Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

Over the last 4 months or so the major discussions with friends and family have been, do I need a TV Licence, Well after having a lot of dealings with BBC TV Licensing (Capita) I can tell you that you do not need a TV Licence just for owning 1or10 televisions you only need a TV Licence, If you Use (Please note the word use ) a Television to receive any broadcast programmes, you do not need a TV Licence if you use your TV as a monitor for a Computer, CCTV or a games consol, BUT TV Licensing officers will do their best to convince you that you do need a TV Licence if you own a Television.

Now lets talk about BBC Licensing (Capita) Capita are the company authorised to collect the Licence Fee, their officers are the ones that knock on your door if you do not have a valid TV Licence and will try and convince you that you do need a TV Licence if you own a Television, Remember you do not need a TV Licence just for owning a Television.
What powers do TV Licensing Officers have, the simple answer to that question is: None.
You do not have to talk to them, you do not need to sign anything.
And They have no right to enter you home, (you can also take away their right to enter any part of your property, including your garden path.) this part can be answered at a later date if need be.
There have been documented cases were BBC Licensing (capita) have tried to intimidate occupants in their own Homes, used threatening behaviour and also make force statements, Remember TV Licensing have no more powers than the milkman.
If you need to ask a question regarding the need for a TV licence you can go to www.tvlicensing.biz this forum can answer most if not all of your questions
regarding TV Licensing .
.

Ron Sinclair (thejokerman)

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

:not_ripe: every one needs a tv licence its tight i think we pay for to much as it is :not_ripe:

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

this practice of tv licence's is out of date and well beyond any sort of justification

scrap the tv licence and make the bbc earn their money liek all the other channels do

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

no the bbc should be free of advertising. the tv licence is well justified.

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

The BBC is full of adverts for there own services and programs.
What is wrong is that you pay money for Sky TV and Cable and you still get adverts.

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

sky one can take a 40 min program like stratrek generations and fill the rest of the hour with adsverts

considering how much we have to pay for subscription i do think they take the pee a little with how many adverts they have and how frequent they are during the tv shows

oh and skyone for example is actualy worse than the bbc for repeats and quite often run the exact same episodes of malcom in the middle and the simpsons the day after at the same time infact the more i think about it the more i think sky is a huge rip off :mad:

edit:

bear in mind you can cancel your cable/sky tv unlike the tv licence which is compulsary purchase of a service you dont want simply because your tv is capable of picking up a particular broadcast , they should make tv's that are unable to recieve bbc broadcasts so that you dont have to pay for their service

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

wkd_one - I have read several of your posts and you do seem to get very excited, especially for only a junior+ member ;)

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

keep practicing and you will soon be able to read them all :p

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

How to stop TV Licensing knocking on your door

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[your name & address]


TV Licensing,
Bristol.
BS98 1TL

Dear Sir or Madam:

With regard to your TV licence renewal notification, I can inform you that I no longer require a TV licence. There is no equipment installed or used at this address that is capable of receiving broadcast TV programmes. I state this in full awareness of the requirements set out in Part 4 of the Communications Act 2003 on Licensing of TV Reception: also, I am fully aware of the requirements on TV licensing set out in the Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004.

You are invited to reply to this letter in acknowledgement that I have informed you of my legal position. My stated legal position is that there is no TV receiving equipment installed or used at [my address]: as a consequence, I do not require to have a TV licence for this address.

I expect no further correspondence from you apart from a reply to this letter. In particular, I do not expect to receive from you, reminders that this address is unlicensed. Furthermore, I do not expect to receive from you, correspondence suggesting that I might be using TV receiving equipment at this address requiring investigation by TV Licensing Enforcement Officers.

In addition, there is considerable mention that TV Licensing Enforcement Officers call at (TV) unlicensed addresses and aggressively investigate the situation at these addresses in the belief that there is TV licence evasion at the address. I will not tolerate any visit by a TV Licensing Enforcement Officer at my address. Therefore, I withdraw from TV Licensing, its employees and its agents, the implied right of access to my property at [my address]. Henceforth, no employee or agent of TV Licensing qualifies as an invitee to my property. Any such person who ventures onto my property at [my address], will be trespassing on my land, and I shall not hesitate to seek legal redress for the offence caused.

I hope that I have made my position clear.


