To ask if you're going to buy a tv license if you don't have a tv?

[Attethersend43]

New law is coming in this September forcing those who watch iplayer on devices to buy a tv license.

I don't have a tv and watch iplayer very rarely...

Should I buy a license?

[Boogers]

Wasn't there an anti license fee BBC bashing thread the other day? Same things being said that read like they'd been lifted from the Daily Mail comments section?

[OohMavis]

No. We're just going to stop using iPlayer.

[TimeforaNNChange]

Loop hole or not, it's not been necessary to buy a license to watch catch-up programmes on iPlayer; I don't know anyone who would voluntarily pay £145 for something they aren't required to have, not withstanding the ethical considerations.

From Sept, watching any BBC programming requires license. The BBC won't disclose their detection methods. There will be no logon on iPlayer, anyone will be able to access it just as they can now. It will be a risk to watch without a license. Just as its a risk to drive above the speed limit.

I'm still undecided. I watch 5 or 6 series a year on iPlayer - some of which I will probably be able to buy from the BBC Store (programming bought through the store is available internationally and does not require a license). I don't know whether I will have the self-discipline not be tempted, just as there have been rare occasions over the last few years when I've watched live broadcasts of national events on iPlayer without a license. (I occasionally drive above the speed limit, too.)

If I could buy a monthly license, I would probably do that, as I could pay for the months when the series I want to see are on, and not during the warm summer months when there is nothing on anyway.

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

Would anyone mind just setting me straight facts-wise?

We don't have a licence as we don't have a tv and never watch anything live on iPlayer. What I do do is look at stuff occasionally after it's been broadcast. Like now, I re-watch bits of the Olympics.

But that is quite rare, so I'll just stop that.

But........would you have to pay if you watched video embedded on the BBC news site? Like they do a news story about Usain Bolt's amazing win and post a 15 sec clip on it?

Or, what about if you listen to a radio programme on iPlayer?

Those things might be worth paying for, but no actual tv.

[OohMavis]

I wouldn't think so, Johnny. There's no fee for radio or their news websites.

[MarbleFox]

"The BBC is NOT independent of the State, if you think that, then you're being naive. They are VERY bias."

Just about to say the exact same thing when I noticed another poster beat me to it

[AnthonyPandy]

Time you can buy it monthly as far as I am aware, you set the thing up and cancel after (say) three months, it works out that you pay too much and get a refund, which ends up with you paying for three months worth if you see what I mean.

[myownprivateidaho]

You don't need a licence to listen to the radio, but the licence fee does pay for all bbc output (apart from international stuff). Personally I value the bbc's contribution to national life - it's important to have a decent national news service that gives politicians a hard time and I believe that I benefit from the existence of such a service even though I don't watch the news everyday. Also, if we only paid for the programmes we watched/listened to, only the most mainstream and popular programmes would survive. If no one paid their licence fee I know that there wouldn't be enough listeners to, eg, nightwaves or front row, to pay to download those shows, and they would go off air. Same for lots of TV/radio shows. It's shortsighted to say you wish you could only pay for the stuff you watch.

[LassWiTheDelicateAir]

I hardly ever watch any channels other than BBC and the not being subjected to adverts is one big plus I'd hate to lose.

Us too. We only have Free view but don't watch any of it apart from the BBC channels and very, very occasionally ITV and Channel 4.

Personally I value the bbc's contribution to national life - it's important to have a decent national news service that gives politicians a hard time and I believe that I benefit from the existence of such a service

As for being biased , who exactly is it biased against? The gets trotted out by everyone about whom the BBC is supposedly biased about ie any piece of critical analysis.

[ButteredToastAndStrawberryJam]

Wasn't there an anti license fee BBC bashing thread the other day? Same things being said that read like they'd been lifted from the Daily Mail comments section? Are there limits on how many BBC bashing threads there can be then. I never read the Daily Fail so wouldn't know.

[LurkingHusband]

For me, BBC4 is worth it alone ...

[AndYourBirdCanSing]

I haven't paid it for several months- cancelled and told them I didn't need one (only watch catch up/Netflix etcthrough playstation). I have had 2 people out checking already.

I watch Eastenders so will have to pay from September, although it is tempting to stop. I gained so much free time from losing ITV player!

[Boogers]

idaho hits the nail on the head.

