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You need a licence if you watch live TV as it's broadcast, or if you watch BBC iPlayer catchup content. You need a licence for any device that you watch live t
by DanBC 7y ago
You need a licence if you watch live TV as it's broadcast, or if you watch BBC iPlayer catchup content.
You need a licence for any device that you watch live tv as it's broadcast. You need a licence to watch live tv, no matter where it's broadcast from.
The wording of the law says "installed or used to receive", so in theory you need a licence if you have eg a tv plugged into an aerial. They don't prosecute those cases any more.
You don't need a licence if you're not watching live tv. So you can watch all the ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 catchup as much as you like. Or netflix, amazon, HBO, etc services.
People pay for it because the BBC is generally pretty good. It's stuck in a weird political landscape where some MPs want the BBC to be independent and not be funded by a licence fee, but those same MPs refuse to allow the BBC to operate commercially.
A longer term plan for the BBC would be welcome, and that's probably going to be a subscription service at some point.
- Wistar 7y agoRecord and time-shift it so that it is no longer "live TV?"
- djmobley 7y agoYou still need a licence to timeshift. See: https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ95 https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ95
- velox_io 7y agoThe was quite a while where iPlayer was covered by their law, there was another loophole where if your watching it on an untethered device (on a battery with wifi) that wasn't covered either, but I'm not sure now... The whole law is antiquated, now you don't need them or their transmission equipment. I do believe that if they move to a subscription model they will lose many customers, especially those with Netflix etc (I don't even know if the aerial cable in my flat works or even own a tv, I use a 43" monitor if I do want to watch anything).
- DanBC 7y agoThe rules recently changed and people now need a licence to watch content on BBC iPlayer. If you own a licence and you're away from home you're allowed to use a device powered only by internal batteries to watch TV -- this is covered by your home licence. Yes, this leads to ridiculous situations. You watch live tv on your phone? Fine, until you plug in your phone to charge and you're now breaking the law. I don't think anyone has been prosecuted for this type of use.
- DanBC 7y agoSorry, I meant to say "receive", not "watch". We used to have B&W licences, and people with colour VCrs but B&W tvs were told that they were receiving in colour and so needed a colour licence. This kind of thing makes TV licencing unpopular.
- implements 7y ago"Installed" usually meant "aerial plugged in and stations tuned in". Plug in and tune only the radio stations - that doesn't require a licence (radio isn't TV even when carried on a TV network, the TV effectively becomes a DAB radio).