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april 2011
What does the TV Licence get you?
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TV licensing
We all know that in the UK you need a TV licence to watch the box – but do you need one for TV streamed over the internet, to watch foreign channels, or for your caravan on the coast?
A typical TV Licence (details removed). It covers live and recorded off-air TV, but not on-demand or catch-up content
TV licensing is operated by a group of companies controlled by and contracted to the BBC, and called – TV Licensing. Nearly £5 of the £145.50 annual licence fee goes on collecting and chasing payment. Last year 400,000 people were caught watching TV without a licence (and faced prosecution and fines) so it pays to have the TV licence low-down. What and who are covered?
01 A TV licence covers equipment to receive TV – however it is broadcast and received – at a particular address. Homes and businesses both need TV licences if TV is to be received on the premises. If any part of your home is physically or legally separate from the main premises it requires a separate licence. This can include areas occupied by tenants or lodgers. 2 What Satellite & Digital TV April 2011
A TV licence doesn’t cover a particular TV set or receiver, or even a particular person. With a licence, any TV received can be watched by anyone at that address. It’s equipment to receive TV that counts; the source of the broadcasts is irrelevant, so only watching satellite TV programmes from Korea requires a TV licence just the same as watching BBC One from the transmitter at the end of the road. There are still (cheaper) TV licences available that cover only black-and-white TV reception but B&W TVs are rare now and B&W licences account for less than 2 per cent of the total issued – so they’re unlikely to concern Wotsat readers. How much does it cost?
02 A standard (colour) TV licence currently costs £145.50 a year. Unused quarter-years of a licence can be refunded
if it is no longer required. If you’re registered blind or severely sight impaired then you may be able to buy a TV licence for a 50 per cent discount. If you’re 75 or over, you can apply for a free TV licence (for your main address only) and a short-term licence is available if you’re 74 when your current licence expires, to tide you over to the free licence. Details and application forms for these and all TV licences can be found at www.tvlicensing.co.uk. Is recorded TV licensed?
03 DVDs and Blu-ray discs (and videos) are not considered broadcast TV and so if you use a TV only to watch pre-recorded material you don’t have to pay for a TV licence – you can declare this to TV Licensing and you won’t then be hassled for payment (once your claim has been checked out).
abc guide to... Broadcast terrestrial TV
Broadcast satellite TV
Broadcast cable TV
Broadcast online TV
Pre-recorded TV
On-demand or catch-up TV
You even need a licence to watch overseas TV channel and live online streams
UK TV
Foreign TV
Recording TV
However, if you are watching TV from a DVD recorder, or a Sky/Freesat/Freeview+ recorder, then you need the licence to have received the programmes in the first place as this equipment receives programmes as they are broadcast.
includes, say, a Sky+ recording programmes in the main home while you’re away in the caravan park watching Freeview). In which case you should make a ‘non-simultaneous use’ declaration to TV Licensing to update its records.
What about homes from home? 04 Permanent second homes require a second TV licence. Although you can transfer a licence to another address when you move, you cannot transfer a TV licence to a second home when you stay there and back again when you return home. If the second home is mobile – a boat, motor home or touring caravan – then you and anyone who normally lives with you at your main licensed home are covered to watch TV at the second home without a further licence. However, if the second home is capable of being moved but is fixed – say, a static caravan – then it needs to be separately licensed unless you never use TV reception equipment at both addresses at the same time (and that
How about TV on the go? 05 If you use a portable device powered by internal batteries (such as a mobile phone or a laptop) to receive TV then you do not need a TV licence – provided that you normally live in a home that is covered by a TV licence. Do I need a licence for online TV?
06 The law does not distinguish
between different reception methods, and watching or recording programmes live ‘as they are broadcast’ requires a license whether you are receiving the signals terrestrially, by satellite or online on a PC or games console. All reception methods are covered by one licence for the address. However, if you are only downloading or streaming pre-recorded material or
Main home
Holiday home
Touring caravan
on-demand TV, whether it’s clips from YouTube or catch-up TV from BBC iPlayer, then you do not need a licence. What if I don’t pay?
07 Watching TV without a licence is a criminal offence and, if caught, you can end up with a record and a fine of up to £1,000 (plus costs), and there’s little excuse for not paying – you can pay for a TV licence by post, phone, online, at PayPoint outlets, even by text. TV Licensing keeps a national database of 30million households with and without licences, and a team of officers armed with handheld detectors and the famous detector vans investigate homes claiming to be without TV reception (note that they have no rights of entry without a warrant). What’s more, by law, dealers must notify TV Licensing when you are sold a new or secondhand TV, set-top box, DVD or video recorder, digital video recorder, PC or laptop with a TV card, or a TV card alone, so the chances are that if you’re watching TV without a licence it will soon come be noticed n Geoff Bains Static caravan
Portable device
Premises with its own licence
You don’t need a TV Licence for many ‘secondary’ uses
Have a main licence for your main home
No licence for your main home
April 2011 What Satellite & Digital TV 3