5 reasons why you can cancel your TV licence tomorrow
By Paul Smith
The BBC may be as British as shepherd’s pie, queuing and Dick Van Dyke, but that doesn’t mean you’re happy parting with £142.50 for a television licence. The concept of paying for a paper television licence is not only antiquated, but increasingly unnecessary in this uber-shiny digital age.
What would you miss out on if you didn’t one one? Aside from live events on television, very little. Whether you’re an impoverished student, an infuriated pensioner, Noel Edmonds or just tight with the notes, here are five reasons why you can manage without a TV licence, or even a TV:
Radio is as free as a bird
Strictly speaking BBC radio isn’t free – all BBC output is funded by the television licence – but the proliferation of radio tuners – both analogue and digital – plus its availability online and in mobile handsets means you won’t be taken to court for listening to the Archers in the shower.
There’s an abundance of news content available from other sources
Fifteen years ago, if there was a disaster occurring in the world, you’d usually hear about it first on the radio, and you’d keep listening up until the point you could find a television. Now, breaking news is available online before anywhere elsewhere – not only on established websites such as BBC and CNN, but also on Twitter from the likes of tourist Janis Krums, which is changing the game again. Online streaming mean news and weather reports are available on-demand, so there’s not much reason to turn on the News At Ten.
You don’t need a licence to watch the BBC iPlayer or other non-live services
A quirk of tv licence’s outdated legislation is that it only covers live broadcasts. That means for on-demand services such as the BBC iPlayer that show content after it’s appeared on live television, you don’t need a licence – a point made by the BBC in both their guidelines for watching programmes on a mobile device and on the BBC blog of Ashley Highfield, former Director of BBC Future Media & Technology.
The BBC iPlayer has access to hundreds of hours of television are available to watch online, for free. Some shows aren’t available because of rights issues, but these are the exception rather than the rule. Programmes from across all the BBC’s analogue and digital stations are available for up to seven days on the iPlayer.
The rules mean not only are BBC programmes free to watch online after broadcast, but so are shows from other broadcasters; there’s the ITV Player, Channel 4’s 4 On Demand and 5’s Demand 5. All three services offer programmes from across their schedules for free, for 28 days. You need to register with 5 before you can use their service, where you also have to option to rent and buy programmes.
Sky offers two services – a live TV service and TV on Demand. Although you don’t need to be a Sky subscriber for the live TV option, there is no mention of requiring a television licence – in fact the blurb actively encourages you to watch the service “at work… or even a wi-fi hotspot”. Strictly speaking however, watching a live television service requires a TV licence. Regardless, you’re not missing out on much – neither one will let you watch Bauer kick terrorists in the face on Sky One. Meh.
What you can’t find On-Demand, you’ll find somewhere else
The DVD recently celebrated its tenth birthday in the UK, and now accounts for nearly 90 per cent of all film and television sales. Demand has driven pricing into the floor, meaning you can pick up plenty of titles and box sets for a few quid. Again, no need for a television since most computers have a DVD player, although you’ll obviously have to sit out if you own a MacBook Air.
There’s also the likes of iTunes for picking up brand new television shows and film releases; there are occasional sales on classic and older titles, so it’s worth a snoop now and again.
There are alternatives to a widescreen television
So you’ve got all this digital content to watch – what do you watch it on? No TV doesn’t mean you have to go without the big picture. 32″ and 42″ widescreen monitor are readily available, and while they still cost several hundred pounds, they’re not so absurdly priced that they can’t be considered as a replacement for a television.
Posted in Resources and tools, comment, tech May 5th, 2009 | 50 Comments
feral trolley of the week
I haven’t had a TV for 2 years now. I told TV Licensing this 2 years ago, yet every 4 weeks I get a letter reminding me to get one.
Pricks.
Be careful, they might catch you with their high-tech detection equipment, They can tell if you’re watching TV by looking at your windows to see if there are any flickering lights, and listen at your door for Edmonds saying, “Deal, or no deal?”
Aparrently, it costs more to run the detection team than they recoup in catching people, surely, that’s a waste of license fees?
Unfortunately in order to legally own a TV (or anything with a TV tuner e.g. video, DVD recorders etc) you legally have to have a TV licence. Even if you never watch ANY BBC programs. So if you want to watch ANY television that isn’t streamed across the internet you must pay…good old BBC £142+ for 2 channels of mainly C*ap.
Your forgot to mention that BBC shows lots of rubbish programs and pre-historic films!
