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Original poster

To not know wtf I'm doing re: TV license

134 replies

ThePebbleCollector · 02/03/2016 10:28

I didn't have a TV license for years, was pretty cut and dry because I only watched dvds and catch up on the internet. Then OH moved in and we got one due to him wanting sky.

Now we have a firestick, we only have the telly on freeview for cbeebies (of which most programs we could easily locate on the firestick)

I can't find anywhere information on whether I need a TV license if we have a firestick and give up watching our freeview?
Another note - freeview is built into the TV (but I can't see that being an issue as long as we take the aerial out)

I know it says if you watch live TV then you need a license...but then than complicates things.. what if someone had Kodi installed on their firestick, which streams TV from all over the world? is that even a legal program?.. and I think is a minute or two behind normal TV... what then??

Don't want my OH to go full steam ahead into it all and then realise we actually do need it!

OP posts:
Heyheyheygoodbye · 02/03/2016 14:29

Has anyone linked this article? www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/youll-now-have-to-pay-a-tv-licence-fee-even-if-you-only-watc#.vm7qElYzR seems like you're going to need a license even if you only watch iplayer, or have I misunderstood it?

ComeonSummer1 · 02/03/2016 14:31

God I detest posters who correct other posters spellings.

How wanky.

Original poster
ThePebbleCollector · 02/03/2016 14:38

even if you only watch iplayer, or have I misunderstood it?

At the minute, if you watch the iplayer as catch up, no TV license, but BBC are currently putting in plans to get around that loop hole.

OP posts:
Original poster
ThePebbleCollector · 02/03/2016 14:38

ComeonSummer1

Aye probably shouldn't have told them to piss of mind you, but it was annoying :)

OP posts:
Original poster
ThePebbleCollector · 02/03/2016 14:39

and I'm STILL spelling it wrong...oops Grin

OP posts:
HeadDreamer · 02/03/2016 14:39

Heyheyheygoodbye you misunderstood it. It's all explained on the official TV license website.

www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one

It includes a handy link to tell them you don't need one.

HeadDreamer · 02/03/2016 14:40

That buzzfeed link is talking about a potential law change. Because a lot of people are not watching live TV anymore. Among the younger demographic, there's a big swing towards watching on demand only.

Heyheyheygoodbye · 02/03/2016 14:41

I know you don't need one at the moment for just iplayer, but the article seems to say you're going to need one in future. I don't think I worded my post very well!

Original poster
ThePebbleCollector · 02/03/2016 14:45

I know you don't need one at the moment for just iplayer, but the article seems to say you're going to need one in future. I don't think I worded my post very well!

Yep that seems to be the case.

How the BBC can be pushing to get more money out of people with all the corruption that seems to be constantly being revealed about them is beyond me.

Should shut the bloody thing down or start doing the same all the other channels do, such an old fashioned process if you ask me.

But nobody asked me. :)

OP posts:
Heyheyheygoodbye · 02/03/2016 14:48

I know...I don't mind adverts, I watch everything on catch-up so I fast/forward/mute them anyway! Most of the time DH and I watch Netflix and Amazon, these days. Never seems to be anything on proper telly that I want to watch.

Blackpoollassy · 02/03/2016 14:52

apologies for my flippant previous post but looks like you're safe, for now:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3472967/The-BBC-iPlayer-loophole-lets-viewers-watch-programmes-without-licence-closed-months.html

wasonthelist · 02/03/2016 15:10

God I detest posters who correct other posters spellings.

How wanky.

Thanks for sharing, good input. I will try to be perfect - like the people who are vituperative about it.

Original poster
ThePebbleCollector · 02/03/2016 15:11

Thanks for sharing, good input. I will try to be perfect

How ironic from someone picking up on others imperfections.

