Why pay for a TV license

[malcolmkent]

Hiya agin, I was just wondering if anyone out there knew why we have to pay for a TV license and also for Sky / Cable TV. I know we only pay for the BBC channels and radio but surley there should be a choice involved. You pay the providers for the above types of TV packages but without a TV license you could not watch anything anyway. I just think you have the option of settling for your box standard 5 channels or paying your provider but not both.

[terambulan]

I can get tv on my laptop so dont watch the box much. If the detector vans call they look for the tv to make a charge so I shall be throwing mine out (put it on ~Recycle.org) before the next licence is due.....and never pay again!

[malcolmkent]

Thats a good idea but for the likes of families its not a viable option to view things from a laptop screen. I am not putting down your idea as its sound advice for a certain type of household.
Besides, if the law can charge blind people a certain amount for TV lecenses its only a matter of time before some boffin works out how to get revenue from PC users who view channels on their home systems.

[bathtub]

There is a choice involved, in that you can opt for Freeview or one of the Freesat packages whereby you pay once and for all for the viewing equipment and get the BBC channels and whatever else is bundled in as free-to-air or free-to-view. Additional subscriptions you choose to pay for (or not) fund services which receive nothing from the licence fee and can't raise enough from advertising alone.
If you're saying that there should be a choice to opt out of the BBC, there are two problems: proving that you're not watching/listening/going online to access the services anyway (I bet you would be!), and an creating an enormous deficit in the finances of arguably the finest broadcaster in the world.
We can't pick and choose when it comes to funding public service broadcasting any more than we can select whether or not to pay for medical treatment for smokers, educating other people's children, or fighting wars we don't agree with.
We could scrap the licence fee and let the BBC sink or swim as a commercial broadcaster, but that could only lead to higher TV and radio subscription charges, coupled with a huge reduction in quality.

[bathtub]

Having seen the other replies, a word of warning: watching the BBC online in the UK does require a TV licence. Inspectors no longer look for a TV - they know from the national database who doesn't have a licence, and have all the powers they need to enter and search your property and examine all potential receiving equipment, including PCs. Your cookies, browser history, unerased files and the presence of software like BBC iPlayer could well lead to them prosecuting you. Whether you or I think this is fair is immaterial: it's a fact.

[terambulan]

There's no charge for tv or radio in ur car/caravan/boat/train etc. as they're not fixed sites.

I think its a case of targetting the easy prey.

[Ice.Maiden]

I have to agree with bathtub. I've been led to believe that if you haven't a licence, but have anything capable of receiving, then you can be fined on that point alone. I think you'd be given a stay of execution if someone came round to check though, and pleaded ignorance - they'd probably give you a few days in which to buy a licence!

[4candles]

Not so, Ice Maiden. The license is required to use receiving equipment, not to own it.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/index .jsp

[jake-the-peg]

Incidently a similar question to this came up recently.

Currently you do not neet a TV license to use the BBC iplayer but if the service expands to include simulcasts (live TV streamed though the net) then you will.


I think there are vague plans to do this.

My understanding of the boats caravans etc. situation is that you don't need a license specifically for these as long as you have one that covers your main residence.

The reason that blind people only get a reduction is that there are most commonly sighted people living with them.