FUCK THE BBC!!!!and their TV TAX!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJuEmZLJTDk
evilnoodle you’re talking shit, there’s no requirement to have a license simply for owning equipment that is capable of receiving a signal.
if it is tuned in and plugged in, that’s another matter, but if a television set is detuned and not being used to receive live broadcasts, and only used for DVDs/games consoles etc, there is no need for a license.
I mainly watch BBC2 and BBC4 and am happy to pay for quality broadcasting. If you don’t appreciate the quality of the BBCs sports coverage or Attenborough’s documentaries or the science programmes on BBC2 or the music documentaries from BBC4 or Newsnight and their News coverage (although Channel 4 news is pretty good) ….. then you probably think that “Entertainment News” is all the news you need and I guess you would resent paying the license fee and happily hand over £40 a month to watch live cosmetic surgery, Fox News and the Adam Sandler season on Sky.
Agreed, evilnoodle is talking from his dirt pipe – you DON’T need a license to own any TV equipment. You will need a license to receive & watch a broadcast signal via an antenna.
If you’re watching DVD, recorded material via PC, games consoles, VCR or any broadcast via any watch again service you DON’T need a license – if the Gestapo come knocking then you can tell them to sling their hook once they’ve checked you’re breaking the law…
If you’re looking for a way to watch TV on your PC/Mac/Linux computer of the Internet (without a traditional TV tuner), check out tvcatchup.com. You can stream pretty much all the Freeview channels, and it’s free of chrage.
It works through a web player on the website, but they have also just launched a desktop app (based on Adobe AIR so it works on all 3 OS’s) which is looking very promising.
No one WANTS to have to pay £143 a year to fund the BBC but what is the alternative? Sanitised advertiser controlled content and chasing viewers with shows aimed at the lowest common denominator.
Not to mention most of our successful TV exports are from the BBC. For Sky (main channels, movies plus two multirooms) I pay almost £70 a month (£27 + £17 + £10 (x2)) and mainly watch BBC channels and the Ch4 channels anyway.
When I first moved into my flat I genuinely didn’t tune or use my TV to receive broadcasts for 2 months.
Despite this I was eventually bullied into buying one thanks to increasingly threatening letters.
Should have stood my ground.
Radio is as free as a bird
You don’t need a licence to watch the BBC iPlayer or other non-live services
That’s just a little bit selfish, no? If everyone did then we’d have no iPlayer nor BBC Radio. We’d be left with commercial radios (which do *not* compare to the BBC) and ITV/Channel 4/Channel 5 as the “main” stations, who are seriously struggling for money even though their quality also doesn’t match the BBC!
I guess you could watch ITVPlayer or 4OD free online if the BBC went- good luck finding the consistently good programmes on there that the BBC provides, especially when there isn’t even the competition of the Beeb forcing them to produce half decent stuff!
Also, only the BBC is forced by the government to provide certain things, such as “Promoting education and learning”, “Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities”. We wouldn’t have BBC Alba for example (which is an excellent idea), and there’d be next to no kids’ TV!
I only have freeview and I can’t get the BBC on freeview or terrestrial because the reception is so bad on each of them…I never watch it as a result and pay the £142…does anyone else have this problem?
I have a TV and DVD player, and I only watch DVDs… they keep pesteting me to get a license too, but I do NOT and never have received a TV signal here.
Your all talking out your pie holes – the license fee is cheap – I would happily pay £140 (even more) to have Jonathan Ross on my screen
I’m happy to pay the license fee. I wouldn’t necessarily mind if some of it went to other broadcasters to support ‘quality’ programming but we’d certainly be in a sorry situation without it.
Take away all the BBC channels, all the UKTV channels (whose schedules rely on programmes initially funded by the licence fee) and the choice of decent home produced TV suddenly looks pretty slim.
And the suggestion that you shouldn’t pay the licence fee because “you don’t need a licence to watch the BBC iPlayer” is absurd. If no one paid a licence fee there would be no iPlayer to watch in the first place!
personaly, i think the licence fee should be increased, and be mandatory too all households with a 18k+ income, unless they can prove that they cannot recieve the signal, or afford to pay it. if the licence were say, 200, more could be invested into better channels. like it or not, T.V. is an expansive and growing market, and it needs secure foundations.
Several comments on here are misinformed.
And why link to tvcatchup.com? Yes, it offers freeview, but it is no more legal than watching it on a tv without a license.
