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!

We only watch the F1. Have no interest in other sports thanks to pe lessons at school. Put me off mainstream sports for years.

@SnackSizeRaisin

Finding it hard to believe none of you watch live sport... No football, tennis or Olympics? Or news?

Anyway the reason you have to pay it of you are watching anything live is because it's the law. It doesn't matter if you hate the BBC, if you watch (e.g.) live tennis on Eurosport, you need the licence.

I think they should get rid of the licence and take the cost from tax. The BBC is too important to lose. I would drop a lot of the entertainment stuff though and just keep radio 3 and 4 and the news, documentaries etc. I wouldn't be paying huge wages to celebrity presenters

Are you trying to insinuate we all watch live tv and don't pay? Lmao.

I can assure you that our household has no interest in watching sports.

@SnackSizeRaisin

Finding it hard to believe none of you watch live sport... No football, tennis or Olympics? Or news?

Anyway the reason you have to pay it of you are watching anything live is because it's the law. It doesn't matter if you hate the BBC, if you watch (e.g.) live tennis on Eurosport, you need the licence.

I think they should get rid of the licence and take the cost from tax. The BBC is too important to lose. I would drop a lot of the entertainment stuff though and just keep radio 3 and 4 and the news, documentaries etc. I wouldn't be paying huge wages to celebrity presenters

Why is that so hard to imagine? We have a TV Licence but never (and I mean never) watch live sport at all - none of us are interested in it. How can people be so parochial?

@SnackSizeRaisin

Finding it hard to believe none of you watch live sport... No football, tennis or Olympics? Or news?

Anyway the reason you have to pay it of you are watching anything live is because it's the law. It doesn't matter if you hate the BBC, if you watch (e.g.) live tennis on Eurosport, you need the licence.

I think they should get rid of the licence and take the cost from tax. The BBC is too important to lose. I would drop a lot of the entertainment stuff though and just keep radio 3 and 4 and the news, documentaries etc. I wouldn't be paying huge wages to celebrity presenters

Believe it or not, not everyone is into sport, and the BBC coverage of the Olympics is absolute crap anyway. I sometimes watch catch-up videos for the news - usually TV5 Monde, so no licence required. There are lots of days I don't watch anything at all. I mostly get the news online and if I do watch something it's almost always a Netflix series or film.

Finding it hard to believe none of you watch live sport... No football, tennis or Olympics? Or news?

No Royal weddings/funerals? No six nations rugby? No parliamentary coverage? No Springwatch/Autumnwatch?

@CounsellorTroi

Finding it hard to believe none of you watch live sport... No football, tennis or Olympics? Or news?

No Royal weddings/funerals? No six nations rugby? No parliamentary coverage? No Springwatch/Autumnwatch?

I can't even tell if you're taking the piss or not

@SnackSizeRaisin

I don't watch live football, tennis or the Olympics. In fact I am so little bothered about sport that I don't even bother to watch it on catch up services.

I get the news from websites.

Finding it hard to believe none of you watch live sport... No football, tennis or Olympics? Or news?

No Royal weddings/funerals? No six nations rugby? No parliamentary coverage? No Springwatch/Autumnwatch?

Nope none of it. I watch mma on replay but not via of the methods that require a TV licence

I got invited to someone's house to watch the last Royal wedding. Didn't go, not interested.

No idea what Spring/ Autumn watch is.

For us it's not about the cost of the licence it's about the immorality of making the elderly, such as my 95 year old father

My 95 year old grandmother could well afford her TV licence. Why should she have it for free? Plenty of other people more deserving of a free license than those who can afford it no matter what their age.

@Fluffycloudland77

We only watch the F1. Have no interest in other sports thanks to pe lessons at school. Put me off mainstream sports for years.

Funnily enough that was what killed my interest in Sport too.

They will send you a monthly letter threatening all sorts, just pop them straight in the shredder where they belong. Watch the videos on YouTube of people sending them packing when they knock.

@CounsellorTroi

Finding it hard to believe none of you watch live sport... No football, tennis or Olympics? Or news?

No Royal weddings/funerals? No six nations rugby? No parliamentary coverage? No Springwatch/Autumnwatch?

You seem to ticking off more items on my "shit I don't watch" list - why the hell would you imagine I would is more the question?

(and I have TV licence anyway - but still don't watch anything you list

Don't pay for a service you don't use. They won't get a warrant. It's horseshit to threaten the vulnerable and easily scared.

I love all the BeeB defenders ... "BB bbubut it's GREAT VALUEtm. Surely you watch EastEnders? No. Listen to Radio 1234. No. Watch celebrity bullshit? No. Watch sports? Yes, on Sky. Watch award winning documentaries? Yes, on Netflix and YouTube. Watch great drama? Yes on Netflix.