Signed,


[your name]

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

did read something along the lines that not only the BBC but SKY ect were putting cases together in the EU courts about banning free to view Tv through your pc like online stuff ( there's lots out there and its growing) its all about copyrights, they want to impose a sort of computer licence but that must be along time away..but could happen

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

yep BBC is the best value for money

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

Until my marriage to Willow, I spent a year in rented accomodation. Willow "nicked" my T.V. (Most of my time was spent round her house anyway) so I wrote to the appropriate authorities and informed them that I no longer possessed a T.V. and was surprised to receive a letter acknowledging that fact and that they would contact me again in 18 months time!

It could well be that the dreaded "detector" van may well have come up my street, but if it did, I was unaware of it.

In my letter. I asked about radios as I had heard that not only household radios were covered by the TV license but also radios fitted into cars belonging to the occupants but they seemed unconcerned about this.

Do YOU have a radio in your house jokerman?:p

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

I think you will find, Jokerman, that you need a TV licence if you have equipment that is CAPABLE of receiving a TV signal. We don't have one, but we have been badgered in the past by the Licensing Authority who went so far as to virtually accuse us of lying, by saying they would come round to check. Needless to say, they were not let in. It seems to have quietened down now, after 3 phone calls and several letters, but if it starts again I will certainly use the draft letter, for which, thanks.

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

The law states that you do not need a Licence if you use a radio at home or in your car.

And yes I do have a radio.


No you do not need a TV Licence just for owning a TV or 10 TVs, I am typing this on a LCD TV, its used as a pc monitor and I have a LCD TV in my living room just for DVDs and I don’t have a TV Licence, if you look at my picture you will see on the right, But TVL (capita) will tell you that you do need a TV Licence and they will send round there bully boys, you can find out all about TV Licensing on a very good forum www.tvlicensing.biz I have been fighting TVL (Capita) for a very long time and also taken one of there so called Officers (bully boys) to court and won the case, He lost his job.

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

Apparently the BBC has been breaking the law by hosting shows and events featuring live music at their Television Centre in West London

The BBC has appealed to staff to make up the numbers in studio audiences after it found it was breaking the law by hosting shows at Television Centre.
E-mails have been sent to staff asking them to form the studio audiences for shows such as Top of the Pops.
Television studios need to be licensed if the public is admitted to events featuring live music.
The corporation is in the process of obtaining a premises licence to cover the complex in west London.
The situation emerged after a Red Hot Chili Peppers show held in the forecourt of Television Centre last month, as part of a recording for Top of the Pops.
Public entertainment
The 2003 Licensing Act, which came into force last year, requires some public entertainment to be licensed.
At the time of the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, the BBC said it had originally been advised that it did not require a licence. Studio audiences have been admitted to the building since it opened in 1960.
But following discussions with Hammersmith and Fulham Council, the local authority which covers Television Centre, it has been advised that a licence was necessary.
A BBC statement said most programme production at the Shepherd's Bush complex would continue as usual.
"The majority of BBC programmes will be entirely unaffected but we may need to make some changes to a few studio shows involving audiences," it said.
But staff members are being asked to make up the studio audience for shows such as Top of the Pops and Strictly Dance Fever until the situation is resolved.
"We're asking for your help, and also hoping we can offer you some fun at the same time," director general Mark Thompson told staff in an e-mail.
Audience helpline
A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson said the situation was not down to new laws.
She said: "Some types of entertainment in front of public audiences have needed to be licensed since at least 1963 in London and 1982 in the rest of the country.
"The Licensing Act 2003 has not changed that. Whether or not a licence is required in any particular set of circumstances is rightly a matter for the local licensing authority."
Members of the public due to attend shows at Television Centre in May are advised to call the corporation's information helpline on 0208 576 1743.

There is the link to that story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4762783.stm

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

Culture Media and Sport

A television licence is required to install or use a television receiver, as defined in regulations made by the Secretary of State, rather than a television set. Members of the public who do not require a television licence are under no obligation to inform TV Licensing of the fact.
The link: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/...ence#g69812.r0

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

So how do you explain a difference between a TV receiver and a TV set? Or is the person who made the comment talking rubbish?

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/images/mps/10651.jpg Shaun Woodward (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Culture, Media & Sport) Hansard source

He is part of the government ?? You tell me.

A TV must not be capable of receiving broadcast TV, ( TV detuned ) and not connected to a TV
Aerial/Dish

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

You can apparently watch all of the BBC's Apprentice series on broadband, how do you stand watching that if you do not have a television and also a television licence?

I also read that soon all the back catalogue of BBC programmes will be able to be watched on broadband.

