How to stop paying for my TV licence

[caravantulips]

I like the BBC and have never really begrudged my monthly direct debit but seeing the news that the licence fee is £180 this year it’s made me question it’s value as it’s only me who watches it.

I never watch BBC live (except for the news back in Covid times) but use iPlayer a lot. Should I just cancel the direct debit and delete the iPlayer app from my TV? Is this enough?

I do have the BBC news app on my phone and it’s my sole choice for news as it’s (supposed to be!!) impartial. Do you know if I can still use this? What about the videos on the BBC news channel?

I know but like many avid BBC fans she csnt understand why some people have zero interest in the BBC.

No, I can't understand why £3.46 is a deal breaker when you're happy to pay the current licence fee.

Im not happy to pay the current licence fee i have absolutely no interest in any of the BBC offerings .

Cancelling your TV licence and getting your money back is not for the faint hearted, they make it ridiculously difficult. I cancel it every year as we are away for months on end and I'm not paying for something I can't use!

my Netflix subscription is cheaper, I can also dip in and out of the subscription with zero drama

I do because I don’t watch it. I don’t actually have a tv, I do watch stuff on subscription services but tend to leapfrog from one free/ cheap trial to another so am generally under a fiver a month. I did have a licence till last year even though I rarely used iplayer.

I do like some bbc short series type stuff but they sell it to other platforms so I’ll get to see it at some point anyway. I did used to be a fan but sex scandal cover ups and the biased reporting mean it’s no longer something I’m willing to pay to support.

I ended up calling to cancel took 47 minutes!! 😱

i wish they would crack on & move to a model like Netflix/disney, one click & cancelled - or more often with Disney an offer at discounted price 😍

I’ve a smart tv too and just press ‘1’.

yours is presumably attached to an ariel or box or similar as you watch live tv.
Mine isn’t connected to anything for live tv when I press one, it says no signal, like pp the only way to watch bbc on mine would be to get the player app, which I don’t have and then login

It’s irrelevant that the fee is only 3.46 a week. The fact is that many object to it being an opt out payment that funds the BBC but somehow magically also means you can’t watch live TV on any channel if you don’t have one.

The whole model needs to change hopefully we will then get some fair respectful reporting and not average presenters eg Zoe Ball and previously Gary Linekar earning big bucks.

You're missing the point, we don't need the BBC like we need running water and electric. It is a choice whether or not we want their offerings. We don't, so they are completely out of order for threatening and bullying people into thinking they should pay.

I still find it highly amusing how so many people think it's a licence to own an actual TV set and think you can't own one without one! That is how shitty a company TVL are, they are NOT transparent, they deliberately hoodwink people.

And don't get me started on the guilt tripping about how we as a country need the BBC, they really are deluded, it sure is easy to fool some people! 😅

They do check. They knocked my door a few months ago, wasnt in so they left a threatening letter instead. I’ve opted out too and never ever watch BBC as I think it’s a total waste of money.

There is a fair bit of speculation that one of the things which prompts a visit is actually filling out the "no licence required" declaration, because then they have a name and address, as well as a reiteration that address has no current licence.

Quite a few of the youtubers saying that their viewers report never having encountered a Capita officer in the flesh until shortly after declaring no licence required.

You have a tv licence so I presume it’s all set up

i just press Netflix button and up it pops, no need to login each time and I have a subscription

for me though as I don’t have a “1” button, it’s all on apps across the screen - so if I press the bbc app no tv comes up

so your suggestion that people who don’t have licences just put on the tv is incorrect in some cases

I haven’t paid for a licence for over a decade. I don’t watch live tv and so don’t need one.

What really makes me angry is the constant threatening letters. If I stop subscribing to something because I no longer need or want it I don’t expect to be threatened. No other company would get away with it.

I had a visit by a Capita guy with a clipboard years back. I told him I don’t watch live tv and he agreed that I don’t need a licence and that he would have the letters stopped. Of course they just keep coming. Outrageous.

More fool then though
It must cost them a fortune to send out their letters.

Exactly… I think they just keep sending them in the hope that it will frighten people or make them so annoyed that they pay just to stem the flow.

Either way it is harassment and I don’t know how they get away with it - no other purveyor of a subscription based service would.

On balance they must believe it's cost efficient.

One letter we received (for an empty house with no TV even in it) advised us what we would need to go to court, big red threatening letters. Then they lied to me when I rang to complain.

I just laughed it off but someone more vulnerable, there are people in this thread who don't need a licence but bought one just in case.

The licence model is broken but they can't admit it.

They target the vulnerable to get their numbers up.

My dad got loads of letters from them, he had no telly, no internet and no tech devices, he just listened to the radio and his CDs.

