TV Licenses / Taxes in the UK
- Thread starter Ro_Laren
- Start date
I don't pay a license. I have a wall-mounted TV that receves streaming media from a network attached storage device. That includes 300 films and a bunch of TV shows.
I received a string of threatening letters from Capita a year or so ago, then they paid a visit.
Within 5 minutes, I had a 4 year waiver on the license fee and they left. They glanced at my setup, didn't look at any other rooms.
It's not that difficult.
Capita is known as the mini-Government. They're certainly as corrupt as the real thing.
A lot of the live/not live distinction is simply the law being behind the times. When they came up with TV Licencing, they weren't planning for watching catch-up TV online!
In the not too distant future, I wouldn't be surprised if iPlayer, ITV Player, $ on Demand, etc begin to fall under the licence fee. After all, it's not as if you're paying for it by purchasing a DVD, and the BBC still have to fork out to make the shows. So by watching catch-up on iPlayer, you're getting a product for nothing which is identical in essentially every respect to that the licence payers are paying for. I would expect we'll see that loophole closed soon.
Yes, they are, but they still have to prove a prosecution in a court of criminal law. So it's not as if they can make it up and just charge you anyway. It's a lot more secure and in the defendants favour than, say, a utility company chasing a bill, who can bully their way into CCJs against you pretty easily, in truth.
In the not too distant future, I wouldn't be surprised if iPlayer, ITV Player, $ on Demand, etc begin to fall under the licence fee. After all, it's not as if you're paying for it by purchasing a DVD, and the BBC still have to fork out to make the shows. So by watching catch-up on iPlayer, you're getting a product for nothing which is identical in essentially every respect to that the licence payers are paying for. I would expect we'll see that loophole closed soon.
Yes, they are, but they still have to prove a prosecution in a court of criminal law. So it's not as if they can make it up and just charge you anyway. It's a lot more secure and in the defendants favour than, say, a utility company chasing a bill, who can bully their way into CCJs against you pretty easily, in truth.
yes, it does...
there have been plenty of interviews and problems with TVL (The licensing people), and yes, it is corrupt and pathetic as all hell...
Quite oddly though TVL are actually owned, and operated by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), despite the BBC's official and repetitive comments that they are different entities...
A quick google search will show you how bad the TVL company is when it comes to harassing or trying to intimidate people into paying extra fees, even if they're legally sound and don't require a TV license, TVL often tries to intimidate them into paying the fees anyway...
It's worth a look on youtube, just do a search for "TV License inspector" and watch some of the videos where TVL Inspectors come around... they're quite hilarious sometimes as 90% of the time, the TVL Inspectors run away at the first sign of a video camera, as they know their intimidation tactics would land them in serious legal trouble if it was recorded.
M
there have been plenty of interviews and problems with TVL (The licensing people), and yes, it is corrupt and pathetic as all hell...
Quite oddly though TVL are actually owned, and operated by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), despite the BBC's official and repetitive comments that they are different entities...
A quick google search will show you how bad the TVL company is when it comes to harassing or trying to intimidate people into paying extra fees, even if they're legally sound and don't require a TV license, TVL often tries to intimidate them into paying the fees anyway...
It's worth a look on youtube, just do a search for "TV License inspector" and watch some of the videos where TVL Inspectors come around... they're quite hilarious sometimes as 90% of the time, the TVL Inspectors run away at the first sign of a video camera, as they know their intimidation tactics would land them in serious legal trouble if it was recorded.
M
By the way, the difference the ads have made to the Paralympics coverage (Channel 4, commercial) compared with the Olympics coverage (BBC, Taxpayer funded) has re-convinced me I would much, much rather stick with the licence system than have an ad supported BBC.
Perhaps we are watching different BBCs. The BBC show two, maybe three, trailers for their own things between shows. Hardly the same as being interrupted every 6 minutes for 'artsy' car ads and scientifically dubious claims about shampoo.
And do TV detector vans actually work?
Just empty vans - the enforcement people (Crapita) have a list of properties and a list of licenses, they match up the two and then just hassle anyone without a license.
The letters they send you go in cycles (and get more sinister in tone) and eventually they come out to check your property - at which point you laugh at them and tell them to fuck off - or at least i did when I had no TV.
I agree. So long as the BBC have the only channels I watch every day, I'm happy to pay the licence fee. I was wrong about the process of prosecuting fee dodgers but that's because I've never met anyone who didn't pay the fee partly because people don't like to break the law but also because the BBC produce great television and no adverts.
The amount of trailers that commercial channels can show per hour was recently increased - I think it's at 18 minutes per hour - if someone is claiming that the BBC is even showing ten minute per hours (on average) of trailers... well I'm going to find that hard to believe...
+1 : well worth it !
It helps keep up the standard of the competing commercial stations too. Apart from ITV...
They are also one of the most incompetent company's i have ever had to deal with.......i have had a licence since i had a house, yet even to this day i have had the occasional knock on the door asking for proof that i have a TV licence.......although i do get some joy in telling the idiot with the attitude to prove i dont before i shut the door........this was only 6 month ago......about 13 months after the last twat appeard at the door claiming "I" had to prove i had a licence and i had to let them into my flat to inspect my property.
Capita are just terible....and as i found out after the last visit it was according to them all caused by the empty flat above....really.....cant their opratives read names and numbers on doors i asked.......
If this is aimed at me in response to my previous reply, I'm not breaking the law, I simply do not watch broadcast television. My television has no aerial plugged into it, I simply watch what I have stored on my network disk.
^agreed, they can have my tv licence when they prise it from my cold dead fingers!
I'd hate to lose the BBC, just watching ITV for half an hour should convince anyone of that fact. And the ads the BBC show are purely between programmes, and are just advertising other shows (or advertisin.g how to pay the licence fee) and there's never more than a couple
I'd hate to lose the BBC, just watching ITV for half an hour should convince anyone of that fact. And the ads the BBC show are purely between programmes, and are just advertising other shows (or advertisin.g how to pay the licence fee) and there's never more than a couple
I'd pay £140 annually for Radio 4, 2, and Five Live alone.
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