What can / do TV License inspectors actually do?

[QuimReaper]

I moved into a new flat in December and had 'get TV license' on my epic To Do list for ages, but when I got round to it I realised that between Now TV, Amazon Prime and Netflix subscriptions I basically never use the BBC except to catch up on Graham Norton or Have I Got News For You, and half the time I do that at my partner's house anyway. I used to be a 10 o'clock News and Newsnight devotee but haven't watched either since moving out of my home last summer.

I've just had a threatening letter from them about sending inspectors round and I'm just curious what they can actually do if they get into your property. I guess they can request to check if you have the ability to watch live TV, but there's no proving that you actually do. And I suppose they could ask to check Smart TVs for the iPlayer app, but again that's native on most TVs. They presumably can't insist on checking devices or internet browser history, so are they just there to intimidate?

They sent around an officer to my first flat away from home about 15 years ago, who managed to be at once stupid, slimy and a total thug, and he completely cornered and bullied me (when we DID have a TV license). I still get angry thinking about it to this day, and am quite keen for another go in the ring with them now I'm much older, scarier and less vulnerable

Great but thats not whst the Op was asking .
They have no powers of entry you are not obliged to open the door or engage with them in anyway.

@x2boys yes I can read. Just adding some food for thought to the thread.

But, she does require a license. So she should pay for one, like the rest of us have to.

And you think it’s ok @EmpressSoleil that you are dodging paying for the licence whilst taking the service? It really isn’t, the BBC is a class leading public service and you should contribute if you want the benefit.

Maybe that's because you live in a BBC bubble and can't imagine anyone who live differently.

I don't watch any live TV and I'm not interested in sports. I don't watch TV news, I use Apple news and have a subscription. I don't use iPlayer because I already have Amazon Prime, Netflix and Disney+. I don't listen to any radio because it has the same problem as broadcast TV. I have a Spotify subscription and also use Apple podcast.

I pay way more than the subscription fee and I think BBC has inferior programs and is an absolute rip off.

This is what im saying. When you think about the other options open to us, the Tv Licence is absolute madness in todays world

@NewYearResolutions BBC bubble, hilarious 😆

And bravo on all your subscriptions, I too have subscriptions for Spotify, Netflix, Disney, Now, 4od, etc... Unlike you, I enjoy watching certain events live, the BBC offers great live coverage and I accept that I need to pay for that. I think that the children's content is excellent and I'm happy to pay for that. I enjoy listening to Radio One in the car.

Now I'll be going back to binge watching Horrible Histories with the DC... on iPlayer.

They imply that they have a right of entry but they don't have it unless they have a magistrates warrant.

Something like 2 million people stopped their licenses during covid. Probably more since the COL crisis.

As already suggested, use a fake email/name/address to register for iplayer and for the other free-to-air services if you plan on watching live. They have no way of knowing you're watching live tv unless a) you tell them or b) you let them in and they view you watching it.

So play fair, and catch up on Graham Norton at your partners house. It's bonkers people are suggesting you continue paying £160 a year for occasionally watching one program...

Just do it right. Fill in the form online and take notice when they email once a year asking you to confirm that you still don't need a license. They'll probably only show up on your doorstep if you ignore the emails. I stopped paying for a license for 5 years and they never bothered me.

(And the only way they catch people for using iPlayer is because the geniuses use the same email to log in with that they have listed with the TV licensing people. Maybe sometimes they even catch people out who use names like michaelallenjones1964 @ yahoo)

@GatoradeMeBitch That's my plan - I am perfectly happy to watch the odd episode of BBC content that I do access at his place to, as you say, play fair. The fact that I didn't even realise I don't have live TV at this flat after ten weeks living here is evidence enough that the cost wouldn't be justified!

They certainly could with the old tvs, although you'll find a lot of people on the web claiming they couldn't.

The reason is with an old tv when you watch a channel as well as the TV picking up the tv station on the aerial, it also sends some signal back into the aerial which is radiated into the outside world and could, in theory be picked up by detectors and triangulated to find a precise location of both the tv, and which station was being watched. This technique is used a lot by the military to find the source of enemy radio signals.

Whether they actually did this, and whether detector vans actually had equipment in them is another issue that I have no knowledge of. Just because they in theory could do it, doesn't mean they actually did and it could have been all a sham. But IMO definitely possible to do.

