To think TV licensing are complete bullies?

[dabbydeedoo]

I went online and said I didn't need a TV licence because I don't watch live TV (I don't). I then received a letter telling me someone would be round to check, and they could apply for a search warrant from the court if I didn't let them in.

Is it just me or is this absolutely ludicrous? We're in a pandemic and I have absolutely no intention of letting someone into my flat. And even if I did, what exactly are they going to do? I have a TV connected to my laptop that I use for watching streaming services and YouTube. Completely legal, but how on earth can they prove I don't watch TV on it?

It feels so bullying and scammy!

I agree @dabbydeedoo

Although it is very hard to prove you NEVER watch live TV, the TV licensing thing IS a massive controlling bullying scam.

The BBC needs to be privatised. Make people pay subscriptions. Let's see how popular the BBC are then! I can't stand them. The only decent thing they have had recently is Bake Off, Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing. But Bake Off moved to Ch4, Doctor Who has gone to shit, and Strictly Come Dancing has gone off the boil and although it's OK, I wouldn't care if I ever saw it again.

Also, the BBC is very left wing, and 'woke' and I have no time for them, and their PC bullshit and wokery.

Definitely make it a subscription service. Why should people be forced into paying for a service they have no interest in, and don't use? I think everyone should just stop paying for the TV licence. What are they going to do? Send da big boyz out to 67 million people?!

Like fuck would I be letting them into MY home. They can get tae fuck!

It absolutely is bullying. The letters are designed to be misleading and constantly implying that you need a licence if you have a TV, which simply isn't the case. They're threatening and misleading and try to imply that you can be fined or imprisoned if you don't let the inspectors into your house.

It's a giant con. They're outrageous.

Oh, I agree, they're absolute bullies.

I only watch Netflix and Prime Video - not because there's nothing on the BBC that I would watch, but because I'd rather go without have to fund the bullies.

If they weren't so awful, I'd happily pay for a licence and watch live TV again. As it stands, I'm sticking to my one-woman protest...

Remember you need a licence if you watch live streaming programmes.

Presumably including live sporting events on Amazon Prime?

@DaisyNGO

I'm still wondering if the posters being harrassed filled in the declaration form.

But why should you have to?

I shouldn't have to give a company my personal details to not receive a service.

I should only have to give a company personal details to receive a service.

No one is owed my data, unless it's in the public interest or for reasonable medical purposes (i.e. the police and NHS can know whatever they want, but the TV licence people can go holler).

The thing is, you also pay for content you don't want to watch with Sky, Prime etc, unless you can really claim that you love every single programme they produce. And you pay much more.

It's not much more though is it? BBC licence costs £13.25 a month. I don't pay that much for netflix or Prime. Would I choose to subscribe to the BBC for £13.25 a month for the content? Not really.

My MIL has never had a TV license or TV and she is over 50. They did come over to her house once and she showed them every room.

I don't have a TV licence or a TV either and don't plan to. So far no inspections! I have Netflix and YouTube and that is good enough for me..

The wording they use is very intimidating. We recently moved out of a property to renovate it, got it removed from the council tax list as it was uninhabited for 6 months. I changed my tv license to reflect my rented accommodation but came to visit my house the other day and there was a letter from tv licensing saying the property did not have a valid license and was under investigation can't remember what it actually said but along the lines that I would recieve a fine or possible charges/imprisonment. Although I was confident I could just call and explain I will admit when I read the letter it did make me feel uneasy just because of the tone and language. If my grandmother for example had received a similar letter she would be extremely upset.

Whether you agree with the fees or not is besides the point. The language they use is absolutely bullying and intimidating, the letter I recieved was the first one, it's not like I had ignored loads of requests for information.

Just also to point out that a student living away can be covered by their parent's licence (if they have one) provided that they don't watch live and don't watch catch up on an appliance that is plugged in - so effectively they can watch iplayer on a charged up laptop or other device. It's pretty nonsensical really.

Thank you @LightDrizzle I was so depressed reading most of these posts. I expect people will get what they pay for, in the end. Let's see if it's really what they want.

The BBC isn't perfect, but as someone else (@Platax?) said upthread, the amount of frothing from both sides of the political divide indicates they've got it about right.

I had letter after letter and threat of court action after threat of court action. I did nothing. I had over fifty letters in the end all clipped together on the front of the fridge.

I had no telly. Nothing came of any of it. All that wasted paper and money sending letters meant nothing. No wonder the TV licence is the price it is.

Looking for a TV is pointless these days. Laptops, phones, tablets... all can be used as a TV!