OP posts:
Original poster
ThePebbleCollector · 02/03/2016 15:12

other's* :)

OP posts:
Momamum · 02/03/2016 15:12

Thanks for that. Like being 'legal', me, so I'll get one. Bonus means that I can watch Newsnight, too. And watch live BBC things I've waited for catch-up. As I'm mostly a radio listener, it's still a good deal for quality programmes.

ivykaty44 · 02/03/2016 15:16

I was getting two letters a month and they stated we have a right to come in your home etc. This was at the same time as a young girl had been raped at home whilst her mum was out by a bogus boiler man calling. Having two teen dds it wasn't something I wanted to risk - a man calling demanding to be let in, whilst I was out.www.thefreelibrary.com/GIRL+ASSAULTED+BY+'BOILER+MAN'+Huge+manhunt+launched+after+sex...-a0218789212

Two letters a month is a bit much in any circumstances.

Original poster
ThePebbleCollector · 02/03/2016 15:21

ivykaty44

Never had anything like that, I think I had two letters in the whole time I was without one. One letter to confirm my cancellation, another just to remind me I need one if I'm watching live TV again.

I rang them to cancel mine and explained why I was, did you do that or did you just not renew the next time it came up? Not that it makes a difference but maybe they are more persistent with people who they may think have just forgot/haven't bothered??

God knows... hopefully they've sorted out spamming people now.

Only constant letters I get are bloody virgin tv ones, at least one a week!

OP posts:
wasonthelist · 02/03/2016 15:31

I am currently getting fairly regular threats from TVL because I didn't bother to renew my declaration of innocence. It will be interesting to see if they send someone round. They won't be coming in unless they have warrant, and if they do, they will be wasting their time as I'm not doing anything illegal.

I am genuinely sorry that typing the word "licence" in a single post upset so many people - I am baffled at the extrapolations people made and the insults it invoked - but suit yourselves I guess.

kormachameleon · 02/03/2016 15:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

wasonthelist · 02/03/2016 16:09

Korma - whilst being careful not to advocate illegal activity (and with the caveat that this is aside from the moral questions) I don't believe anyone can tell if you are receiving a satellite or terrestrial live signal on a normal TV, other than by seeing it - possibly by looking in through a window.

As far as I can tell, pretty much all convictions have been on the basis of people admitting the offence.

TV detector vans and the hand held devices are IMHO, fictional - but in any case, they haven't ever been offered as evidence.

Of course, if you're watch live TV on the internet - via iplayer (live) for example, that would theoretically be easier to trace and evidence.

I don't do any of these, so i don't need (and don't have) a licence

wasonthelist · 02/03/2016 16:24

Based on how easily British Gas got a warrant to enter a flat I rented in relation to a previous tenant's debts, I cannot think the process is that rigorous so I expect they could get one reasonably easily if they wanted, albeit without any proper evidence - British Gas didn't seem to need any (and I had told them and the letting agents in writing several times that it had nothing to do with me).

OurBlanche · 02/03/2016 16:29

Well, the detector vans do exist, I have seen one! Sorry, did exist. And I saw one at a Post Office compound, not on the road.

But they were just a supposedly cost effective deterrent rather than a real detector. The ads and occasional sightings of a van heightened a fear factor... that was it, their whole purpose. They never could detect what anyone was watching, or even that they were watching anything. They were just logo'd vans, trotted out for adverts and the occasional street run.

BertieBotts · 02/03/2016 16:32

You just need to go to the website and state that you don't need a TV Licence because you only watch catch up TV. That's all :)

As for Kodi - As I understand, it's legal to watch it, it's illegal for the person who is providing the stream, but technically/legally, that isn't your problem. Morally, perhaps.

HeadDreamer · 02/03/2016 16:54

Most of the time DH and I watch Netflix and Amazon, these days. Never seems to be anything on proper telly that I want to watch.

Heyheyheygoodbye I'll join you as an old grump then! There's never anything on live broadcast. I watch netflix and amazon mainly too. The last time I watched iplayer was the Dr Who christmas special. And before that it was bake off. It's the same with broadcast radio tbh. I only listen to it while in the car because there isn't any other choice. I use spotify otherwise.

HeadDreamer · 02/03/2016 16:57

Theoretically yes, if we watch it over the internet it's easier to track. The BBC could have added a login, linked to the TV license. It's not hard to do, given every other service have a login. They have just decided not to.

I don't even have an aerial or satellite dish. So I'm not sure what that TV van will be detecting. Our neighbour took their dish down too when they painted the outside last year too. They've also moved online.