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?

These threads always surprised me. I assumed everyone watches tv and therefore pays the license

Yes maybe you are right there is an entire generation of people out there who never, ever watch TV as it is being broadcast (and bear in mind broadcasting recordings of events like Glastonbury is "live") or who never sit up to watch election results. Or basically never, ever, ever, watch any television programme on any channel at the time it is broadcast. It seems a little unlikely.

Really? Why unlikely? I admit, if I've ever mentioned that I "don't have a TV" socially, it's been greeted with surprise (closely followed by the justifying comments of "well, I don't watch that much)- but it's certainly not been unusual for someone else to say "no, neither do we".

However, I'm definitely not in the generation referred to upthread. I'm a 40+ divorcee who found myself without a TV entirely through circumstance post-divorce (I kept the house, he got everything in it). Not only did I benefit from the savings on the TV license, my electricity bill plummeted by over 40% too - flatscreens, decoder and the like guzzle power.
And so, I never budgeted to replace it. I preferred to spend that money on a bottle of wine at the weekends. I did sneak a peak at the Royal Wedding on the BBC News website as they were broadcasting it live years ago, but other than that, nope. I'm not into mainstream sport (can't wait to watch the Paralympics on Channel 4 catchup though), I experience festivals first hand, and listen to election results as they come in on the radio while tucked up in bed.

You should try it !

So all these non licence holders are not that bothered about seeing the finals of the World Cup, Wimbledon or Eurovision as it happens?
Why are they allowed to monopolise these broadcast would be a better question.

I haven't had a TV license for over a decade now. We have a tv but it's not plugged into a receiver, just the DVD player or laptop. For shows - Netflix or Amazon prime. I don't use the BBC "news" website for my own stress levels, as I find the accuracy and quality of writing appalling

Lass- we never, ever watch sport!

DH misses election night coverage, but we have R4 on instead.

For sport - I don't care. DH cares somewhat but for things like the euro final he went to the pub to watch. I've watched the Eurovision final once in my life and that was enough. Election results - plenty of other sources for that. I found out the Brexit results from the NYTimes app

Don't watch sports, cannot stand soaps, the dramas can be shite.

Peaky blinders last series was awful, I thought the writers were on crystal meth.

It always makes me laugh - every time one of these threads pops up there are one or two people who pop up to say anyone without a licence is a lying bastard because bake off/ Eurovison (fucking Eurovision are you having a laugh)/Wimbledon /Olympics/Sherlock/ Doctor who etc are so essential to everyday life that anyone who says they can live without them must be a lying bastard. So much for our inclusive tolerant society.

Why are people surprised there are loads of people who don't watch live tv? A lot of my age group (30s) just have netflix and watch kids stuff on youtube. There are loads of other methods to watch things too. We don't watch sport etc. Get the news on apps on the phone.

BengalCatMum Yes, silly isn't it? But them's the rules, or- to be more accurate - that's the law.
The funding model is way out of date. The simplest solution is a subscription model - like Sky, Netflix or Amazon - which would stop the criminal classes being able to watch for free, and there would be no need for a tv licence and all the expensive 'detection' and enforcement that is currently deemed to be required.

Never watch live TV and haven't in yrs. We use the iplayer occasionally for cbeeboes, but never live. With the new rule we will simply delete the app.

I don't use BBC website or radio either.

So all these non licence holders are not that bothered about seeing the finals of the World Cup, Wimbledon or Eurovision as it happens?

Personally, not particularly. The World Cup maybe, but me and DP would go to the pub for that. Same with Champions League games.

I find tennis boring and Eurovision.. meh.

Why are people surprised that some of us still find a lot to entertain us on BBC TV?

We seldom watch live TV as we tend to record a lot of stuff to watch at our convenience. We don't have fast broadband, and iPlayer doesn't keep stuff on for long enough so we prefer to set the recorder to record it off the TV, and most of what we record is on BBC. Nothing wrong with that

We don't watch sports, live or otherwise, and don't care about the results. We get election results and news from the Internet.

Lass- we never, ever watch sport!

That's not really the point. If you watch any programme on any channel on a laptop, tablet etc at the time it is being broadcast you need a licence.

wasonthelist Well bloody said!

We use the iplayer occasionally for cbeeboes, but never live

And of course that's the special version which doesn't cost the BBC anything to make so why would you pay for it?

That's not really the point. If you watch any programme on any channel on a laptop, tablet etc at the time it is being broadcast you need a licence.

But lots of people simply do not watch any live tv, whether shown on the BBC or anything else. I really don't understand what's so difficult to comprehend.

Even back when I had a tv license, I didn't want to watch Wimbledon etc.

I don't think anyone doubts that other people adore the BBC and think it's utterly wonderful. A quick look at all the posts that seem to be offended because other people don't want to watch Sherlock or dr who or whatever else people seem to think are essentials would make that abundantly clear.

But some people really, really do not want to watch live tv. Nor do they use the iplayer. So they really aren't cheating or lying when they say they don't need a tv license.

I never watch live TV at home. I used to very occasionally watch something on catchup then increasingly found it difficult to find anything I wanted to watch on iPlayer at all. These days, the only media content I watch is through Amazon Prime.

I like GBBO, Sherlock, Doctor Who... Not enough to pay for a licence though. I'll just stop watching them.

My objection is not to the lack of good programmes on the BBC, it's to those dreadful licence collection bullies who assume everyone without a licence is scum, as opposed to people who genuinely don't watch TV. It's not about me not wanting to fund new drama on the BBC, I don't want to fund those people. They're awful.

Roasted: I think these kind of threads give you an insight into the minds of the the licensing people. Because they simply refuse to believe that lots of people genuinely don't watch live tv (and many of them would not choose to watch live tv even if you didn't need a license to do so).

StepAwayFromTheThesaurus

What I don't get though is why it's legal for them to continue to send out these fake threatening letters and to trick people into letting them into their houses. If any other organisation did this, there would be a public outcry.

My house was unoccupied for a long time before I moved in, and I therefore had a nice pile of these TV letters to read. They go in a cycle of threatening, threatening some more, talking about visits, telling you they're taking you to court... then it dries up... then it start again, with some mild threatening. I really worry that vulnerable people feel forced to pay for something they don't use due to the way these letters come across as "official".

Lass, Eurovision?! World Cup, Wimbledon? :))))) You must be joking.
I have a licence and a TV, sometimes I don't switch the TV on for weeks and when on the internet, I have better things to do than watch TV-programmes, live or catch-up, so I am thinking of getting rid of the licence. And no, I don't have Amazon prime or Netflix either.

Btw can any of the pro licence-fee posters tell me how much BBC gives to foreign countries? Given that I am legally required to have a licence if I watch live telly from Spain or other countries over the internet, too. So the BBC gives some of the money to Spain, right?

[obviously not, which is one of the reasons why the licence fee is unfair and should be scrapped]

To those who object to paying the licence and would rather have adverts...OH NO YOU WOULDN'T. Not if you ever lived overseas and saw the dire state of foreign programmes.

I'm talking Canada, USA, Australia, UAE, France.

Pay up. It's only the cost of 2 or 3 meals out. The BBC is (mostly) wonderful television.

I wouldn't prefer adverts, but the BBC plaster their own adverts all over their content. It is possible to watch non-BBC stuff without having to sit through adverts.