Tv Licence

[nailit]

Just tried to access a programme on BBC iplayer and got a pop up informing me that the law has changed and you now need a licence to view catch up.

1) How would they know if you were viewing?
2) If tv licencing were to pay a visit to your home, would they have a right to take your laptop to analyse if you had been viewing iplayer?

Thanks.

[Zacs-Master]

Yep, just checked and it comes up with a box to say whether you have, or haven't got a TV license. So if you click yes, and you haven't, your lying and risking (albeit a very slight risk) being prosecuted.

[tonyav]

EDDIE, that pop up only occurs now and again not every time you go on BBC iplayer. And no link to put licence details in.

[Zacs-Master]

On an iPad you just have to select a box which asks whether you have a license or not.

[EDDIE51]

Ok, so if I did not have a TV licence and I decided to log onto iPlayer I would take my laptop into my local Weatherspoons and use their free wifi to log on to iPlayer
Then tick the box saying I did have a TV licence as all Weatherspoons pubs have free WiFi and a TV licence. If it was asked I would just say that I only use iPlayer when I was in a premises with a TV licence.

[THECORBYLOON]

EDDIE, TV Licensing says "In general, one licence will cover all the TV equipment your business uses for business purposes on a single site." Your laptop is not the pub's and it's not being used for business purposes so YOU need a licence.

[ummmm]

I have to tick every time I log in on my smart TV (I do have one)

[EDDIE51]

My answer was 'tongue in cheek' intended to express my view that it is virtually impossible to know you are using iPlayer to view TV unless you admit it.
By the way 'detector vans' were mentioned in a previous answer. They were always fake. Never worked , just a scare tactic.

[tamborine]

Go to your granny use her free licence (over 75y) number but ASK 1st

[EDDIE51]

^^ Only 9 years more and I'll get my free licence!

[237SJ]

A friend of mine has no TV (so no licence) but he does watch iplayer so I presume he lies about not having a licence. He seems to get away with it so they obviously don`t check up. If you use a VPN to watch it from abroad you can also get iplayer for free. Meanwhile, the authorities send threatening letters to the properties of the deceased which they did at my late Mum's address. I threatened to sue them and I never heard any more from them again. I'm not fond of their bullying tactics.

[fiction-factory]

It does seem a very inefficient tax to me- too easy to evade, the honest subsidise the dishonest/the chancers/ those who object in principle, it is difficult to police and it can lead to innocent people being hounded while the serial evaders know how to make life awkward for the enforcers. It also takes no account of ability to pay (other than the free licence for over 75s which seems a pretty poor proxy for ability to pay).

[Gromit]

The BBC were forced into this by the Government. The BBC want as many people as possible to watch on catch-up, but the Government aren't bothered about more viewers.
So while iTVHub, 4on Demand, FivePlayer, STV and UKTV are all hassle free to watch, the BBC has this badly implemented paywall.
I have not watched via iPlayer since the law change, but I can stream BBC programmes using Kodi.

[aelmpvw]

// Only 9 years more and I'll get my free licence!//
i have an awful feeling the qualifying age will have gone up by 2026 eddie :-)

[EDDIE51]

237SJ it is only in the last few weeks that you need a licence for iPlayer.
Up to now it has not been needed.Your friend probably does not know he needs a licence.

[EDDIE51]

Just a though, if an over 75 gets a free licence and lives with an under 75 year old , then dies a short time later is the free licence cancelled so the other resident has to pay?
This happened to a neighbor, her husband was 75 and got the licence free but she was only 68. He died just days after getting a new licence, so should she have bought a new licence? As far as I know she did not get a new licence until the next year when the free one ran out.

[237SJ]

Eddie - he has known since his kids were born ( about 6 years ago) that he doesn't need a licence

[ummmm]

My previous house used to be bedsits. When I moved in I got 8 TV licence demands.