Its outdated in its current format. But changing to a subscription service will highlight how expensive it is compared to all the other TV services...

There is a standard letter available, I think Martin Lewis? It basically says "I do not need a licence, I will contact you if that changes. Please do not contact me again, any further contact will be regarded as harassment and the police informed".

Send it in by email if possible so you have a trail, if not send it signed for. They never contacted me again after receiving this. I believe the form above is their response to getting quite a lot of these standard letters so should be just as effective in theory.

For anyone suggesting it is not bullying I would say you are wrong and the practice needs to stop. For a start it is vanishingly unlikely that they would be able to put together the evidence required to prove a crime is being committed to a judge so they would issue a warrant - they can apply but they are implying they would be successful, for almost any ordinary household they wouldn't.

Dressing up a half truth to attempt to force compliance is bullying. They have been taken to task about their methods before and really it needs to be raised again.

Is dreadful. There must be plenty of people now who don’t watch anything other than Netflix or other specific streaming service, and the TV licence thing should increasingly become a thing of the past.

Oh sorry, they did contact me once to acknowledge the letter saying please let us know if this changes. Very polite and nice.

If you tell them you don’t need a licence the letters stop for about 12 weeks then start again.
There’s a set pattern to the letters as well. They get increasingly more threatening with the final letter being ‘will you be in on x date as we are coming round’. They don’t turn up and the letters go back to the start, ‘do you watch Bbc, do you need a tv licence’. And then regular letters until the final warning we are visiting letter and so it goes on. For years

Personally I think they need to drop the cost of the licence to about £60 a year and raise money other ways or stop paying people as much.

It annoys me and it also annoys me that I have to fill out a form declaring that I don’t have a tv. Imagine it you had to fill out a form for everything you don’t use!

@RedRosie

Thank you *@LightDrizzle* I was so depressed reading most of these posts. I expect people will get what they pay for, in the end. Let's see if it's really what they want.

The BBC isn't perfect, but as someone else (@Platax?) said upthread, the amount of frothing from both sides of the political divide indicates they've got it about right.

It doesn't matter. If I don't want to watch it, I don't want to watch it. Your attitude is really entitled and quite patronising. I watch things like TV5 Monde for news and current affairs and it's much better than anything offered by the BBC.

Why should anyone have to pay for a service they don't want and don't use?

@mayblossominapril

If you tell them you don’t need a licence the letters stop for about 12 weeks then start again. There’s a set pattern to the letters as well. They get increasingly more threatening with the final letter being ‘will you be in on x date as we are coming round’. They don’t turn up and the letters go back to the start, ‘do you watch Bbc, do you need a tv licence’. And then regular letters until the final warning we are visiting letter and so it goes on. For years

Personally I think they need to drop the cost of the licence to about £60 a year and raise money other ways or stop paying people as much.

Perhaps they could put the cost of printing and sending all these letters into their BBC funding pot if they're so desperate for cash!

@littlejalapeno

Imagine content creators wanting to be paid for their time and effort. How about you pay the licence for using the service and then they won’t have to waste everyone’s time chasing you?

You really didn't read the OP did you?

There's always people on these threads who post misinformation.

The facts are that you only need a TV licence if you

a) Watch or record live television, and/or

b) Use BBC iPlayer.

That's it.

Those who bleat about the BBC providing other useful services, e.g. radio, or BBC news online... you don't currently have to pay to access those services. I don't have Sky, so I don't pay a bill to sky. I don't watch or record live TV or use iPlayer, so I don't pay a TV licence.

Yup @DaisyNGO on the phone! We had the threatening letters through and called up because honestly if you offered me £1k I couldn’t tell you the last time we watch broadcast TV and they said well if you are watching anything on your TV and I said YouTube, Netflix, prime are the only things we watch ans they said that counts. So I just caved and paid it.

I even tried yesterday to watch something on i player and we’d been signed out because we’ve not used it for so long and we don’t even know our logins.

Ah man im so pissed off now

Only if you want the premium no ads version.

You know there's this thing called AdblockPlus. Takes seconds to add to your browser for free, no ads on Youtube.

@CounsellorTroi

Remember you need a licence if you watch live streaming programmes.

Presumably including live sporting events on Amazon Prime?

Yes, that's how I understand it. Live sporting events on Amazon are usually also broadcast live on television in other countries. You still need a licence to watch foreign programming.

You need a licence for iPlayer.

You don’t have to let them into your home in the unlikely event they turn up. Just send them away.

Those TV detector vans they used to have were a load of nonsense too imo.