About the TV license potentially being extended to streaming services?

[Haruka]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/01/28/netflix-users-could-forced-pay-licence-fee/

I already pay enough for the services themselves. I don't watch live TV and especially not the BBC. I am fed up with this potentially becoming a lack of choice; it feels like extortion and yet another tax.

I know that in other countries any device capable of receiving live TV and/ or radio needs a licence (including car radios, laptops, iPads and smartphones), but in this day and age it's taking the piss potentially having to pay for a service I don't even use, just to get access to things that I do.

AIBU to take a very dim view of these proposals?

I'm surprised I haven't seen any other threads on this yet, but maybe I'm blinded by fury 😆

I wouldnt have a problem with it to be honest.

You're absolutely not being unreasonable, completely insane.

I thought it was always the case that if you watch something “live” it’s covered by the licence fee.

the issue isn’t the bbc. They’ve never moved away from that. It’s that the streamers have started adding in live tv.

personally I don’t have a problem with the licence fee. I use the bbc website. I listen to bbc radio. I use bitesize to help my kid with her homework. I use the bbc recipes at least 5-6 times a month.

How are they going to police it? Most will simply use a VPN to get around it.

Let the BBC fail I say.

I, too, am a bit peeved about it. I have a licence but rarely watch live tv and iplayer never seems to have anything I want to watch. Tv has just died and was contemplating not replacing it and cancelling the licence.

I think if they do go through with it there should be different subscription levels. A basic Radio and streaming to pay for infrastructure then live tv + iplayer.

It would be a tax pure and simple. Not sure why they would even bother calling it a tv licence tbh.

I would much rather have adverts on the BBC than yet another bill to pay. I also think the unintended consequences would be people coming off of Netflix, Prime etc because it would be cheaper to watch standard tv (even if it’s mostly rubbish)

I think it’s absolutely crazy. The BBC licence fee is totally outdated and should become a subscription service just for the BBC channels. They’re just taking Netflix’s success as a way to make more money.

Fine then make the BBC a subscription service. You want it pay the licence fee.
Those of us who don't want to give money to a less than scrupulous organisation can be left in peace

So instead of coming up with a reasonable solution, such as making BBC viewing a subscription service, they are going to make anyone who watches other stuff they already pay for, take out a BBC licence as well?

@soupyspoon Do you generally not have an issue paying for things (that you have a choice of using or not) to fund a failing business model?

The live watching, even through streaming, is already covered by the license fee. You can choose not to.

My worry is that it will become compulsory to pay for any device capable of receiving (I mean, who does not have a radio-capable device?), as it has become in my country of origin, because as @notanothernamechange24 pointed out, no one will be able to police it otherwise.

I wouldn't pay it. I've opted out of paying the licence fee as it is. Refuse to fund BBC dross.

Because they know television as we know it is in decline. The youngsters don’t watch television. So how else is the BBC going to pay their pervs get their money?

The tv license is one of the most ridiculously managed taxes ever seen. How much money goes into enforcing that highly regressive fee? It would be ridiculously efficient to just roll the fee into the general tax fund. Independence of content and adaptability to new technology can be provisioned by parliament as needed.

I cancelled my license a few years ago (actually removed the aerial too) and every other week a ridiculous letter arrives which, whilst I just bin, could well make someone vulnerable anxious. It's co-ercive, threatening, and just scare tactics.

If this bonkersmadinhead plan comes to fruition I'll just cancel Netflix and make no comment on how, or if, I'll continue to watch some services.

I’ve never had a TV licence and I won’t either. It was only a matter of time before they tried to cash in on those of us who only watch Netflix etc.

Of course it’s fair that you don’t mind paying for it when you are using it. But for all those who don’t, it should remain optional. If you don’t watch live TV or use the BBC why should you have to pay for it?

I agree. Those licence dodgers are annoying. Or else nobody pays and they raise revenue in another way.

Declare you don’t need one and they’ll stop.

I already did, several times on the online form. Still the letters keep coming - I no longer open and simply bin.

they don't stop.
Used to give you 2 years' respite after declaring no licence needed before the letters started, now it's 12 months

@AnotherWeekAnotherUsername exactly the same way all the other channels and streamings services work.
By having decent content and being competitive. The licence fee is considerably more per month than most streaming services for much poorer content.
Most people receive their news from multiple other sources now other than the tv.

The BBC need to change and adapt in the same way the newspapers have and go with the changing times not fight against it.

I haven't had a TV license for over 10 years as I don't watch live TV. If they require one for Netflix, I'll cancel that and watch another way.

personally I don’t have a problem with the licence fee. I use the bbc website. I listen to bbc radio. I use bitesize to help my kid with her homework. I use the bbc recipes at least 5-6 times a month

Grand. I pay £6.25 a day for the sixth form bus. Why don't you also pay £6.25 a day for a sixth form bus in Nottingham even though you don't want that service and you use a different bus. Or no bus.

I watch live TV (but not the BBC) and think that this is outrageous. The BBC should be a premium channel like Sky Sports and have ads to raise extra revenue.

I doubt the Labour Party will get rid of the licence fee, so that sounds about right.