TV Licence

[Flatbellyfella]

How many people will own up to not having a Television Licence on MN?
with the absolute crap the BBC bombard us with over the last multiple years, I feel we should all boycott paying for it.
I purchased a license at 11-55 pm on the last day of the month of April, thinking it would start on the first day of the next month, Oh no, it was back dated to the first of April, what a con. for the sake of 5 minutes I was well & truly stuffed.

I pay it because I value some of the BBC’s output very much.

These days it’s mostly the online content - news, Bitesize for exam revision, recipes - and the content on BBC Sounds. DH has the radio on constantly when he’s around. But there’s 6 Nations, Springwatch etc, a handful of things on the telly.

The decision was made decades ago to fund the BBC as a public service through a payment for television content. That’s a government decision, not like Tesco selling cheap semi skimmed.

If I want any of the BBC content in my family’s life, I am honour bound to pay for it in the only way the BBC is allowed to seek it.

"Own up"?

I don't have a TV licence because I don't want one.

I'll also "own up" to not having a microwave, a hot tub or a dishwasher.

🤷🏻‍♀️

Labour are much more likely to keep the TV licence as it is than the Tories who did seem to be making steps to get rid of it

I haven't had one for 17 years, don't need one.

Blimey I’ve been paying for a license for 44 years know despite watching very little live tv.
What happens if I stop paying will I get bombarded with threatening letters? Xx

I only gave mine up in January so not long ago. There is a form to fill in on the website and after that I had one letter just saying was I sure I didn't need a license and that was it.

You can't watch iplayer as well as any live tv but to be honest I haven't missed it really. I'm going to keep ITVx for a while then get the channel 4 pay for no ads

No licence here. The only programme I watch is Only Connect which I watch at my mum’s when it’s on 😀

Other than that we just use Netflix and Disney. Filled in a declaration to say we don’t watch it which has stopped the silly, laughable letters for a while.

I had a license over Christmas so I could watch things like Call The Midwife. I then cancelled it as I don’t watch live tv normally.

I will get another one come Christmas time

read the headlines in the news that she had died, but no interest in watching royal family stuff.
For news I read the online papers.

No TV license here. I don't have a TV and don't watch MSM online either as it is beyond crap these days.

Every two years the licensing people send me a vaguely threatening letter so I call up and rant about the above. I call them instead of doing it online as it costs them money to man the phones.

No one has ever been around to check as they know the poor bugger would get a similar rant.

Same! I have absolutely no interest in watching a funeral for a woman I don’t know. How boring.

Same to things like football etc. No interest at all. I read anything I need to know online

I have one as I value having an advert free Mario al broadcaster.

If you don't, don't have a license, I am not sure why there is so much fuss made about it.

If you read some of the many threads on here about it, it's about the threats, the letters, the salespeople at the door, the prosecutions targeting vulnerable people.

I think that now so many people have opted out, the licence model is becoming unsustainable.

I've always had a television licence and think on the whole it offers good value. I am often suspicious of people who say they don't watch anything which requires one.

Obviously some people genuinely don't, but I imagine many others either don't know or conveniently forget that they need one for certain things (for example watching on a laptop rather than a television).

Others seem to justify not having a licence on the grounds that they only watch it occasionally for eg Strictly/David Attenborough/Wimbledon/one-off events like royal weddings/funerals/coronations.

We have one but don’t watch any live tv. We do listen to the radio on our Alexa (though not a bbc radio station) and we do watch a lot of CBeebies on iPlayer.

It’s my understanding I’d need one for that and the radio, whatever the station, so we keep paying.

I can't think of another service that operates such an extortion racket.

I think that now so many people have opted out, the licence model is becoming unsustainable.

Why? It worked with a much lower population than today didn't it?

You need one for iplayer but you don’t need one for radio, regardless of the station.

I think lots of people will admit to it. I haven't watched anything on BBC for years and I don't miss it. I have Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ and they give me more TV than I can ever watch. The kids actually prefer YouTube.

I am often suspicious of people who say they don't watch anything which requires one.

Genuine question but why? It's not like it's an choice between the licence fee or no TV at all.

Whilst I'll be the first to admit obviously some people do watch and don't pay, it seems a little strange to view everyone with no licence with suspicion.

I’ve always been confused about why you need a licence If you live stream news or sport online, from services like ITVX, Sky Go, Amazon Prime and YouTube (pasted from their website!)

Do they get a cut as well? I thought the money all went to the crap BBC, which I never watch anyway.

Sorry. Couldn’t decide. Too many would say it seriously.

I definitely don’t need one. I use Netflix, now tv, Disney and prime. None of which require a tv licence

I think it may be a thing the Daily Fail bang on about? My DMIL is often going on about the fee having to be paid by the over 75's and how disgusting that is.

She's had that paper for decades and truly believes what they write. It took a long while to convince her that Johnson wasn't the new Churchill, for example. That was fun.

Not the demographic I most hear talking about it at all.