade? BBC does not race to burning buildings, risking their lives to rescue people! I cannot think of a single time that the BBC would be saving my life in an emergency.

I would happily pay my TV license for Radio 4 on its own

So would I, and the great irony is that you don't need a licence to listen to BBC radio.

It seems quite fashionable these days to loathe the BBC

I think that's a lot of it. I find it hard to believe that all the news sources cited are any less biased than the BBC. I also like the lack of adverts, as is blindingly obvious every time you watch something on the ITV, Channel 4 or Channel 5 catch ups, which turn a 40-45 minute programme into an hour, with adverts that cannot be fast forwarded.

I'm not sure I see the value in the TV part of Amazon Prime though - nearly all the box sets and films seem to cost extra, very little is included in the price, although I know it is more about having free delivery.

Still waiting for someone to explain the political bias to me.

No idea about political bias. It's not something that interests me. Much like the dire offerings of tv.

No political bias from me, I don't watch any channels and don't dislike the BBC more than c4 for example.

Never noticed any political bias. Have heard quite a few complain its too left wing but they've been very right wing and its more that it doesn't share their views.

LJ why are you waiting for an explanation?

Because I have never noticed any bias and I am curious to know where it comes from.

So you're effectively saying 'I consume lots of what they provide but I'd like other people to pay for it for me'.

Never hear people complaining about not paying their due on the roads and other who don’t drive having to be taxed to pay for their free rides. But low betide you should listen to free radio and not pay for it...

ipayroadtax.com/no-such-thing-as-road-tax/when-will-drivers-start-paying-the-full-costs-of-motoring/

tried to ditch mine but got told if I have a tv that is able to watch Iplayer I still have to pay
Wrong

Why are people getting annoyed at posters that don’t want to pay the licence because they don’t need it??
How fairer can it be: you want to watch live tv or BBG catch-up? You pay. You don’t want to watch it? You don’t pay.

BBC not BBG...

Because I have never noticed any bias and I am curious to know where it comes from.

The reason I don't have one isn't to do with bias, so I can't comment on what specific bits people have problems with but there isn't a newspaper, news show, news channel on earth that doesn't have bias, BBC is more centre then a lot of news outlets when it comes to UK news, but as long as people need to decide the running order, what stories to cover etc no news outlet can be free of bias.

It's a public service that needs supporting through contributions from the public as (mostly) a whole.

In which case it should come out of general taxation. A flat fee of £150+ a year is not a good way to fund a public service.

I don’t buy a tv licence because I don’t need one. I don’t have any objection to the bbc but I don’t watch any live tv or use iplayer. So I’m not buying a tv licence.

If the government want to have it funded like all the other public services I contribute to but don’t use, that’s totally fine. But I’m not going to feel guilty for not buying a tv licence unnecessarily.

Incidentally I pay for amazon prime, Netflix and now tv. I use these things so I’m willing to pay for them. It’s not an issue if affordability; I’m not going to buy a tv licence unless I need one.

The radio comparison is also spurious. Whether you listen to radio or not has nothing to do with whether you require a tv licence. It makes as much sense as buying a tax disc (not that you get a physical disc these days) when you don’t own a car because you are using the roads to cycle on and/or you often travel on the buses.

Over recent years, there has been a loading of the TV Licence with additional burdens so that Osborne and his sucessors can keep to their promises not to put up taxes whilst also bashing Auntie Beeb which so many of their backbenchers love.

Money for free licences for over 75s, the World Service, Channel 4 and Broadband rollout, all skimmed off the licence.

That’s surely something to take up with your MP rather than trying to persuade people who don’t need them to buy unnecessarily tv licenses.

@LoniceraJaponica

Still waiting for someone to explain the political bias to me.

Why should we go out of our way to show you the bias, google is your friend, look it up yourself. No one here needs to prove anything to you.

I think a lot of the beeb - bashing comes from

The cover up of the pedophiles.

They either don't report or drastically minimise civil unrest news stories, even if they start outside their own building, in one case.

The fact that you are forced to have a license for an object in your home to watch live channels that do not receive any of the fee.

The heavy handed mob they employ trying to force people into getting a license by lying and threats. Their main prey is young mothers.

They could easily make it subscription based by using the individual license numbers as the pin to access. They won't do as a lot of people wouldn't pay given the choice, as for the younger generation, there is little to interest them.

I read an article yesterday that in 2017 they lost approx 700,000 license fee payers and last year it was 850,000.

I've not had a TV license for about 10 years. I actually only bought a TV about a year ago lol I only watch netflix or Amazon prime. Sometimes I will watch a documentary on All 4 if people at work are raving about it but that's it. The BBC are too biased and outdated. After the indyref debacle I will never pay it.

I thought you had to have a license even if you didn't watch TV, but had a TV/PC/Laptop etc etc.

It's not the case anymore?!