AIBU TV Licence

[LouBlue1507]

I don't have a TV licence and don't intend to pay for one.

I don't have access to live TV and only watch Netflix, Itv player, 4od and channel 5. Not BBC iplayer.

I have declared this to the TV licence people and now property is under investigation.

AIBU to refuse them entry if they turn up? I've read horror stories of them being bullies, intimidating and even lying!

I have no idea what's wrong with not paying for something that you don't need or use. I use Netflix. I pay for it; I also paid for the tv, Xbox and broadband connection needed to watch it. If I wanted to watch the BBC (I don't) I would pay for a TV license.
Every time I want to watch TV, which is most evenings, there is something to my taste on Netflix. I don't need to change a channel or switch devices, there is a huge array of entertainment! I've watched countless films, acclaimed box sets, some unmentionable B movies for good sport and there's great comedy on there too. i have no need for BBC content, not even the radio. Don't understand why some are so vigorously defending it as though it's the messiah of unbiased broadcasting with no scandal whatsoever

I imagine us Netflix users are contributing indirectly to the BBC too, given that they appear to sell the rights to stream a lot of their shows to Netflix.

Recently I have watched
X-files (rerun from season 1!) on amazon prime
The crown
House of cards
Arrested development
Dirk gently

Maybe starting
Gilmore girls the new season
Black mirror

DH watches a few more sci fi series like Jessica Jones, some more marvel stuff I don't know the name of.

DCs like
Creative galaxy
Peppa pig
Dora
My little pony
Ben and holly

None are on bbc

Jacelancs, yes you can as long as you don't plug it in!

IIRC it's one of the areas the BBC are looking at increasing in order to increase their revenue Sybys.

RafaIsTheKingOfClay -they are already doing it, as of 2011.

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-signs-bbc-deal-rights-275704

I know, but I think they've ear marked it as an area they can and should further expand on.

Presumably someone in the BBC has actually realised they are in the 21st century an isn't still stuck in the last one.

Do they still have those fake scanner vans? Of course they just go off a database of who's paid and who hasn't. You can certainly refuse them entry and explain you don't watch live TV on it or use iPlayer.

Over Christmas I watched a bucket-load of films, Endeavour (which is ITV, I think), Vikings, Suits and Dirk Gently. I also watch Lucifer, but that's off-air at the moment.

I did watch Blackadder on Netflix during the summer, that's BBC, but of a much higher standard than the stuff they make nowadays.

I don't believe that there are people who are into TV who don't watch/listen to BBC stuff never ever ever

I watch TV. I don't have the iplayer app on my Xbox/TV. I don't have the iplayer app on my computer. I don't have an aerial and have no signal. So I definitely don't watch any BBC shows direct from them. I've bought a couple separately on DVD which means the BBC get the money. But it means I'm not paying £140 two hours of TV. If that was illegal and I had to buy a TV license to buy a DVD of an Agatha Christie drama, I'd just not watch the Agatha Christie drama. It isn't worth it, and I'm not sure why I have a moral duty to contribute £140 per year for said Agatha Christie.

As a note, I have had someone come round to my house to check I didn't need a license. He wandered in, poked the back of my TV, walked out. It took about 90 seconds and then I got a letter saying they'd added me to a register of people who didn't have a TV license but if I ever started watching TV I better get a license quick. It was all very painless.

Jacelancs - here www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ111 are the t&cs for the license - it says that the license you buy is for your property rather than for you as a person (this is why students living away from the family home have to buy their own licenses rather than being covered by their parents). However it says that it covers:

"Use of TV equipment powered by internal batteries anywhere by you and anyone who normally lives with you at the licensed place."

TV equipment is described as:
" any device, including TVs, desktop computers, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, games consoles, digital boxes, DVD, Blu-ray and VHS recorders, or anything else."

My understanding of this is that you can watch BBC iplayer on your tablet at your friends house if they don't have a license, but only as long as the battery lasts - you're not allowed to plug it in and charge it. This does seem like a bit of a random distinction and I can't see anyway they could ever or would be bothered to check this!

actually here it clarifies it more specifically:

"Some of these devices can be powered solely by their own internal batteries. Your home TV Licence will usually cover you to use these away from home. However, if you’re away from home and plug one of these devices into the mains and use it to watch or record live TV programmes on any channel or device, or to download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer, you need to be covered by a separate TV Licence at that address (unless you’re in a vehicle or vessel like a train, car or boat). It’s the law."

www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/Live-TV-and-how-you-watch-it

That's interesting and a little ridiculous, anotheronebitthedust!

