[jambutty]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

Heehee, I'm only 36 years behind the times! Radio licences were phased out in 1971!!! I suppose they can't imagine anyone having a radio and not a TV nowadays.

I've been having a google and found this little gem. I seem to remember that if you had a tranny in your caravan you were covered as long as there was no-one else back home listening to the wireless there. IN which case you needed two licences.

It’s almost the same for TV’s.

If you have a portable TV outside the home it is covered by the home license providing that it is not mains powered.

However you can have a mains powered TV outside the home (like in a caravan) and you don’t need a license for it PROVIDING that no one at home is watching the home TV. Don’t ask me how they police that.

You can have a TV in every room in your house with just the one TV license UNLESS a room is rented out to a paying lodger. He would then require his own license. I’m not quite sure how that applies to a son or daughter with a job and paying board though. I think they would be exempt.

Did you know that if you are watching an unlicensed TV in someone else’s home not only can they be fined but you can be fined also even if your own home is licensed?

Did you also know that when you buy a new TV from a bona fide retailer, the retailer is obliged to notify the appropriate authority of the address where the TV is to be installed? For instance, if you buy a TV from Comet they will ask you for your name and address under the guise of registering your TV for the manufacturer’s guarantee. I’m not sure what happens if you take the set with you and refuse to give your name and address.

However on balance I think that the TV license is very good value as the bulk of the money goes to fund the BBC and the BBC does a lot with the money. Radio stations by the dozen and many TV channels free to view.

In days of old with ‘cable’ radio from Uni-Relay and similar businesses you still had to have a “Wireless License”.