But utterly incorrect. You don't need a licence. You simply don't. You won't find any official statement that you do. You will find plenty that you don't.
I do not use videos of broadcast stuff though, only pre-recorded.
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This is all getting a bit silly.
If you check back to my original post you will see that I did not ask about whether I need a license or not.
I DO NOT NEED A LICENSE.
My queries were about the necessity to report the lack of a need for a license to the authorities and to get some idea of how they behave if I do nothing.
Rob
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I like that idea and did consider squirting some GripFil in there but thought that was a bit drastic since I will want to use it for TV at some point in the future (and yes, will buy a license then).
The same reason is why I will not remove my aerial. I do not think that is necessary for 'prove' I do not watch TV.
Apparently, they would leave me alone for about 3 months before starting all over again - hence my original post about why I should even bother telling them I do not need a license.
But if I did seal the sockets I would have to let the inspector into the house to view the arrangement - something most others advise against doing.
Replace 'spam' with 'org' to reply
A friend who did a stint as licence inspector said they worked most in the evenings at about Eastenders or Coronation Street time. Out of a street of
100 houses, there would be one without a licence, just simply knock on door during the end of the relevant programme and listen for the relevant theme tune !!! Did have hand IF detectors as well but easier to just listen.Had a whole variety in interesting stories and escapades of people trying to dodge. Most either paid or ended up paying a lot more through the courts. One story I remember is he called at a house door opened, could hear Eastenders music playing, bloke shouted to wife "its the TV inspector guy come to see that we don't have a TV dear". Lot of shuffling in lounge. He went into lounge and sure enough no TV. But in the corner of the room on top of a "TV unit" was a perfectly TV shaped mark in the dust and patch was warm. Bloke could offer no explanation. After a lot of commotion in kitchen found the blokes wife trying to stuff a "warm to the touch" TV into a cupboard. £800 fine I think in the end.
"Harvey Van Sickle" wrote | On 22 Dec 2004, Andy Burns wrote | > But by being detuned and without an aerial lead it *cannot* receive | > broadcast programme services! | I still suspect that simple de-tuning and not connecting an aerial | would be regularly challenged by the licencing people
Many TVs auto-tune on switch-on, and in many areas the signal will be strong enough for the set to receive something, even without an aerial. It will therefore be necessary to take positive steps to prevent this happening in many cases.
Owain
The answer to your original question is that you do not need to inform them, but if you do they might stop sending you letters for 3 months, if you're lucky. You are under no obligation to do so.
Christian.
Hi,
Very OT but wouldn't it be nice to only pay for the stuff you watched. That might wake the BBC and ITV up a bit. The b&&^&& channel ids annoy the hell out of me an I won't watch a channel with them on. That means I don't watch BBC3/4 ITV2/3 even though I could.
I'm not the only one. The only data I could find on channel id (logos) was research done by BBC choice: 29% of viewers didn't like them but 78% of viewers said it would not affect their viewing. The last bit is pure spin. The truth is:
29% of viewers didn't like them. 22% of viewers said it WOULD affect their viewing.So the decision to have logos disenfranchises almost 1/4 of viewers. No viewers have said they like logos. And the explanation that viewers need this to tell them what channel they are on is pure rubbish. I've sure everyone knows to press select to find that out!
So my vote goes for paying on a channel per channel basis. Perhaps less money on the logo'ed channels might finally wake them up to what suits all viewers - NO LOGOS.
What does de-tuned mean? Surely the tuner is always tuned to something (even if there is no trasnmission on the tuned channel).
On 23 Dec 2004, Graeme wrote
It means "not tuned to receive any broadcast programme services". The printed stuff I've seen seems to be quite careful about specifying that aspect of it.
You are right Christian.
We don`t have a licence (not since 2000). An inspector came round, we offered to let him see our equipment - he wasn`t bothered. The aerial is still up on the roof as I may want to use it again at some point. We have had no letters. Got a refund on the licence we did have too.
You can be arsey about letting them in but it`s really cutting off your nose to spite your face - they haven`t bothered us at all since the check.
Will
The "student" exemption was withdrawn a good while ago (20 years back?)
That, I think, is the case - "solely powered by internal batteries". It would take dedication of a uk.d-i-y variety to make up a spaceframe around the bulk of an existing TV set, with two or four deep-discharge lead-acid batteries, layered in photovoltaic cells to keep 'em topped up ;-)
Hilarious. Oh how we laughed.
And from exposure to people behaving badly and stupidly like this, the organisation as a whole becomes aggressively convinced we're *all* lying scrotes - especially, I suspect, now that it's been Outsourced on commercial terms: the one remark I made, having stayed calm throughout the phone conversation, which made the Centrica-acting-as-TVLA person raise their voice and become unprofessionally defensive, was to suggest they had some sort of targets for sending out their YOU SHOULD PAY letters...
"To prove yourself innocent", Frank? Funny, I thought the basis for most criminal charges was that it was the *prosecution's* job to prove the accused guilty. To a standard of "beyond reasonable doubt, moreover.
Yes, there are "strict liability" offences - failure to display a valid road-fund licence disc (or whatever they're called this year) is one such. The attempt by the TV licencing people to create the impression that merely being a householder requires possession of a TV licence is what we're objecting to in this thread...
Sorry, what I meant was that students can only use the 'batteries' exemption - I know students who do.
I did actually wonder about covering that point! Dunno about multiple sets of rechargeable, exchangeable batteries, tho'!
Hmm.
At which point you act as nice as pie, let them in (as you then have to) and take the opportunity to explain just how much time time and effort they've wasted, to nobody's benefit, and that you hope not to have to put them through all those hoops again in the future ...
Keep you gassing on the phone did she? ;-)
The easiest reversible way to disable reception is to solder a wire across the terminals on the back of the aerial socket, although that's not visible from the outside of the case. Of course you'll also need a non-RF input to use the TV for non-broadcast video.
OOPs !!! Sorry. Of course it should read "work for their money".
(silly me, I forgot what it was "for", what was "for"? That was "for") :-)
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