I wonder what the legal position would be on using an external battery pack (not plugged into the mains) to charge your device at another person's address would be! Would it matter where the device and had been charged? Very bizarre!

What if you plug it in to charge it up from the unlicensed mains then unplug it and watch iplayer? Does one of the 7 million FAQs address that?

We have today cancelled our TV licence having finally got sufficient broadband speed (4meg, good for this rural area). Now trialling Netflix, then will try Amazon next month and choose one. BBC will not be missed at all, the only things we watch are Poldark, Sherlock, and the odd drama, all of which we will be able to see on Netflix etc at a later date. Those few hours of TV are definitely not worth £145 a year. Can't believe the license fee still exists TBH.

If it's such good value for money that millions of households won't mind paying
For then beeb shouldn't fear subscription. After all, these millions of households once actually given the choice will continue
To pay £24 a month.
They won't see £5.99 a month for Netflix as
Good value. They won't see £6.66 a month for prime as good value, less if using the student version.

And people wonder why others aren't paying for license. Compared to other options it's actually not that great. Or that good for value.

The tech is there to make the channels subscription only. The tech is there to only allow those who are allowed to watch i player. There is no excuse other than they don't want to give the nation the choice.

Tbf it's £12 p/m, not 24.

But even if it was the same price as Netflix, I'd opt for Netflix.

Haha I don't know why I typed in 24.

It is £24 a month for the first 6 monthly payments, isn't it? It's only once you've paid up so far in advance that they accept £12 a month.

Actually that's right. In theory is £12, but looks like the squeeze some extra down payments out of you to start.

BBC are trying to hold back the inevitable and pretend it's still the last century, like a pp said, and of course everyone owns a TV and watches live programming. I know from DD (her and her DP watch Netflix mostly) that it's very hard to find anything on the TV Licensing website about how to tell them you don't watch live TV, you are steered towards buying a licence. Similarly I think that's why they don't really push BBC Store, this is deliberate because what they really would like to happen is for the people who only watch a handful of programmes to buy a licence by default, not realising there is any other legal option.

I don't think the licence fee will still exist in 10 years time. They are going to have to go down the subscription route and/or take advertising, and also downsize. Unless they can persuade the government to fund them directly.

It's a shame really, because some of their stuff is brilliant and I personally would probably subscribe (at a reasonable price) but as more and more young people only view online on-demand stuff the current model will not be sustainable.

That's another thing I don't like about the rip off.
I buy my hypothetical license on the 15th because that's when I have been paid and bought my first tv. The fuckers backdate it.
Any other service I buy into that's my billing date, not the beginning of the month.

It's a shame for the next decision a small sample of households have been selected. It should have been opened to every household to get a true idea of people's preferences.

If you have a TV that receives BBC One and Two etc then you have to pay regardless BUT if you only watch tv on catch up and not Live and not including any BBC content then you don't have to pay and your exempt so of you only watch TV via Netflix or the ITV app then you don't pay
There is information on their website stating this too

I've been thinking about the utterly ridiculous rules about iPads and all the convoluted questions you'd have to ask yourself - e.g. can I watch iplayer on the unlicensed train (with headphones on!) if I plug my iPad in?

All I can conclude is that the BBC are going to have to admit that the tv license might have worked when everyone had a fixed tv in their living room and that was the only way to access programming but things have moved on so far that it's no longer a workable solution.

The tech is there to make the channels subscription only. The tech is there to only allow those who are allowed to watch i player. There is no excuse other than they don't want to give the nation the choice.

Exactly what I thought. It's a deliberate choice not to add some sort of authentication in the iplayer. They want to continue with those threats. Because they know, £14 a month is very bad value for money compared to now tv, netflix and amazon prime. (Amazon prime is only good value when you use the delivery! The music and the books aren't great either. But it's all in a bundle).