What a load of toss.
Scrap the license fee, get rid of your TV, only watch iPlayer on your monitor, and watch the quality of programming plummet to sub-ITV standards.
Worse still, watch the UK’s standing in the world become a shadow of its former self.
Without the BBC the rest of the world woudn’t know who we are.
SO much bullshit from people who watch BBC content (you know you do pikeys ) but want to dodge the fee.Show some semblance of community cohesion and support creative content not driven by pure;y commercial constrsints.
This comment sponsored by Pepsi – the taste for a new soulless generation.
Bunch of twats with more money than sense!
keep paying the BBC and getting crap in return. Put all bbc programs on pay per view and don’t send those facists to knock on our doors calling us liars and threatning us with fake motives!
And stop paying road tax while your at it ‘pshh’ roads what have they ever done for me. And might as well drive without insurance cos it costs me a bloody fortune and i’ve never had an accident.
Taxes, for suckers. Never been seriously ill and I drive an uninsured car so I don’t see why I should have to put money into the pot for the NHS and public transport. I just work cash in hand while claiming benefits for my nineteen fictional children. When I drive my dangerously unsafe car I tend to do it one handed as the other is used to text on my new Iphone that although I begrudge paying £145 for TV i’ll happily lock myself into an 18 month contract and piss away £800.
Nice blog however the BBC is pushing for a change in the law for the BBC TV Licence to replace the TV one. The lefties will be kicking and screaming before their funding is stopped
Whilst I agree that the TV Licencing company go about collecting the fee the wrong way (”we know where you live”) – it’s pretty good value for money.
Whilst I agree that the TV Licencing company go about collecting the fee the wrong way (”we know where you live”) – it’s pretty good value for money.
A trip to the cinema costs what? £6/7? So if you have 20 nights in watching the Beeb then it’s probably already been worth it.
I just think that the quality of programming is SOOO much higher than the likes of ITV, Channel 4, etc.
Comedy like Have I Got News For You, QI and Little Britain.
Drama like Ashes to Ashes, Life On Mars, the various soaps (that I don’t watch, mind).
Entertainment like Top Gear.
Some amazing chat shows.
And if you think about what the Beeb has given us in the past!! Blackadder, Monty Python, Only Fools and Horses, One Foot in the Grave, DOCTOR WHO. It’s all good stuff.
Most certainly knocks the socks off the commercial channels. Do we really want everything to be as shockingly bad as the last three episodes of Red Dwarf produced by Dave? I think not.
@Random Pikey Spot on except I managed to unlock my iPhone without singing up to a n 02 contract so didn’t waster the £800
In all seriousness I am considering not getting a license next time. I only occasionally watch football. I think this decision will be vetoed be the misuses though as she likes her soaps.
TV, it’s all shit.
ITV/Sky is atrocious – absolute junk. But to believe that the BBC is any better is just LOL.
The BBC generally just see what ITV are doing and copy it anyway – essentially lowest common denominator viewing.
“The BBC generally just see what ITV are doing and copy it anyway – essentially lowest common denominator viewing.”
It depends what shows you’re talking about. Although, the only examples that I can actually think of are the other way around…
Earlier Show –> Later Show
How Can You Solve a Problem Like Maria (BBC) –> You’re The One I Want (ITV)
Life On Mars/Ashes to Ashes (BBC) –> Boy Meets Girl (ITV)
Strictly Come Dancing (BBC) –> Dancing On Ice (ITV)
Doctor Who (BBC) –> Primevil (ITV)
In fact, I’m not the only one who disagrees with your above statement…
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=525291
In fact, even Mr Grade (ITV Controller) agreed that the BBC was the content-generator…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1544879/Grade-blasts-creatively-bankrupt-ITV-shows.html
“We have been very quick to copy other people’s formats,” he said. “We’ve stuck the word celebrity on the front of a copied format and pretended that’s good enough. It is creatively bankrupt to be honest and we have got to wean ourselves off the habit.”
TV would actually die if it weren’t for the BBC. Whether it should find a way of becoming self-funding or not is another matter – as are the methods of getting people to pay the fee – but I do know that it’d be terrible for it to ever have to continue with less funding than it has now…
“TV would actually die if it weren’t for the BBC. Whether it should find a way of becoming self-funding or not is another matter – as are the methods of getting people to pay the fee – but I do know that it’d be terrible for it to ever have to continue with less funding than it has now…”
What utter BS Ducky ! The country as a whole (not just tv) would would be much better off without the bbc ,they are a vile anti democratic & anti libertarian group who rely on thuggery to keep themselves in existence .Contrary to what the bbc believe they will one day be brought to book for their actions & the monies they’ve extorted from their victims will be paid back .
