How do I detune Freeview and Freesat on Panny G20

[Dick Emery]

Does anyone know how to detune the digital channels? Both Freesat and Freeview. I don't watch live broadcast TV anymore and would like to save myself the license fee (yeah I know they are a pain in the backside once you do that but I will deal with that when it comes). I don't think it's enough cutting the aerial cable at the wall as if you get any signal whatsoever they will nab you for it.

EDIT: Nevermind. I figured it out. You have to auto tune with the aerial disconnected whereupon it will find no channels and you can leave it like that. For analog I had to keep the aerial connected and make sure all the channels were de-tuned before disconnecting it.

 

[tut_gareth]

My father tried the same thing a few years back and from what I remember... as long as you have a TV / media device with any sort of tuner / receiver fitted and capable of receiving broadcasts, you have to pay a licence fee, regardless of whether you have an aerial or not...... the only way he got out of paying it was to buy a monitor rather than a TV.
Of course in theory you could remove the tuner unit from inside your G20.....

 

[Dick Emery]

Absolute tosh. You can find the information on TVL's own website TV Licensing - Home (You might need to dig around a bit to find it as they don't like everyone knowing this). You do not need a TV License for pre-recorded material. You only need one if you 'watch or record live TV signals as they are being broadcast'. It even says this on the letters they post to you if you don't have a license. As long as your TV and any other reception equiptment is de-tuned and not connected to an aerial you are perfectly within your rights to own a TV set without a license.

How do you think schools and companies get by with using TV's for showing pre-recorded material? They don't need a license either.

BTW it is a VERY bad idea to contact TVL and inform them you don't need a license. They will pester you even more and send someone around to verify and because they get a £20 commision for everyone they 'catch out..

Basically it's run by a company called CAPITA. But they don't even have bailliff rights. They advertise positions for TVL inspectors as 'salesman'. They have no more legal right to enter your property as anyone else and even if they have a search warrant it appears debatable as to whether they can enter.

I went hunting for more info after posting this thread and found it very interesting. For more information check out www.tvlicenseresistance.info

They do not condone watching without a license as that would be breaking the law. They are against it in principal however and give good advice for those who do not want to watch braindead TV but just wish to use their equiptment for viewing pre-recorded material.

Thanks for reading.

EDIT: Here is the info. Your father was given false info I am afraid.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/what-if-a-tv-licence-is-not-needed-top12/