The Student Room Group

Do I need a TV License?

Going to uni in september, got a few situations so would appreciate if someone could give me a definitive answer :wink:

First of all, If I use Sky Go to say.. watch sky sports 1 (as an example) on my laptop or tablet, do I need a TV License for this? (They won't be connected to a TV set)

The next one is going to sound retarded because it is *illegal* (I think...) in itself, but say I streamed a live channel from another country, example... sportTV in portugal via the internet, do I need a TV license for this? ahah

Hopefully someone can help me and thanks in advance
Reply 1
If you're in halls, you technically don't need one to watch live TV (e.g. sky sports on sky go) if the device is powered by its own battery and not plugged into the mains - in this case it's covered by your parents' licence if they have one. How they'd know this, I have no idea. It's a funny loophole.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/for-your-home/students-aud1?WT.ac=home_plt_students

You can see it if you scroll down to 'You don't need a TV licence if'. They try pretty hard to convince you to get one anyway!

To watch things like BBC iplayer which aren't live you never need a licence. If you're watching live TV on a desktop computer/TV set then you definitely need a licence.
Original post by Kathiye
If you're in halls, you technically don't need one to watch live TV (e.g. sky sports on sky go) if the device is powered by its own battery and not plugged into the mains - in this case it's covered by your parents' licence if they have one. How they'd know this, I have no idea. It's a funny loophole.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/for-your-home/students-aud1?WT.ac=home_plt_students

You can see it if you scroll down to 'You don't need a TV licence if'. They try pretty hard to convince you to get one anyway!

To watch things like BBC iplayer which aren't live you never need a licence. If you're watching live TV on a desktop computer/TV set then you definitely need a licence.


How are they going to know if you watch live tv on a computer? I'm guessing they can't so I'm just not going to take a tv, hardly watch it anyway lol
Reply 3
The signal. That is how they tell.
Reply 4
TV license if you plan on watching live TV. This includes any device. However, if your Sky Go is set up to an account used by a TV which is already covered by a license then this means you don't need a separate license.
So just stay signed in to your parent's Sky account :biggrin:
Reply 5
Original post by Kathiye
If you're in halls, you technically don't need one to watch live TV (e.g. sky sports on sky go) if the device is powered by its own battery and not plugged into the mains - in this case it's covered by your parents' licence if they have one. How they'd know this, I have no idea. It's a funny loophole.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/for-your-home/students-aud1?WT.ac=home_plt_students

You can see it if you scroll down to 'You don't need a TV licence if'. They try pretty hard to convince you to get one anyway!

To watch things like BBC iplayer which aren't live you never need a licence. If you're watching live TV on a desktop computer/TV set then you definitely need a licence.


I can't rep, but this.
And yes they may send you letters but as long as it's unplugged while watching live you are good.
Reply 6
Original post by Tedster
The signal. That is how they tell.


Its been proven many times they can't prove that you are watching live TV with any means other than seeing your TV on with a live channel playing.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by kumori
Its been proven many times they can't prove that you are watching live TV with any means other than seeing your TV on with a live channel playing.

Posted from TSR Mobile


Actually, they only need to see the TV equipment installed i.e. a TV with an antenna or plugged into an antenna socket.

The technology does exist to make real working detector vans (http://www.surasoft.com/articles/tempest.php), but I'm sure I saw an FoI request which showed that they didn't use this and just had empty vans driving around and looking through windows.
Original post by Tedster
The signal. That is how they tell.


Signal from a computer?
Reply 9
BBC is actually contemplating the idea of introducing making people pay for services such as BBCiPlayer to accommodate the modern times in the 21st century were a lot of people watch a lot of internet TV on demand. I think it's up to the government to decide as to whether they want to do this, scrap the TV license fee altogether and instead incorporate the price int council tax/other bills or not change anything at all.

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