anyone jacked in the tv licence ?

[m_c]

This day and age there is no reason or justification to charge people to watch a television, very surprised it has not been kicked into the dirt.

Any country with a state broadcaster, the public pay for it somehow.
The idea behind the license fee, is that it removes a large amount of potential pressure from the current government by the government not being able to (threaten to) change the funding at short notice.

Without the license fee, a lot of programs wouldn't exist.
You might not like a lot of the content, but they probably produce something you do/would watch/listen to, that wouldn't be justifiable without subsidy.
How many private companies would commission things like the often well regarded nature documentaries?
Or do you think the high standard of media production, be that TV or Radio, would remain as high if it was a commercial race to the bottom?

And for those who want to complain about Dr Who, that's one of the programs that would still exist without subsidy, as it's one of the BBC's most profitable shows that they sell abroad (just like Top Gear was, until they killed it), so it actually reduces your license fee.


However the world of media is always changing.

 

[Dev]

Someone told me the Irish realised 1/2 the licence fee was being spent chasing non-payers so they just binned the whole thing.

 

[andy_v]

got rid of our tv license about a year or two before lockdown, sent the virgin box back, have the tv connected to a computer.
we did have the "so called" tv man knock on the door, i let him in to show them we had no box for recieving tv channels, he came in and looked, even looked behind the tv to check, told him i just watch youtube videos on the computer and for surfing the tinternet, he said fine will take you off the list of needing one.
we have had letters from the tv license to$$ers asking if we need a tv license but we just ignored cos nothing as changed, i still surf the tinternet and only watch youtube and no tv reciever equipment, they can come and check when ever they like.

 

[rtcosic]

....

You'll get a boat load of threatening looking letters that are all bull sh1t, just bin them. If you do get a visit from one of their "salesmen" (unlikely) just say no thanks and shut the door.

I no longer bin them. I've started to write Return to Sender and stick them in the post box when I next pass one.

If the Royal Mail actually deliver to the Sender then I think the Sender is liable for the postage. Where's @Wozzaaah when you need him.

 

[colnerov]

Where's @Wozzaaah when you need him.

He's lugging a sack of mail about which no one wants.

 

[julianf]

I've not read the whole thread.

We do not have a tv licence. I've not had a TV in 20 years or so.

License people will never believe you don't have one. It's incomprehensible to them.

I can't remember the detail but you can remove their implied right of something or other, so they can not come to your home.

They still hassle you with letters every two years claiming that they can't possibly remember that you've been telling them for 20 years that you don't want a tv....

I waste enough of my life on the Internet without having a TV as well!

 

[AVI_8]

Haven’t had a TV licence for 9 years, I get one or two letters from them every year threatening a visit, they do their best to make you feel like a criminal, so far they’ve never appeared and if they do they will be told politely to Foxtrot Oscar

 

[Wedg1e]

Sounds allot like our I.R.S. over here.....jeesh.

Often think I should have been an accountant... my initials actually are IRS

 

[Morrisman]

I moved house nigh on four years ago and never bothered to renew my TV license. I have a threatening letter sent ' to the legal occupant' about once every two months, telling me 'YOU ARE UNDER INVESTIGATION AND YOU WILL RECIVE A VISIT FROM AN ENFORCEMENT OFFICER' or words to that effect.

I don't watch live tv, or catch-up, or iPlayer, so I have no worries about the idiots who send these mails.

And seriously, unless they were to break into my house and actually catch me watching their piped in rubbish, what can they do?

Lots of people seem to think watching Youtube or Netflix needs a licence, but that's rubbish. The BBC Bull*hit threatening letters actually tell you exactly what the rules are.

I have no time for the BBC in the slightest, they have proven how worthless they are time and again.

 

[Wedg1e]

I've not read the whole thread.

We do not have a tv licence. I've not had a TV in 20 years or so.

License people will never believe you don't have one. It's incomprehensible to them.