There is a lot of content on BBC channels that doesn't interest me, but there's a hell of a lot that does. The sports coverage is second to none, the news is world renowned. Most of us were brought up with childrens' tv such as Blue Peter and Newsround, and we've evolved from radio 1 as teenagers to radio 2, 3 and 4 as middle aged fogeys. BBC Bitesize got DS through his first year at seconds school, the CBeebies web page taught them to use a mouse. There is so much that the BBC, through the license fee, is responsible for, and I find it hard to believe that it plays no part whatsoever in someone's life.

There's a part of me that would like to see every bit of BBC content behind a paywall, TV, radio, internet, and if you want to use any of it, even a 15 second clip of Usain Bolt winning gold, you pay up just as you would do with Sky. And then we won't have to put up with PoV or Newswatch.

[c3pu]

My Freesat box packed up a few months ago, so I cancelled the DD for my licence as I've not watched live TV since then - just don't miss it!

So when the iPlayer loophole is closed, I'll just delete the app from my media player, I barely watch anything on it... my eldest will no doubt miss Dr Who, but he can watch that at his mums! I'll not be shelling out £145 for it.

[myownprivateidaho]

Also, the disadvantage of pay per view would be a huge disincentive to take any risks at all with programming.

[myownprivateidaho]

Yes and I agree with boogers that the children's programming is amazing. I watched a hell of a lot of TV as a kid but actually a lot of the bbc kids shows were really high quality. Would like that to continue for my kids.

I have lived in the states, and although obviously there are some amazing us TV shows, TV there is mostly pretty awful. The general quality of news and politics reporting in particular. It's a huge problem for american democracy IMO and one reason why american politics is in such a dire state. I think the bbc keeps standards high in that regard - sky news and itv are good too, but they'd go the wayof fox/msn/etc in the US if they weren't competing against the bbc.

[Boogers]

Who's have thought a stand up comedian and the keyboard player from DReam would make talking about space interesting? The BBC did, they took a risk and created Stargazing Live. They take risks with all sorts of programming and it appeals to a very broad audience.

[carefreeeee]

I'd pay £145 for a year just for Radio 4. The sheer range of different things that are on is fascinating. You'd never get that on a commercial channel - it's just repeats of the same pop songs followed by someone phoning in to say they're stuck in traffic or have a new dog or something equally boring and irrelevant. Plus I hate the ads.

[carefreeeee]

And the BBC news is excellent as others have said - it is independent of the state - someone will always think it's biased but it's about the best you can get

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

Boogers I think the fact that it's framed as a tv licence is a problem.

I don't own a tv and never, ever watch anything live on my iPad. Since London 2012, I think I have maybe watched one thing one catch-up iPlayer. I used to listen to R4 on mat leave but don't now.

I don't use BBC news that much at all. Normally log on to a broadsheet's website instead as I find the coverage on the BBC news site fairly basic.

So no, the BBC doesn't really play that much of a part in my life.

It'd be fair enough for them to charge to watch that 15-sec clip of Bolt. But I wouldn't pay it. I'd just rely on The Guardian etc for my sports coverage.

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

That's not knocking the BBC btw. I think it's a great institution. I just don't actually have much day-to-day use for it, and since £145 is a fair bit of cash to me, I won't pay it for something I'm not actually using.

[witsender]

We won't. We never use the iPlayer anyway.

[StepAwayFromTheThesaurus]

I really don't understand why people get so offended when people say they don't want to watch the bbc. It's perfectly fine not to want to watch the BBC and to prefer other media sources.

[Rosti1981]

We won't, we don't have a tv and DCs watch occasional iPlayer for cbeebies at the moment. We will just stop the cbeebies or buy DVDs on a programme by programme basis. I agree the content should be paid for, but in our case we wouldn't want to watch it enough to justify a full licence fee. For us that is, if we were using iPlayer a LOT then I might feel differently, but as it stands I would rather pay for a couple of DVDs or watch films through Amazon prime (which we pay for already). If it was a smaller amount to access iPlayer then maybe we would have kept it.

[bearleftmonkeyright]

I think the people who are passionate about having the bbc stay as it is probably sound defensive and offended because those who don't watch it are quite dismissive of it. I personally think the license fee should stay. It has developed so many outstanding program formats because it is allowed to be innovative and creative. When my DC were little it was worth it for cbeebies alone.