TV LIcence

Personally I'd happily (and have for many years) survived without a TV plugged into any arial and used it purely as a PC and console monitor.
That said since moving in with the Missus it's used as a TV proper but this only serves to remind me why i stopped watching it all those years ago, 1,000 chanels of CRAP!

Originally Posted by arc123

You don't need a license to own a tv. It's perfectly legal to own a tv and use it solely for watching dvd/vhs. So, the tv license inspector being able to see a tv through the window is evidence of nothing... My decoration went on for years, not just months!

That's changed then, or it's wrong, it used to be that if you had a TV that was mains powered you needed a license, even if you didn't own an aerial!

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

That's changed then, or it's wrong, it used to be that if you had a TV that was mains powered you needed a license, even if you didn't own an aerial!

You must be covered by a valid TV Licence if you watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV. It makes no difference what equipment you use - whether it’s a laptop, PC, mobile phone, digital box, DVD recorder or a TV set - you still need a licence.

It has changed!

You do not need a TV Licence to view video clips on the internet, as long as what you are viewing is not being shown on TV at the same time as you are viewing it.

And how the f*** can they prove that?

If you use a digital box with a hi-fi system, or another device that can only be used to produce sounds and can't display TV programmes, and you don't install or use any other TV receiving equipment, you don't need a TV Licence.

That's new too, they must have finally had to get modern

[punyXpress]

[QUOTE=-Ralph-;2076757]You must be covered by a valid TV Licence if you watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV. It makes no difference what equipment you use - whether it’s a laptop, PC, mobile phone, digital box, DVD recorder or a TV set - you still need a licence.

It has changed!


So if you use a DigiBox, you don't need a licence if the programme is delayed like mine is ?

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

as long as what you are viewing is not being shown on TV at the same time as you are viewing it.

Originally Posted by punyXpress

So if you use a DigiBox, you don't need a licence if the programme is delayed like mine is ?

How delayed? It doesn't say in sync, it just says "at the same time". I think it would need to be delayed by at least 31 minutes, for 30 minute programmes, etc.

[arc123]

Originally Posted by arc123
How's the nice man from tv licensing going to prove that he's got a tv?

^^ Your Question ^^

Quote:
Originally Posted by hindle8907
and now when you buy a new tv or even tv related equipment the store takes all your details and passes that on to the tv licencing comapny

one possible answer ^^^^ Today 04:14 PM

But buying a tv does not evidence that you have it in the property you live in. You might buy a tv for your gran.

[arc123]

That's new too, they must have finally had to get modern

kind of. When the BBC charter was renewed for the next 10 years (a couple of years ago I think), it was quite widely accepted that it would be the last time that we could be charged to watch TV in the current manner we are accustomed to.

I'm not quite sure how the UK population as a whole accepts that we need a publicly funded broadcaster, that we HAVE to fund if we want to watch TV. How this gets around competition laws in the modern age is rediculous. I have heard of numerous people that refuse to pay the license fee on this basis alone (regardless of thier opinion if the quality of BBC programmes)...

And on this note - If you don't have a license, there is nothing that the license inspectors can do about it. There has been years of propaganda (telling us they can detect who is watching a tv by pointing a device at your house - ha ha really!) and threatening people with £1000 fines to scare them into paying. BAsic law is that a tv license inspector has no warrant rights to your house, unless you let them in. At which point they have full search warrants once in your house. So don't let them in. really is that simple. Just don't leave your windows open - there are documented cases of inspectors attempting to climb in through an open window!!

[punyXpress]

Why, when prosecutions are reported in the press are about 80% of the culprits female ?

Its run by fear and imtimidation, it cant really be enforced. Ive had them knock my door in a bedsit place, i just shut the door and ignored them, for 3 years after they found out it wasn't a single residence they would post letters and knock doors. They finally stopped, they cannot do anything without a warrant, which they cant get without sufficient proof, which they cant get. Any case that is prosecuted however will be advertised everywhere ofcourse, to intimidate.

Ill add that my mother had a tv license and i we both lived in the same house, so i wouldn't pay. It should be an optional subscription service like every other channel.

Them detector vans are really just a deterrent based on the panopticon theory

The BBC explained that the number of detector vans in operation, the location of their deployment and the frequency is not common knowledge. It relies on the public perception that the vans could be used at any time to catch evaders. This perception has built up since the first van was launched in 1952 and has been a key cost effective method in deterring people from evading their licence fee. The BBC state that to release information which relates to the number of detection devices and how often they are used will change the public’s perception of their effectiveness. If the deterrent effect is lost, the BBC believes that a significant number of people would decide not to pay their licence fee, knowing how the deployment and effectiveness of vans and other equipment will affect their chances of success in avoiding detection.

While it's technologically possible to detect emissions from television sets, some believe that the switch to LCD-based hardware, and the omnipresence of non-televisual computer monitors, has now made effective detection logistically unlikely—if there was ever a serious detection program in the first place.

,

I had a stand up row on the doorstep with a TV licence guy who tried to be all DI Burnside and told me he "suspected" I was using a TV and he wanted to come inn to check.

I told him I "suspected" he was a kiddy fiddler and that I wanted to come into his house and check his PC.

All of this was conducted in the street at top volume.

They do try to intimidate, but when they see you're not the slightest bit worried, they go away sharpish, now he just posts the standard "we said we'd call" thing through the door without bothering to knock.

These morons are just glorified door to door salesmen, employed by capita, just tell them to f-off and they will do it, admit nothing, they don't have legal powers.

And any TV licencing man trying to climb in through my window would leave feet first and horizontal.