I can't remember the detail but you can remove their implied right of something or other, so they can not come to your home.

They still hassle you with letters every two years claiming that they can't possibly remember that you've been telling them for 20 years that you don't want a tv....

I waste enough of my life on the Internet without having a TV as well!

I've never had a telly licence. I'm not saying there's never been a telly in the house but the licence would have been in the name of whichever lady friend owned it - and took it when she left.
I've had the doorstep arguments many times - "I can come back with a constable" - well crack on then... they never do. Still get regular threatagrams but they go in the bin unopened.

One time I was in a good mood so I said look, just to prove I'm not making this up, please come in and search the house for a TV set.
Guy walks in, I open all the doors (bungalow with all the rooms opening off an entrance hall) and stand back.
He peered into the lounge, said "I'm only allowed to check the lounge", made a note and off he went. That would have been pre-Covid, I haven't seen them since (though they have called as cards have been left).

So it would appear that you can have an 80" plasma in every room but the lounge and they aren't allowed to look

 

[Morrisman]

You need a licence for any streamed TV service, YouTube included.

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/

The qualifier is live streamed services. If you ever watch a live stream from your favourite YouTuber, you need a licence.

If you watch LIVE streamed Youtube. I have no idea how to even find that, or how to watch it. It's most definitely not normal Youtube video.

Nor Netflix.
Nor Amazon Prime.

Lots of scaremongering is going on, usually because the people who blindly pay their tv license like to try and justify their fear of the powers that be......

 

[Morrisman]

I no longer bin them. I've started to write Return to Sender and stick them in the post box when I next pass one.

If the Royal Mail actually deliver to the Sender then I think the Sender is liable for the postage. Where's @Wozzaaah when you need him.

I spent a few weeks simply putting the threatening letters back in our local post box. And they would magically appear back in my front door a day or two later. I'd like to think that the tv licensing office got billed for each delivery.....

I've never had a telly licence. I'm not saying there's never been a telly in the house but the licence would have been in the name of whichever lady friend owned it - and took it when she left.
I've had the doorstep arguments many times - "I can come back with a constable" - well crack on then... they never do. Still get regular threatagrams but they go in the bin unopened.

One time I was in a good mood so I said look, just to prove I'm not making this up, please come in and search the house for a TV set.
Guy walks in, I open all the doors (bungalow with all the rooms opening off an entrance hall) and stand back.
He peered into the lounge, said "I'm only allowed to check the lounge", made a note and off he went. That would have been pre-Covid, I haven't seen them since (though they have called as cards have been left).

So it would appear that you can have an 80" plasma in every room but the lounge and they aren't allowed to look

There's no law about having a TV set. The licence is not for that. Do keep up

 

[Wedg1e]

There's no law about having a TV set. The licence is not for that. Do keep up

I am aware that the licence is for the supposed purpose of funding the dross churned out by the BBC, not for owning a telly per se.
Personally I feel no need to partake of whatever is passed off as television entertainment, regardless of the provider, hence I don't own one and never have.
Doesn't change the fact that the licencing people are looking for the presence of a telly ('connected for the purpose of receiving') and the lack of a licence.

It would be easy to imagine that between broadband and mobile phones, they would like to have a fee paid by (practically) everyone as technically they could all access live streamed services with no easy way to police it, so a blanket charge would suit them nicely.

 

[AKN]

do they visit you ?
like i say ive no problem telling someone to f.o , but the mrs would try and be polite and get cornered into saying something

One thing you can do is to send them a letter removing their presumed right of access. If you look these up on the internet there are plenty of examples. That way if they show up they are committing trespass which if you can see a bent weed or blade of grass becomes criminal “aggravated trespass”. They do actually take these seriously as they in reality have no more powers than you or I to enter a property. Also never sign any communications with them using your name always “The Legal Occupier” as they have no powers to get your name to get a warrant or prosecute if you don’t tell them. You’ll get lots of nastily worded letters sounding very official but that is it. I’ve been TV licence free for over 20 years. I would recommend never letting their goons in your home the last job add I saw for them did not mention any requirement for a criminal record check!