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

Hi Garinda

I take it you mean how do you stand if you don't have a TV licence? If so, the answer is that it is perfectly legal to watch the archived programmes. C4 are doing it with precious episodes of Lost, also. Because it is not a -real-time', 'live' stream, but a per-request viewing of an archived file, there is no requirement to have a television licence, therefore viewing the programme through such a medium is perfectly legal.

If you have a TV card on your PC though, this complicates things.

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

Thank goodness I have a TV licence and I actually watch the damn thing - makes things so much easier!

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

reet then you lot.Come an get me.I receive B.B.C. and I.T.V. and i get it all for nowt.I will not buy a liscence and refuse to.So come and get me.

By the way i get it over satellite and live in Bavaria, south germany.


HA! HA!

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

CIVIL LIBERTYS http://www.civilliberty.org.uk/newsdetail.php?newsid=8

Abolish the TV License fee.
14th February 2006

Lee Barnes
Civil Liberty supporter Graham Martin Tasker is being sent to prison for refusing to pay his TV license until the native British poor and disadvantaged, disabled, unemployed, elderly, mentally ill are given parity of treatment with asylum seekers in Britain.

He will be a Prisoner of Conscience and Civil Liberty will be demonstrating outside the Court at his court appearance in a few weeks time.

Details will be posted here shortly.
The facts

Using television receiving equipment without the appropriate licence is a criminal offence subject to a maximum fine of £1,000. In 2003 a total of 96,872 people were prosecuted in the UK for licence fee evasion. No-one can be imprisoned solely for licence fee evasion. However, if an evasion fine is not paid, then magistrates have the power to impose a prison sentence. In England and Wales, 28 people were imprisoned in 2004 for non-payment of licence evasion fines (the average sentence was 14 days). In Scotland 18 people were imprisoned in 2004.


In the top secret document ' The Revised Tenancy Agreement April 2001' for asylum seekers in private accommodation - produced by the Secretary of State for the Home Office, acting through the Immigration and Nationality Directorate it states that ;

“For Each Living/Dining Room 1 new twenty inch screen colour television complete with licence which shall be renewed at each annual anniversary of the Start Date throughout the Term.”

Native Brits, of course, have to wait until they are 75 to get a free TV licence, and non-payment of this iniquitous tax is the biggest single ‘crime’ that puts British women in prison. A full copy of the 'top secret' tenancy agreement for asylum seekers can be found here.


FACT: each year approximately 100,000 people are prosecuted for non-payment of the TV Licence
FACT: 68% of these prosecutions are against women (this is because when the TV Licence inspectors call during the day it's usually the woman who's at home)
FACT: out of the total of 100,000 prosecutions 98% result in a fine causing ever greater poverty for many already impoverished people. Children go hungry as their mothers cannot afford to feed them and old people do not heat their homes as a result.
FACT: because TV Licence evasion is a strict liability offence these cases have to be heard in a magistrates court, and the court has no compulsion to allow fines to be paid by instalments.
FACT: there is no compulsion on Magistrates to means test people who appear in court
FACT: if you do not pay the fine a warrant will be issued for your arrest
FACT: over the years thousands of women have been imprisoned in the United Kingdom because they were not able to pay fines imposed upon them for not having a TV Licence. Almost all of these women were on benefits and around half of them had dependent children.
The propaganda put out by TV Licensing portrays TV Licence evaders as criminals and as the undeserving scum of the earth. The reality is, a large number of the people they prosecute are poor and disadvantaged, disabled, unemployed, elderly, mentally ill and every one of those 100,000 prosecutions causes stress, misery, fear, and in some cases ruined lives for the individuals concerned; and what you have to remember in all this is that it's just about the entirely harmless act of watching television.

Civil Liberty are about to campaign for the total abolition of the TV license fee.

For more information – try here.

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

Like i said send em on they can come and get me.By the way not bragging but i have a 42" screen

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

Sorry Jokerman the wife said she could not go back to a 20" after enjoying a 42"

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

I was going to be rude, but have bit my lip, as this week I'm trying to be nice.:D


My licence costs me well over a week's income, yet asylum seekers don't need one???


Now I'm defintely thinking rude things!!!!:mad:

Re: Do I Need A Tv Licence
 

....another thing that makes me think bad thoughts is that Jonathon Ross gets the equivalent of £750 per minute for his Saturday morning show on Radio 2, that is on top of the contract for his chat show on BBC1.