TV licence when using pc

[MantaRay]

I understand that one needs to have a current TV Licence for watching live UK television programmes, but what is the requirement if watching non-UK transmissions with the aid of a pc dongle?

I've tried the appropriate website and phoning the TV licensing people direct but all I get is a useless recorded message without any option to speak to anyone. Likewise, there is no "ask question" option on the web site.

[ChuckFickens]

The magic word is "live"

If you watch it live (or close to live), which means as it's being broadcast on TV you need a license, if you watch it later on something like iplayer you don't need a license.

[ChuckFickens]

OH and non-uk makes no difference, the TV license laws don't distinguish this from UK channels.

http://www.televisionlicence.info/tvl/what

[VHG]

With all this confusion I cant see it being long before they can no longer justify the TV license.

When i was younger we used to have a radio license, then when people began to get transistor radios and radios in their car in became impossible to collect it.

Same is true of TV now, when you can watch it on your smartphone, tablet, computer etc.

And that stupid question that comes up when you watch the iPlayer on your computer, "have you got a TV license". Who is going to say "no".

[rojash]

The radio license wasn't discontinued because it was impossible to collect, but because it was no longer worth collecting given that combined radio/TV TV licenses were increasing year on year and whereas radio-only licenses were decreasing. By 1969 there were around 16,000,000 radio-TV licenses extant at 6 pounds for B/W and and 11 pound for colour, compared to roughly 2.5 million radio-only licenses at 1.25 a pop.

[ChuckFickens]

"With all this confusion I cant see it being long before they can no longer justify the TV license."

Where's the confusion, if you watch "live" TV you need a license, if you don't then you don't need a license, one condition isn't all that confusing surely?

[MarkRae]

Been a while, but here goes:

It's "licence" when it's a noun, as in a TV licence.

It's "license" when it's a verb, as in licensed to kill.

[DrFilth]

Quote from: TV Licensing Visiting Procedures

1.1 The customer should be informed that regardless of their individual views:
a television licence is required to install or use television equipment to watch or record
TV programmes as they are being shown on TV in the UK.



Quote from TVL website

The requirement to hold a TV Licence and to pay a fee for it is mandated by law
under the Communications Act 2003 and Communications (Television Licensing)
Regulations 2004 (as amended). It is an offence to watch or record television
programmes as they are being shown on any channel and on any broadcast platform
(terrestrial, satellite, cable and the internet) without a valid TV Licence.

[DrFilth]

ChuckFickensm "Where's the confusion"

TV programmes as they are being shown on TV in the UK.

It is an offence to watch or record television
programmes as they are being shown on any channel and on any broadcast platform
(terrestrial, satellite, cable and the internet)

[DrFilth]

the bbc love all this confusion another £145 in their account, quick flash of their card as if they are mi5 and have some power make the old and young mums shake in fear and cough up a confession.

even if they had a search warrant they can not check your computer

before you can be compelled to unlock your computer you need to be served a section 49 notice , chuck will know about this working in the it game

[ChuckFickens]

I'm not saying I agree with the law (I don't as it happens!)

But it's a pretty simple law to understand, if you watch live TV broadcasts in the UK by any medium you need a TV licence.

[boxtops]

I've just gone to BBC 1 on the computer and it says this

TV Licensing


Don't forget, to watch TV online as it's being broadcast, you still need to be covered by a TV Licence.

Find out more at the TV Licensing web site

[JonnyBoy12]

You are really showing your age here, VHG. I can not recall the wireless licence at all and have just passed the magic age when life is said to begin.

I think I would be able to live with myself if I watched a television programme on the Internet. They would have to catch me to convict me, would they not? How can they enforce such a rule?

[DrFilth]

chuck they are adding bits all the time

it use to be "as being shown" in the uk or channel islands but after a legal case they then had to add

or near live

or words very similar, this was because some of the live feeds from abroad are sent via other stations ( server things ) and have a delay before you can see them on your computer

[percypineapple]

so, if we watch stuff on I player etc several days behind, we can forget buying a license, (or license, depending on whether you have a gun or not) is this correct?
I suppose the law would be that a passive monitor with no aerial connection etc would be a computer monitor and would be free from license? but, is it not possible to watch live telly on the computer? I watched a football match and that was live, so how could you police it?

[ChuckFickens]

And? that's sensible, they defined live as being as close to you can be to live given the technology used.

Live TV has never been "live" if you take transmission delays into account.

[DrFilth]

JonnyBoy if you have never used a granny steam radio you have never lived
proper crackles and hiss non of this digital pixel missing stuff

[DrFilth]

percypineapple you can watch catch up with no licence but if you watch a live transmission on i player you need a licence

[VHG]

>>But it's a pretty simple law to understand, if you watch live TV >>broadcasts in the UK by any medium you need a TV licence.

It is not the law that is difficult to understand, just the confusion of devices, and where you can use them.

In the past you had one large TV, it was in your living room, and you had an aerial in the back. Very easy to define who was watching TV and to collect the license.

Now you can watch TV programs on a TV, on a computer, on a tablet, on a smartphone, and so on. You dont need a large TV, you dont need a aerial. You can watch TV away from your home and so on.

So how do you police it, how do you prove someone has been watching live TV.

So I say again, it is is going to become so complex that it will be hard to justify the TV license and the money will be raised some other way.

p.s. I am very pro-BBC so have no problem with paying the license, I just feel the techncial considerations make collecting the license difficult.

[Bedsit-Bob]

ChuckFickens says "OH and non-uk makes no difference, the TV license laws don't distinguish this from UK channels."

Actually, they do, if it's via the internet.

If a foreign programme is only available, in the UK or Channel Islands, via the internet (ie. not also viewable by terrestrial, satellite or cable), then a licence is not required.

[Bedsit-Bob]

ChuckFickens says "OH and non-uk makes no difference, the TV licence laws don't distinguish this from UK channels."

They do if it's being watched online.

Page 720 of http://www.whatdothey...losure%20document.pdf

"Foreign channels that I receive on my computer

The licensing requirement depends on whether the channel that you are
watching on your computer is available on terrestrial, satellite or cable in the
UK or Channel Islands at the same time as you are viewing it.

If the channel is available on terrestrial, satellite or cable in the UK or Channel
Islands at the same time as you are viewing it, then you will need a licence.

If the channel you are watching on your computer is not available on
terrestrial, satellite or cable in the UK or Channel Islands at the same time as
you are viewing it, then you will not need a licence.

If you are watching content that is not broadcast live, for example on-demand
content, then you will not need a licence."