Firstly, I'm guessing that they have two distinct teams and cost centres: one to send out all of the threatening letters and to do the bullying; and one for the revenues they get in from people who were not paying when they needed to plus all of the people who don't need to but are bullied and frightened into it by these people who are supposedly acting on behalf of 'the establishment'.

Like many huge companies, if they spend £99.5m and get in £100m, as far as they're concerned, they've made a profit. The massive charities are the same when it comes to spending vs donations. If they could get £1 in for every 95p spent on advertising and begging from donations given in good faith by people thinking their money will actually go directly to the cause, it's a win to them.

They couldn't care less about how many people they terrify, traumatise, exploit or coerce - as none of these show on their balance sheet, so they don't matter in the slightest.

Secondly, I think there's a certain kind of bully who really gets off on the power - and these are the kind of people who are highly likely to be attracted to the job. As long as it isn't their grandma left shaking with fear about being taken to court for having no TV licence (even though she doesn't need one, but the bullies never took the time to check that and assumed guilt), I bet that brings a smile to their day.

Many people really do have psychopathic tendencies and genuinely do derive great joy from hurting, upsetting and frightening others, if they know they can get away with it - especially more vulnerable people (as they are also usually cowards).

One bumper harvest opportunity for the TV Licensing bullies came a few years ago, after the ruling changed to take away automatic free TV licenses from people aged over 75.

It was a very mean government decision in the first place; it would have been much kinder if they'd removed it (if they absolutely had to) so that people approaching 75 would just never get it, but leave current claimants to continue getting it for the rest of their lives. When you get to a certain age, many people rely on receiving concessions to help them make ends meet in their retirement. It can be very jarring and worrying to have qualified for a benefit on the basis of older age, and then to suddenly lose it.

However, they didn't just send out letters to the old folk explaining to them that the law had changed and so they would now have to begin paying again, IF they watched TV; rather they sent out their standard "You are a bad, dishonest person and we will hound you and you could end up in court if you don't pay up now" threatening letters.

Obviously, a great many of these letters were sent out to people in their 80s, 90s and older - on the whole a vulnerable demographic who are less likely to be online to find out the facts for themselves and far more likely to be suffering from confusion, cognitive decline and worse.

My DGM, in the time between when my DGF turned 75 and when the TV licence ruling changed, had been widowed and had experienced a big downturn in her (already bad, lifelong) mental health, accelerated by her age and concomitant vulnerability. Ironically, she had actually come to hate and fear the TV and refused to watch it, because of her paranoia that the people in the TV were talking personally to her - she'd insisted that we take her TV away. Yet still, TVL continued to send her these nasty 'you are a criminal' letters, when she was well into her 90s. I'm sure her story is far from unique in principle. I don't think most people would necessarily consider this a respectful, honourable way to treat very elderly and often vulnerable people.

@Dietcokey So sad that people have been conditioned to equate the BBC with Netflix or any other subscription service, so that they think 'Well, I pay £15 to Netflix and watch that, so why should I pay the same to the BBC when I don't?'
I absolutely agree that people shouldn't equate the BBC with Netflix. The BBC are far worse- Netflix don't prey on the vulnerable by sending them an endless stream of threatening letters saying they face legal action for not having something they have no legal requirement to have.

The BBC is a unifying national broadcaster. It served no commercial master, and to those who say it's biased one way or another I advise comparing it to those news outlets not governed by (or willing to ignore) OFCOM.
The BBC may not serve one particular commercial master, but it is not unbiased and never has been- it has traditionally served the establishment, now it follows the biases of its employees and various chosen interest groups. Claiming to be unbiased is not the same thing. And it has a history of some terrible behaviour- for example, somehow not noticing for decades that they were employing one of the most prolific paedophiles in history (to present childrens TV programmes, no less).

They show blatant bias on many issues, just one of which is the appalling way they have behaved over many years reporting trans issues and their vile treatment of GC women.

I would pay double the licence fee if they asked me, despite using very little BBC output myself. It's not just about me.
And that's fine. I will never pay them another penny.

The BBC needs to become a subscription only service. Its an outdated model from prehistoric times before the plethora of Netflix and its ilk. Used to be a trusted voice, now its just a leftie mouthpiece.
The viewing public have far more choice now , the sooner they abolish the licence fee the better

Oh, and another reason I loathe the BBC- I used to work for CAB doing advice work. When advising people struggling with debt, we had to separate the debts into priority and non-priority. The TV licence had to be paid as a priority, over bills like rent and electricity, because non payment of the TV licence could result in a criminal record, while non payment of rent would only (!) result in eviction and potential homelessness. Which is absolutely unforgiveable IMO. They prey on the vulnerable.

The BBC are a bunch of cunts. Fuck them.

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