The sad fact is the BBC is totally screwed. More and more people have realised that the BBC is now the most biased/socialist organisation in the world… and that is saying something. If the BBC went subscription tommorrow then even the lefties ‘happily paying double’ wouldn’t be able to fund this evil behemoth. The BBC are morally bankrupt (just like the Labour party)… and that’s why they use violence and intimidation in order to get their money. The mafia organisation the BBC use is called “TV Licencing”.
Another sad fact is that the BBC have vast numbers of people being payed to suppress the truth on the internet. There’s already a swine flu of them on here. BBC lefties are like a cancerous virus… they spread rapidly and need to be illiminated.
Dear lefties on here: how much does the average BBC COINPRO lefty idiot earn per year for spending all day on forums spreading lefty BS? ‘Mossy’ and ‘Ian’ on the DigitalSpy forum are PRIME examples of how the BBC screws the public over to spread it’s lies and propaganda.
Do you lefty trolls realise that you are just [Lenin] communist ‘useful idiots’ ?
Probably not. How sad.
The BBC socialist? lol
Look at the coverage of the G20 (and any other protest).
The BBC is as neo-liberal as they come, they simply follow the government line.
Oh and Anthony, lenin never actually used the phrase “useful idiots” – that was a western invention.
You need to get out of your house for a few hours a day, drop the right-wing conspiracies. Are you a 9-11 troofer [sic] too?
I now live in France due to the way the UK is soooo fucked up, financial and morally bankrupt.
I pay a €120 french TV license which is compusarily included in my tax habitation. None of the ‘we know where you live or on the database’ shit.
I watch ALL UK TV via a £60 free to air satelite kit and pay the BBC fuck all
The channels are effectively highjacked off skys Astra 2a . Do I feel guilty…………….NO.
The beeb should become pay per view and will very quickly crash and burn due to the lack of subscribers to the endless shit they churn out. Nazi style money grabbing ‘we know where you live’ bastards
I understand that in the Netherlands public broadcasting is funded by a tax supplement. This would save the cost of collection and cut the cost of 11.5million pa the BBC (ie us) pay for litigation and insurance annually. It is obviously not right that an internationally available BBC (particularly web content and iplayer) is funded solely through a TV licence (ie tax) and people who earn less pay a greater percentage of their income to fund the BBC.
[...] another attempt by the entertainment industry to turn your computer into a television, it was announced yesterday that the Creative Alliance, made up of representatives from the [...]
AnthonyS – quite ironic you call people “trolls” when you make claims like “the BBC is the most biased organisation in the world” – which is obviously a load of rubbish (or your view of the world is seriously warped).
[...] Here at BW headquarters, erudite reporter Paul Smith told us last week, how the BBC’s so-far brilliant iPlayer can be used to watch telly without a TV License. [...]
So finally – am I supposed to buy a license for watching live streams online or TV channels broadcasted from other countries ?
This whole tv license issue sounds like a total crap to me as I just moved in UK and never had to pay for TV before – nor in my country ,nor in the USA …
That’s right, you ONLY need a TV license to watch LIVE TV! Including online!
I rang them up and told them I only watch DVDs, 4 Catch Up and BBC iPlayer using my macbook to 27″ TV/Monitor.
Yet, I still get their stupid letters through the post giving me warnings. Ha **** them!
I live in an area where there is no TV unless you have Sky as the terrestrial signal doesn’t get through here and we don’t get cable either. Do I actually need to have a TV licence? I don’t watch any live feed channels, and to me it seems like a total con!
[...] talked about BBC funding in passing before, as a side issue to that of technology, and how consumers might fund the TV license in the digital age. Ultimately though, it’s a another tax that most of us have to pay, regardless of your views [...]
I think why fund a service that helps to idolize something like M Jackson and makes dross like J Ross a Multi Millionare a foul mouth low life.
I was not allowed to post the word Sc*m on one of their sites yet Mr Ross can f and blind freely and be paid stupid money for it.
Why pay money to a corrupt and bias corporation, Media is controlled by a few to express the views of the corporations, government and of ignorant journalist.
