Don't forget your TV licence ! lol

[grahamw48]

There are some very clued-up people in this country. lol
...wonder if the caller actually has a 'licence' to be here.

http://youtu.be/4nyGDzFOydA

Have a look at some of the Bailiff vids on youtube too...very educational.

[Iani]

I have a hate-hate relationship regarding tv license. I don't have one, and they did come around once to harass me.

Him: Do you own a tv

Me: yes

Him: In that case you need a tv licence (he gets smugly out some sort of tablet to take details).

Me: No I don't

Him: Yes you do.

Me: No I don't, why do I need a license?

Him: It's the law

Me: No it isn't, I'm perfectly legal, and if you'd checked on your database, you would know this.

Him: You have a tv and you need a license.

Me: As I already said, I've already told you people, yes I own one but it isn't tuned in and I only use it for the Xbox and dvd player.

Him: Goes quiet

Me: I've told you this already.

Him: Can I have a look

Me: Well you should know that I am aware you have absolutely no right to and I can send you away, but I will let you stand just there, and I will turn it on to prove it, only so that you will then not bother me again for a while.

Him....a little bit later: OK I'll make a note and you shouldn't be contacted again for a while.

[Iani]

So ok, bit long winded that, but the point is, I don't watch tv, I don't have it tuned in.........and I don't need their license.

Even if I was some sort of license dodger though, I'd actually get away with it because I know the law and their limitations. They have absolutely no right to enter your property, all they can do is try to catch you out, or try to look around your door to see. If they suspect you definitely have a tv and are using it to watch live broadcast, then they can get a search warrant, but otherwise.....no.

I wouldn't advise it, I prefer the quiet life and I do sort of resent it when people get away with something the rest of us have to put up with, but contrary to the BBC's campaign, you CAN beat the system.

If I ever decide to tune the thing in and take up tv watching, I'll buy a license. Until then, since it's used purely as a monitor, they can frankly get knotted, and this is perfectly legal and it's even on the BBC licensing website you can do this (I made a declaration on there that I only use it for monitor)

[grahamw48]

Sounds fair enough.

[mickcant]

And we have herd of so many ways the BBC wastes the licence money
Mick

[joebloggs]

if it has a tuner built in you need a license, if you watch anything on the net thats broadcast live in the UK you need a license, i went thru something similar to you Iani,

I moved into another property, the people who lived there b4 me were getting letters from the licensing people, after months, i finally got one that said to the legal tenant or owner, it was a threatening letter saying i needed a tv license, seeing the house was empty i didn't think i did i even phoned them up and told them, still more letters, now threatening to take me to court even someone came to the property but i was at work, anyway the house was still empty, this went on for ages until finally i would get a court summons i phoned them and gave the person and the letters stopped

[johncar54]

Another reason to live in Spain, No TV licences

Road tax is a bit steep though, just gone up to 43 euros a year on my 1.5 Toyota, and don't mention Council tax equivalent, that's 350 euros a year now for my average two bedroomed penthouse, 4 mins walk from beach, 10 from railway station, and some days, occasionally a Sunday, I don't see the road sweeper either, but the flowerbeds around town are always well kept, the Christmas and feria lights and fireworks are still as usual. So not too bad

[lastlid]

When I was living in Stretford we lived next door to an old boy who lived on his own. Anyway, year on year we paid our TV license. One day we got a knock on the door from the TV license investigater people. He was okay, not pushy, local Mancunian. He went on to say that the man next door hadn't been paying his TV license for some time now and could I shed any light on this. My reply was to say that he died a few months back, mate (which was the truth). So it just goes to show you that they will still come after you once you have popped your cloggs.

[mickcant]

[QUOTE=johncar54;387036]Another reason to live in Spain, No TV licences

Or live in Sheltered Housing!
I have a ground floor 1 bedroom flat that is a good one compared to other places I have lived in.
Am left completely alone except for an intercom call every Monday morning (to check still alive)
and pay £7.50 per year TV Licence
Mick.

[Iani]

if it has a tuner built in you need a license, if you watch anything on the net thats broadcast live in the UK you need a license, i went thru something similar to you Iani,

Indeedly, I know it used to be the case, there were always those cases of people being sued for a colour license when they owned a VHS recorder but a black and white tv - because the VHS was capable of recording a colour signal.

There must have been a change though, it's on the licensing website, as long as I'm not using the tv to receive signals as they are being broadcast, I don't need one - even though the set is capable of receiving.
So I just haven't tuned it in, and don't have an aerial plugged in - this seems to satisfy them.