Aldi is Great Value as well - but actually I shop at Tesco so I don't give Aldi my money.

As an outsider, it boggles my mind that tv licenses make more sense than just wrapping the payment into the general tax. So much money is being wasted on licensing and enforcement. Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper all around to just make it a line item in the government budget and possibly raise everyone’s taxes by an infinitesimal amount in the process.

@araiwa
Why are people bashing the BBC?
They don't do anything about chasing TV licenses- all done by capita, a private company

Why are people bashing the Mafia bosses? They don't whack people, it's just their hired goons.

It really should be an optional subscription like all the others. I really don't understand the BBC worship thing people have got going on.

People on all sides of politics accuse the BBC of being biased. That would seem to indicate that it's getting it about right.

Wrong. Being pro-woke and socially liberal isn’t the same as not having a right wing/centre-right bias. The BBC’s coverage of Labour under Corbyn was found to be the right of ITV, to the right of Channel 4 and to the right of Sky News (yes, Rupert Murdoch of all people provided more balanced airtime coverage of Corbyn than the BBC). Also check out studies examining BBC’s coverage of the Middle East. Again, significantly to the right of Sky News etc. The BBC isn’t explicitly anti everything left, but it is pro British Establishment, which of course puts it at loggerheads with anyone to the right of Tony Blair. Objective it most certainly isn’t.

Of course it’s also trying to ram wokeness and social liberalism down everyone’s throats. But having several separate agendas doesn’t equate to “balance”. It just means it’s as self-interested and unreliable as any other news broadcaster - good for them by the way. But don’t expect people to pay for it.

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?

Imagine reading the OP properly.

I don't watch live TV or iPlayer. I get my news from newspapers, both print and online. I prefer European and American newspapers at the moment as they give more accurate information about the joy and delight that is Brexit and will happily show Johnson as the tremendous fuck up he actually is.

I have no need for any royal events as I'm a republican. I can't imagine anything more eye-wateringly boring than watching football or rugby. Granted some of the Olympics maybe, but since that's every four years I find it's not really worth the licence fee and I can just not watch.

And I find the pheasants in my back garden more informative than whatever the fuck it is MPs are up to, and rather less depressing.

I do pay for Netflix though. If the BBC moved to a model where you had to pay to get a log on they could ditch the whole licence palaver.

Being pro-woke and socially liberal isn’t the same as not having a right wing/centre-right bias. The BBC’s coverage of Labour under Corbyn was found to be the right of ITV, to the right of Channel 4 and to the right of Sky News (yes, Rupert Murdoch of all people provided more balanced airtime coverage of Corbyn than the BBC). Also check out studies examining BBC’s coverage of the Middle East. Again, significantly to the right of Sky News etc. The BBC isn’t explicitly anti everything left, but it is pro British Establishment, which of course puts it at loggerheads with anyone to the right of Tony Blair. Objective it most certainly isn’t.

I think what people often forget about the BBC is that it is a very large organisation and that it doesn't operate entirely in one way. Much of its arts programming is quite liberal, at times heading into being more radical. Its news programmes are entirely different. If you look at the mess that is the Today Programme it's very clearly right wing. The BBC is part of the establishment and so some sections of it will not wish to bite the hand that feeds it.

I stopped watching and paying the licence fee when they decided that balance meant giving large amounts of air time to Farage, without actually making any attempt to question his outlook.

@SnackSizeRaisin

Finding it hard to believe none of you watch live sport... No football, tennis or Olympics? Or news?

Anyway the reason you have to pay it of you are watching anything live is because it's the law. It doesn't matter if you hate the BBC, if you watch (e.g.) live tennis on Eurosport, you need the licence.

I think they should get rid of the licence and take the cost from tax. The BBC is too important to lose. I would drop a lot of the entertainment stuff though and just keep radio 3 and 4 and the news, documentaries etc. I wouldn't be paying huge wages to celebrity presenters

Then you'll fall out of your own mind to know I didn't watch a second of dead Prince Philip coverage.

@TheCourse

They move the date, too. So if you pay your DD on 10th of the month, for example, that'll be fine for a while, then they move the 'payment due' date to 7th. So suddenly your payments are late, and they send scary letters. It's diabolical. I work with vulnerable elderly people, and this happens all the time.

I've paid via direct debit for 5 years and have never had this issue.

Ignore the fuckers.they are nothing but insulting bullies.what annoys me most with their attitude is,they think nobody can live without watching telly.absolute assholes.just ignore their disgusting tactics.

Then you'll fall out of your own mind to know I didn't watch a second of dead Prince Philip coverage.

Spoiler alert - he's still dead.