Would love to see the downfall of TV, that might encourage people to do a bit more with their lives than take on biased views of the few. And to save a bit of hard earned money that would stop lining the pockets of the greedy few!
Well, I’m shocked!! So many people have nothing better to do than watch TV!!! I am also shocked that some people are so short sighted that they think £143 is cheap! It is when you have money, granted! The only really sensible comment was the suggestion that below a certain income you don’t pay, or get a discount. Before any of you jump in with, “oh yes, that’s right punish the worker!!” Think before you react. I used to be a person that wouldn’t think about the TV license, having worked and earned a good salary, after illness, and a period of not working for several years ( I am getting better now), all savings are gone! Fortunate to have savings, but I don’t now. I lost my home, my lovely car and have had to change everything in my life! I have recently been prosecuted twice for not having a license, because they would not allow me to pay a reduced payment by direct debit, they would only allow me to do this by their payment card. As I couldn’t leave the house and then was in hospital for 6 months, I couldn’t pay using this option, which I explained over and over again. Tax payers have just paid for me to go to court twice to explain this, and only to reduce the fine and allow me to pay in installments at an affordable rate. I still need a license but can’t afford the license and the fines! So I have had no choice but to remove my TV from normal use. I don’t miss it that much as I don’t watch TV often anyway. It seems ridiculous however, that there are a lot of us that simply can’t afford it in the 21st Century!! The Government are eager to get everyone online because communication is, according to them, so vitally important! They have failed with the TV license system so badly, We should at least have the choice despite our circumstances. So while a few of you rant on about which channel is better that another, slagging each other off at having differing taste (which is immensley childish) perhaps you could actually think of productive ways to work together to instigate change instead!
I dont watch bbc (jonatan ross,eastender,never mind the b….wath a lot of rubbish)+a lot repeat.but I watch ch 4 itv or Italy with a dish .I dont anderstand way I had to pay a licence so all those bbc managers the pay multymilion wages to them self for that crap they produce should be to us to decide
I won’t give you a song and dance but the tv tax is so wrong in every way least of all that the bbc has so many commercial ventures including world and america but closer to homd dave,dave ja vue,yesterday,uktv gold,and many more,I stopped paying mine long ago and have had no problems as they need you to admit to watching live tv and sign the statement well if you just close the door and say nothing then they can’t do a thing as they have no power whatever see the tpuc website on tv licence.for all those pro licence fee on here Don’t expect me to pay for what you like,if I shop in tesco I don’t pay asda just because they exist.
We all have different opinions…and they’re all valid in our own little worlds…There’s no need to be nasty to anybody…especially strangers…It must be hard for certain people to come to terms with the fact that their opinion is just that…Their opinion…probably the only people affected by it are their long suffering partners and their pets…
I was about to pay for a licence but don’t think it’s fair I should pay the full fee. I have just moved into my own flat. Before this I lived in a house share where the TV licence was paid for by the landlord. When I entered my details on the licensing website I noticed that the monthly payments were a little high (around £28). I realised that they want me to pay for a full fee up until June and then I would start to pay what I expected to pay (around £11) for the next year. Why should I pay a full fee for only half a years use? I haven’t paid yet and intend on ringing them next week to hear what they have to say for themselves! Will report back next week.
TV licensing operate using fear. They intimidate people into paying with their constant warning letters and threats of the shame of court appearance etc. A lot of people don’t pay because they are poor. If I had more money I would probably get a nice telly and a licence,as it is I stick to i player. I only watch BBC programmes and hate adverts.
If the licence was a sliding scale according to income then a lot more folk would pay up. By the way on my old estate in inner city Manchester they came round with the cops and tricked their way into the blocks to intimidate the poor,single mothers etc. Pathetic. And I really don’t want to contribute to Jonathan Ross’s massive salary in any way or the salary of the anti Palestinian civilan director general dickhead whatever his name is.
If you’ve got a computer you don’t really need a telly as well-I don’t miss it and am soon bored after a little futile channel hopping at friends houses!
Get real people . . . The vast majority of the TV license is a hidden Tax going straight into the treasury coffers. Only a very small proportion goes to the Beeb. (which is why they are so hard up) TV licensing IS a TAX on owing a TV ! If they don’t get their money through the TV license something else will have to go up. Why are the worlds governments so afraid of running a car on H20 – it is feasible – Because they can’t put a tax on water ! I am amazed that they are encouraging Solar Power – somewhere down the line they WILL figure out how to put a tax on it ! If they could they WOULD put a tax on computers !