TV licence

Dear Madam Lucy,
I think you are making an excellent choice, most of the programing on TV / Radio is trash. I live in the USA so we do not need a license to watch TV so I can not help you with the process of discontinuing the service. I not watched TV or listened to radio for over 4 years and do not miss it. I read history, look at YouTube videos of my choice. Take care Lisa43

 

Cancel the Direct Debit if appropriate and then that should be it

 

It can be done, but If you have any means of possibly receiving UK terrestial BBC TV/radio you wil unfortunately get some hassle.
If you have a sattelite or cable service like sky or virgin that supplies those channels that is another issue irrelevant of if you watch it or not. . in old analogue day you have to be able to show that you did not have a TV/radio tuner to able to receive the frequency..
Deleting all IPlayer and BBC product accounts would also be necessary.

 

Remember that it’s not just BBC TV channels.

From tvlicensing.co.uk...

You can cancel your licence if you no longer:

• watch or record programmes as they’re being shown on TV, on any channel or
• watch or stream programmes live on an online TV service (such as ITV Hub, All 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now TV, Sky Go, etc.) or
• download or watch any BBC programmes on iPlayer
• 
  Once we have cancelled your licence you can make a No Licence Needed declaration to stop letters being sent to the address for up to two years.
• 
  No need to worry about the radio stations; they’re free.

 

The live TV that it is refering to is the BBC (and possibly CH4) content. Youtube, facebook, or similar live content doesn't count. Just BBC TV or iPlayer.

You can just go to the website listed above and find the form to fill out (or call if you prefer) and you will be off the list. Easy peasy!

I have been off the list for years... so can relate to you that it is no problem.

 

Oh, I apologise then. It must have changed since I last looked.
I think it is still referring to an online TV service, rather than just streaming content. But I certainly don't know. Most of those listed do have live TV on them... You tube and Amazon though?
Seems more complicated since I last looked.

 

YouTube is not a live tv streaming service. So you don't need a licence for that.
You can also stream shows from channel 4, and itv channels without a licence. Just not stream them live.

 

I think thats reffering to say the BBC livestreaming a news feed event at the same time as they are using it for content on the news program... but this is normally a raw feed for example or a copy of a spaceX feed for example, where you could just watch the original.

 

The key word in all that is 'live' and any TV on iPlayer is also verboten - so Premiership football on Prime is out, live news in the Sky or AlJazeer app is out, and I suspect BBC programmes on YouTube are probably off-limits but any other catchup or streaming is fine.

TV Licencing have no special powers although they phrase their monthly letters in an authoritative and intimidating way, referring to sending 'officers' to inspect and obtaining a search warrant if you don't cooperate. Their 'officer' was probably hired in the Job Centre last week and a magistrate will only issue a warrant against a witness statement saying that, for instance, they could see through a window that you were watching a live programme (and they draw the line at falsifying those because proven wrong someone could get a prison sentence).

I've been ignoring them for over 25 years, legitimately - it's all rubbish and for the rare thing that isn't it's cheaper to by a friend a bottle of wine or takeaway and watch it at theirs, or go to the pub. Be strong, know your rights and you have nothing to fear.

 

I am from Canada, and certainly dont know it all, but I had no idea this was even a thing. Ugh. Hopefully our Government doesnt figure out that they can further soak money out of us with crap like this. Wow.

A license to watch tv. That's a new one on me.

 

When we cancelled we got a number of letters threatening us that we may get checked upon by a house caller. However whether it’s because we live very rurally or just they send the threats to all we never had a caller.
However once a year we get a letter asking to confirm we don’t need a license still.

 

I've not had a TV licence for years. I don't watch broadcast TV or live events on any of the online providers. I have Netflix, Prime and buy stuff off Apple occasionally.

Cancel your licence if it's not expiring anyway and also any direct debits. You can make a declaration that you are not watching live TV but I don't. I can't think of any other area in everyday life that requires a declaration every two years that I am not breaking the law!

They just assume everyone should have a licence so you'll get letters every couple of weeks. Mine go straight in the bin. I had a visit once. Stated I don't watch as above and they went away.

 

Goes way back to the start of public broadcasting! Everything was state run in those days a license fee was introduced to fund it all. When they eventually had other channels they were able to show commercials to fund themselves! Things have obviously moved on a lot since then. We still don't have commercials on BBC radio or television channels at all. The BBC gets a lot of stick from both sides of the political spectrum. Accused of being elitist by the left and to left leaning by the right. It might be state owned but it doesn't mind "asking questions" of its masters either! Personally I enjoy the BBC, especially the radio stations! I never listen to commercial stations at all, just not my thing! I do understand people object to paying for many reasons but I don't have an answer myself!

 

What is the situation in the U.K. as far as paying for internet goes? Do they have similar fees and such if you want to have an internet connection in your home? In the U.S the streaming services, cable companies, and government seem to be wise to one another. There have been attempts to cap internet data usage and charge more for people who stream.

 

Wouldn't it be easiest to get someone else to pay for it, then you're hassle free?

 

Haha. True. Let's all go live in the fantasy version. The real world version kinda sucks right now!

 

Wow. I never heard of such a thing until you posted about it.

In the USA, they just added a ton of taxes on cable TV and Satellite. I guess they figured that so few people get TV over the airways anymore that it wasn't worth trying to figure out how to create a new tax and collect it.

That said, we used to have taxes on each telephone back in the days when people had phones wired into their houses. When the phone monopoly fell apart and people could buy phones they were suppose to register them. NO ONE DID and it became a forgotten issue as cell phones grew in popularity. So like TV they just added a bunch of taxes to cell phones.

When I type this, I cringe as one of the reasons we fought for independence was over taxes. And it seems we have as many taxes as you do. And I have nightmares of what's coming to pay for all of the "free" stuff some of our far left wing politicians want to "give" out.

 

No. You just have to pay your internet providers charge. I believe the market for providing internet connections in the UK is more competitive and cheaper than the US.

 

You can get capped usage. But it's not so common now. I have always just had an unlimited data contract.
Most still sting you with a phone line rental charge. Even if like me, I never use it.

 

My wife and I got rid of our tv in 2008. I don't know anything about the television licensing in your country, but I would be shocked if you end up missing it once you've been without it for a while.