 

[DanZac]

So it would appear that there's only me, @m_c and @indy4x that have actually got a TV licence then, and I'd get rid of mine and the TV if it wasn't for the Mrs being addicted to it. I guess that tells us something about the state of British TV.

Without the license fee, a lot of programs wouldn't exist.
You might not like a lot of the content, but they probably produce something you do/would watch/listen to, that wouldn't be justifiable without subsidy.
How many private companies would commission things like the often well regarded nature documentaries?
Or do you think the high standard of media production, be that TV or Radio, would remain as high if it was a commercial race to the bottom?

Channel 4 seem to be capable of making some decent programming without a licence fee, so the argument that the BBC need the money to make good stuff is a bit flawed there. As is the lack of adverts on the BBC, because from the little I've seen of it over the last few years, they spend most of their time advertising their own drivel.

 

[Keithmac]

Is there a link to a good letter removing their presumed righ to access?.

No one in our house watches any content normally, only Strictly Come Dancing garbage at Christmas so if I can persuade them not to watch that it's nigh on £30 a month saved.

Youtube and Spotify is all that goes on in our house.

 

[Smallfry]

Not had one for years, probably 20 ? But not making any statements or admissions on a public platform.

They cannot "detect" a modern TV as was possible with very old valve CRT sets, so don't be fooled by that threat. Only by peering through windows.

Have had the occasional door knocker, but not for several years now. They used various subterfuge though, not admitting who they actually were, last one being that they were a market researcher doing a survey on popular programmes, asking things like what we thought of the latest storylines on Bellenders and similar. Was laughable, and I asked directly if they were from TV licensing and asked for ID, so they went away without answering.

Have also had many letters, and been told I MUST disable any TV sets in the property, to which I refused, and pointed out that it not an "offence" to own a TV set, only to use it.

Will not pay it because of the BBCs biased agenda by the corporation itself, and by presenters and interviewers, and also massively excessive salaries.

 

[Wozzaaah]

I no longer bin them. I've started to write Return to Sender and stick them in the post box when I next pass one.

If the Royal Mail actually deliver to the Sender then I think the Sender is liable for the postage. Where's @Wozzaaah when you need him.

As far as I’m aware anything RTS is not charged for. Every day one company I deliver to might get anything from 30-300 undelivered marketing items returned, I’d imagine TV licensing get several trayfuls a day.

 

[Trevorleach]

I moved house nigh on four years ago and never bothered to renew my TV license. I have a threatening letter sent ' to the legal occupant' about once every two months, telling me 'YOU ARE UNDER INVESTIGATION AND YOU WILL RECIVE A VISIT FROM AN ENFORCEMENT OFFICER' or words to that effect.

I don't watch live tv, or catch-up, or iPlayer, so I have no worries about the idiots who send these mails.

And seriously, unless they were to break into my house and actually catch me watching their piped in rubbish, what can they do?

Lots of people seem to think watching Youtube or Netflix needs a licence, but that's rubbish. The BBC Bull*hit threatening letters actually tell you exactly what the rules are.

I have no time for the BBC in the slightest, they have proven how worthless they are time and again.

View attachment 426924

We had that at a house we were doing up, whole year it went on for, I never saw anybody.

 

[Trevorleach]

So it would appear that there's only me, @m_c and @indy4x that have actually got a TV licence then, and I'd get rid of mine and the TV if it wasn't for the Mrs being addicted to it. I guess that tells us something about the state of British TV.



Channel 4 seem to be capable of making some decent programming without a licence fee, so the argument that the BBC need the money to make good stuff is a bit flawed there. As is the lack of adverts on the BBC, because from the little I've seen of it over the last few years, they spend most of their time advertising their own drivel.

I was only saying that the other day, no adverts my ****, all they do is advertise their own stuff!