TV Licence

[scouse1979]

I live in a house of multiple occupation. There are about 8 flats in the building. Can the whole house get a TV licence to cover the whole place or do we each have to get an individual licence for each flat?

[scouse1979]

Typical.

[DotH]

unless you have a community V room of course with just 1 TV, then U only need one license between you all, but that is unlikely, WM is correct, and don't try the old black and white set con as they can tell that too lol

[oldhamfan]

Extending the question, Ward Minter:

How does this work? What does a TV emit apart from sound and pictures, that could be detected by a van?

I assumed the method of catching non-payers was to assume that everyone has a telly and just cold-call those who don't pay, to check.

How do they do it?



*Busibodies and the self-righteous, NB: I pay my TV licence, and ask for no reason other than genuine interest. Thanks.

[Grunty]

A few years ago there was a television advert where the man in the van said "The set is in the lounge and they are watching Coronation Street". I have always thought that was for effect, because it is well known that they operate from addresses on their database where there is no licence in force.

[oldhamfan]

Ward Minter,

What do they actually detect though?

Your TV emits no signal or radiation. It's a receiver, isn't it? Not a transmitter.

Surely it's just a database of unlicenced addresses, like the DVLA Road Tax computer?

[muncy]

This from the TV Licensing website which I find a little scary.

We have a range of detection tools at our disposal in our vans. Some aspects of the equipment have been developed in such secrecy that engineers working on specific detection methods work in isolation - so not even they know how the other detection methods work. This gives us the best chance of catching licence evaders.

I also found this post on another website

There's circuitry inside the tv set that oscillates, and (sometimes, depends on the set) effectively encodes information about the picture; like any oscillator it transmits (weak) radio waves, which the vans pick up.

Apparently you can stop the radio waves escaping by putting your tv inside a faraday cage. Bit extreme.

I think the licensing authority's greatest detection device is the retailer who sold you the telly in the first place. I bought a tv tuner for my laptop recently and a few weeks later got a letter asking me to explain why I didn't have a licence. (The licence, by the way, is in my partner's name)

[PhilBy]

An interesting site for those that do not agree with this tax

http://www.tvlicensing.biz/