I just had a look on the website again, and there's a pdf available, which suggests that as they pestered.......sorry.........visited me once, they won't do again for a period of 2 years, but after then, the property once again should be the subject of being bombarded with letters suggesting I'm a criminal, guilty till proven innocent, buy a license you scumbag etc etc

I don't like this bullying attitude, but hey, this IS the same company that wanted to charge a license for anyone in a car who had a radio (That one got rejected by the government at the time

[Iani]

Another reason to live in Spain, No TV licences

Not to mention the local wiseboys, who get a Sky signal, re-broadcast it using their own dish, then sell Sky to expats at a fraction of the real Sky cost so I'm told anyway

[Iani]

Bullying by the BBC aside, I'm torn between two camps here. Surely like in Oz we should be way past the poll tax of a tv license, just to be able to watch OTHER channels.

However, there is the mantra often churned out by those in favour, you know the old stuck record "think of the wildlife programmes, the specialist programming, the world class news, the quality we would miss etc etc.
They are correct.

The same people often say how TV has gone down and that if the BBC was commercial, it would also end up showing American imports and "Big Brother Naked", or "Husband Swap" type stuff.

There though is the lesson. TV USED to be in the UK literally the worlds finest. They always seem to bring up the series "Jewel In The Crown" for some reason, but there are many others, but the reason such series don't happen really anymore is really simple. Until the mid 80's, there were only 3 channels, and two of them were BBC - so there was ONE commercial channel. Add to that more people seemed to watch tv a few years ago, and you don't have to be an accountant to work out the potential of 100% TV advertising revenue pouring into one channel.

This is why regional TV stations even like Anglia, could produce award winning series like "Survival", being able to afford to send crews all over the world to produce wildlife shows.

More channels though = revenue spread thinner = crappier tv. Simple as that.

So these people can smugly say we should have the license because it enables one channel to still produce quality tv.

Great, until you analyse what the BBC is up to. Spending huge amounts on new digital channels, and instead of trying to aim for quality, instead competing with commerical tv to produce reality tv style tat.

Go figure

ps reason I don't watch tv, isn't due to quality issues or anything like that - I just don't have time I've been trying to watch one dvd for the last 6 weeks alone, I'm a quarter of the way through it

[mickcant]

And the huge sums the BBC pay the likes of Johon ross
Mick

[andy222]

If they come to your door send the Mrs tell her to say no I havnt got a tv licence. Presuming its in your name. Let them take you to court. You go with her then tell them your wife has not got one but you have. . This happened to a freind of mine some years back. The license was in his name. The judge went crazy.

[lastlid]

"You do not need a television licence to catch-up on television programmes in BBC iPlayer, only when you watch or record at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is being broadcast or otherwise distributed to the public. In BBC iPlayer, this is through the Watch Live simulcast option."

http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.u...rogs/tvlicence

[lastlid]

If they come to your door send the Mrs tell her to say no I havnt got a tv licence. Presuming its in your name. Let them take you to court. You go with her then tell them your wife has not got one but you have. . This happened to a freind of mine some years back. The license was in his name. The judge went crazy.

Thats funny.

[johncar54]

QUOTE I don't like this bullying attitude, but hey, this IS the same company that wanted to charge a license for anyone in a car who had a radio (That one got rejected by the government at the time

Am I the only one here who remembers when we did need a licence for a radio in a car ?

[Terpe]

......Am I the only one here who remembers when we did need a licence for a radio in a car ?

Ha, I can remember that.
I was going to say not that long ago, but......................... it was

November 1969 I bought one at £1 and 5 shillings. A big chunk of my apprentice pay in those days.
Had to have your car registration number on it too.

I'm not sure when it was stopped, but must have been around that time also.
I only remember buying a couple, then no more.

Must be quite a few members here to remember too.
I hope

[mickcant]

I can remember needing one but do not think I ever did have one, was it checked up on?
Mick.

[grahamw48]

Nov. '69 I'd had my car licence for 3 months.

Owning my own radio was still a dream...in a car or otherwise.

[lastlid]

Ha, I can remember that.
I was going to say not that long ago, but......................... it was

November 1969 I bought one at £1 and 5 shillings. A big chunk of my apprentice pay in those days.
Had to have your car registration number on it too.

I'm not sure when it was stopped, but must have been around that time also.
I only remember buying a couple, then no more.

Must be quite a few members here to remember too.
I hope

I don't remember that. Not because I have memory loss but because I didn't learn to drive till my mid twenties.