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Reue's TV Licensing FAQ

(edited 9 years ago)

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That's actually pretty damn good. ^.^
Erm... there's something about battery powered TV's. Your parents' license still covers you if it's not plugged into the mains, IIRC. Maybe I just made that up though.
Reply 3
grammar_king
Erm... there's something about battery powered TV's. Your parents' license still covers you if it's not plugged into the mains, IIRC. Maybe I just made that up though.


No you are correct i believe as i remember reading something similar, I shall look it up.
Reply 4
The use of a television set, which is powered solely by its own internal batteries will be covered for any address by the user’s main home licence. However,
if the user plugs the set into the mains or connects it to any external power source such as a car battery, a separate licence would be needed.


From http://www.bbc.co.uk/foi/docs/finance/licence_fee/TVLicencing.pdf
Reply 5
edited in, thanks
Reply 6
one minor (if pedantic...) point - licence is the noun, and license is the verb (apart from in US english where for some stupid reason they're swapped around...)

Also, if you have a separate tenancy agreement, if you only have a tv in the communal area (eg your living room) as far as I know you only need one licence. You need a separate licence for each bedroom (or whatever room(s) are covered by the separate tenancy agreement) that contains a tv in addition to the communal one.
Reply 7
Not going to bother editing it for grammatical corrections :P
Probably a good idea to mention that if you use a laptop that isn't plugged into the mains as you watch it then you don't need a license either.

Also a clear distinction needs to be made: "Watch Live BBC News 24" on BBC website needs a license whereas iPlayer doesn't. ie. you need it to watch TV as it's being broadcast.
Reply 9
thefish_uk
Probably a good idea to mention that if you use a laptop that isn't plugged into the mains as you watch it then you don't need a license either.


This is actually really unclear at the moment, Unless you can link to any test cases Id rather not risk saying you dont need a license to watch live tv through an unplugged laptop.
Reply 10
Edited some more info in.
Reply 11
quick question... do I need a licence to watch the news through the "click here to watch live news" button on the BBC website? I live in my parents house where we have two TVs, we only need one licence right?

This is a stupidly confusing thing.
Reply 12
SophieM
quick question... do I need a licence to watch the news through the "click here to watch live news" button on the BBC website? I live in my parents house where we have two TVs, we only need one licence right?

This is a stupidly confusing thing.


Yes you will need a license to watch live bbc news on their website. If you live with your parents then their household license will cover you and your two tvs.
Reply 13
Edited some more in.
Reply 14
Maybe a stupid question but; are you meant to have a TV licence to use things like BBC iPlayer?


EDIT: oops was already covered; apparently not.
Reply 15
Reue
This is actually really unclear at the moment, Unless you can link to any test cases Id rather not risk saying you dont need a license to watch live tv through an unplugged laptop.

BBC Help
You do not need a television licence to watch television programmes on the current version of the BBC iPlayer.

You will need to be covered by a TV licence if and when the BBC provides a feature that enables you to watch ‘live' TV programmes on any later version of BBC iPlayer, which has this option. Your TV licence for your home address will cover your use of the BBC iPlayer in your home (and outside the home if you use BBC iPlayer on a laptop or any other device which is powered solely by its own internal batteries).

A ‘live' TV programme is a programme, which is watched or recorded at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is being broadcast or otherwise distributed to members of the public. As a general rule, if a person is watching a programme on a computer or other device at the same time as it is being shown on TV then the programme is ‘live'. This is sometimes known as simulcasting.

You cannot currently watch ‘live' TV programmes as part of BBC iPlayer, however, we hope to offer this function in the future.


Hope the above is useful. Put the bit in bold which relates to the post I quoted. Found here: http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/about_iplayer/tvlicence
Reply 16
Thats great, cheers.
If you only use your TV for consoles and the license people come round to check it out, how do you proove you've not been watching telly?
Reply 18
Callipygian
If you only use your TV for consoles and the license people come round to check it out, how do you prove you've not been watching telly?

You don't have to. They have to prove that you have been breaking the law. Presumably you won't have an aerial, as you won't need one anyway.

That's if you let them in, of course.
SillyFencer
You don't have to. They have to prove that you have been breaking the law.

How would they do that, get a picture of you wathing TV or something, thats a bit silly... Especialy since you wont have to let them in without a warrent.

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