I've never been a fan of the TV licence here in the UK. Even when I was a kid I thought it was unfair, nevermind now. I've blanked my fair share of letters from the TV LICENCING dept in my adult life but this morning I got a new warning....heres a pic. Now either I'm getting old (32) or this TV LICENCING bollox is just getting out of control. Not only do the british government seem to think it's justified to charge you £139 a year for the priveledge of watching complete and utter crap on their 7 UK based digital tv stations (which ofcourse you can only see 3 of unless you subscribe to another company ((virgin/sky etc)), in order to PAY more money to have them PIPE the channels you PAY for the priveledge of watching with your TV LICENCE????? No no....that's not enough. Now they want to capture all the people who for one reason or another don't watch a TV. PC's and MOBILE phones with a net connection are now under the spotlight So now, even if you don't have a TV but watch channel 4 on demand (or any tv media content) in any form on any pc or mobile phone then that said device needs to have a licence to cover said use. I think this is complete and utter madness. What do you guys reckon?
LMAO. We used to have TV licencing here in NZ but they did away with it years ago because no one ever paid it anyway... Plus they get enough money from advertising.
tv license is for recieving any broadcasted material, in ireland it covers radio broadcasts also. Whats in that text is referring to watching broadcast material on your computer or mobile phone( i.e. using iPlayer on a smart phone/PC )
UK sounds amazing, I'd move there if people didnt use ''cheers'' to say goodbye .... that pisses me off too much
haha that's wild - I had my fair share of those letters when I was at Uni. proFits - I'm from the UK and we don't really use "Cheers" as goodbye, it's more of an informal thankyou
I am surprised that you didn't realize this already, the TV license has been covering digital media for years. I hope you got a £1000 quid handy as by the sounds of things you have been dodging the license for quite a while.
Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 (As amended) is the culprit! The licence is not for the BBC per say but for the receiving of wireless telegraphy (as defined and amended). Basically we all have to pay it!
I dont pay it and never will, if everyone refused to pay then it would be great but people tend to just do it with no questions asked
well this is it. I mean lets face it, there's hardly a justifiable reason in this day and age for us in the UK to be subjected to this insane tax. I consider it a tax. It's certainly being inforced as if it were. The point I'm making is....everyone with a mobile phone with 3G/GPRSWAP or whatever is technically required to licence it? I am not allowed to own a tv or video recorder or pc even etc without a licence...even if i insist I dont use it for watching tv. Simply having the ability to watch this entertainment as they say....means you must pay for a licence. So having a pc alone and no other equipment means the same? I must pay a licence 'cos I'm able to watch media if I want to? If so surely people with a mobile could be watching tv streamed on their mobile and saying "na, I never use it" and so get away with not paying the fee? what's the difference? They insist if I own a tv I must watch it...so surely they will have to epect the same of other devices? Mr laptop owner sits on wifi all day and doesn't have to pay? Why not...it has the ability same as my home pc? Kids must start to licence mobile phones too? Or is that dads job? One licence covers 3 or 4 devices I believe (may be wrong). If I have two TV's and a pc, do I need to buy another licence when my son brings his laptop home and his sister uses hers to watch various media? This is nuts. As has been said, they need to scrap this mad tax asap
You are getting the wrong end of the stick, which is what they want! You aren't understanding the terms correctly. You DO NOT need a TV liscence if: You own a TV, Watch on Demand programs You watch DVD's on said TV, Play PS3, have a PC, own a mobile or any other form of media that doesn't involve receiving a broadcast from a TV channel as it's played. You DO need a TV liscense if: You are receiving a TV broadcast through that equipment. Although for the on demand service, it would be pretty hard to prove you aren't receiving TV services because it's integrated into the box. For them not to sting you, you'll have to have no digibox, and no areal to receive a signal also.
I hate adverts, i mean i really really hate adverts, well i must say i do like some individual clever adverts but in general the idea of adverts to fill up about 16 - 18 minutes in an hour really really annoys me. The BBC doesn't have adverts some people may not realise that if they are from other countries. It's the BBC that has to answer to the license payers, ie the public. I am not sure if i would prefer if Top Gear had 15+ minutes of adverts and no license fee, or the full hour with no breaks. It's a tough one, and adverts are handy to grab a cup of tea, but not 4 or 5 cups of tea and for the adverts to still be on when you get sit down again and certainly not adverts 5 minutes to the hour then 6 minutes after the hour. SIX minutes after a program comes on they start the adverts in some cases (Discovery is particularly bad for this).
Tax = A fee charged or levied by a government on a product, income, or activity. Agreed, it is a tax!
The license is per household not by how many devices you own but on commercial properties this may be different, I do agree with you though and that this is a tax and not a license.
I remember a few years ago I registered to vote & within a week or two I had a letter from the TV Licensing Dept. asking if I had a license. Which I didn't have at the time but have now. That is a major tangent for them to get you which sucks.
My symapathys to my mates on the other side of the pond... long live the Queen?? ps it could be worse, you could have these guys living there...
As an American I would find it extremely sinister for the government to require cell phones to be licensed. I wonder if U.S Citizens could argue the combined powers of freedom of speech, & freedom of assembly would bar the government from forcing us to license these things?
So let me get this straight; If I own nothing more than a PC and computer monitor in my room, do I have to pay a TV license? (I'm in Uni btw, you think YOU are getting ripped off with the TV license? Every single person has to get one in University halls of residence [if they have a TV of course]. They should do some sort of mass license for the building, but each individual room is treated as an individual property :/)
You don't have to pay TV liscense for owning a TV. The only way you need a liscense is if you have equipment that is capable of sending a TV signal to the TV itself, such as a rooftop areal or a digibox. Having a TV card in your PC is also OK if you don't have an areal, however if you do, you need to prove you arent using it to watch TV. As far as streaming TV through the internet via websites well... prove it.. they can't do anything short of invading your privacy and that's against the law.