I don't know how it works with the new tvs and digital broadcasting and whether it is possible, but it certainly needs to be done in a different way from the old way.

I think it's perfectly OK. I watch maybe a dozen or so hours per year of BBC tv. That's over £10 per hour were I to buy a licence. Pretty poor value. I never listen to the radio. No DC here to use any of the other services. Can't remember the last time I watched anything live. So no, I don't feel bad in the slightest. I could easily find elsewhere to stream the small amount I watch if they were to become a pay to view channel. You won't find any guilt here.

Not if she's watching on 'catch up'. It's only LIVE TV you cannot watch, or the BBC obvs,

Thank god a voice of reason.

you cannot link an IP address to an address unless you are MI5 or it was a massive police operation (and even then..h)

you’ve been watching too much TV

There are actually women in prison for not having TV licenses however they have opened the door to them been given the fine and not paid it
But it’s actual madness and disproportionately affects women because they’re usually home during the day

Heard someone from BBC saying they need to increase the license fee, I though hahaha, good luck with that! It's days are numbered.
I have appreciated the BBC over the years, but it's a bloated organisation with a self congratulatulatory tone and vastly overpaid staff.

They’ve been sending me angry letters for 5 years. I did tell them we don’t require a license and they accepted that for a bit but then they started up again. They go straight in the bin. If inspectors ever show up (doubtful) then you don’t have to let them in and I’m not afraid of prosecution because we don’t actually want any live TV or use any BBC content.

Don’t you have to register to watch iplayer. I pay for tv licence but I’m sure they wanted me to register with same email that receipt was sent to. I’m pretty sure if I cancelled and then watched iplayer they could join the dots. You do have click saying you have a licence to watch stuff too.

Ive not had a tv license for years. Letters just go in the bin and envelopes used for shopping lists and "inspectors" demanding to come in are informed I dont watch live TV 😬

On the last letter I got a couple of weeks ago, the letter stated that I needed a licence to watch Prime, Netflix, Disney etc. License needed for catch up or even YouTube I think. Might be wrong on the last one. Basically if I watched anything live or catchup on any device , they wanted me to pay for a license.
I used the online option to decline the need for a licence.
I have an ancient iPad that I occasionally watch something that my daughter has recommended on Netflix that she pays for. When the children come over they might watch something while I’m making dinner.
£160 is too much. I don’t have an actual telly as I find them the ‘smart’ ones too complicated to operate. I don’t miss it much.

There was a bit of discussion about this on the recent prison officer AMA (pages 9-11), which I found interesting.

I've attached a screen shot from the thread which gives some MoJ stats. I haven’t named or @ the poster, as I’m not sure if it’s good/bad form to do so, but they’re someone I recognise as a regular.

Apparently there’s no split of the numbers by sex, because they are too low, but prison is always as a result of refusal to pay the fine, rather than not having a licence per se.

Courts will accept as little as £5 per week towards fines, and there are various stages before prison, so anyone there must have really dug their heels in.

Edited to add that I’m not saying I think they should be in prison, as I don’t.

They'll probably only show up on your doorstep if you ignore the emails.

@GatoradeMeBitch they showed up at mine despite diligent registering and re-registering each year. I sent them away because they were rude plus I was in the middle of work but I was baffled as to what they were expecting to do. "Just check you don't watch live television" is what they said, but how could they check that? Search every room in my house? There might actually be an aerial attached to the back of my TV as it's fixed to the wall but I don't watch live TV.

I used to have a TV lisence til I was 75 then I cancelled it. I am 81 now and have never got a new one. Nor have I heard from them. I have a ring type door bell and never open the door to random people. If you knock without an appountment you better be a courier holding a parcel otherwise you will get ignored.

When DS moved into his brand new, new build flat, there were 12!! threatening letters from the TV licence people in his letter box including one with a date for an enforcement visit. It was solved by him registering that he didn't need a licence, but it was ridiculous.
If I visit and want to watch BBC I am apparently allowed to do it on my pc (because I have a licence) , so long as my PC is on battery power. As soon as I plug it in, it's illegal......... I live in dread of the knock on the door (having got through 3 secure doors) demanding I unplug my PC or face court.
I feel the whole system is stuck in the 20th century.