TV Licence required?

[whatsupdoc]

It's very likely that I will ditch television at the end of this year and not renew my licence.

However, the thought that occurred to me was regarding listening to radio, particularly the World Service. Since they closed the transmitter at Orfordness the only way to listen in the UK is on digital radio (don't have, don't want) or via Freeview.

I was planning to simply disconnect the TV aerial but I need that for freeview radio so, if I'm listening to radio via freeview, should I have a TV licence?

 

[Inked]

It's very likely that I will ditch television at the end of this year and not renew my licence.

However, the thought that occurred to me was regarding listening to radio, particularly the World Service. Since they closed the transmitter at Orfordness the only way to listen in the UK is on digital radio (don't have, don't want) or via Freeview.

I was planning to simply disconnect the TV aerial but I need that for freeview radio so, if I'm listening to radio via freeview, should I have a TV licence?

If the aerial is connected you would need a licence.

 

[tonyrees687]

If the aerial is connected you would need a licence.

I think if you can recieve signals from equipment then I think you have to pay for them whether you watch or listen to them or not. Might be wrong. I and you will be corrected here.

 

[Sartios]

I think if you can recieve signals from equipment then I think you have to pay for them whether you watch or listen to them or not. Might be wrong. I and you will be corrected here.

No it's only if you have the Arial connected and your receiving broadcasted streams.

I know this because I have a TV Licensing chap come round my house because my house wasn't listed as having a license, I invited him in to show that nothing was connected to the Arial sock on the wall and he said that it was fine and that I didn't need a License.

 

[IronGiant]

You might be OK if you could tune it to only accept Radio Stations, by deleting all the TV ones from the menu, and it would be an interesting test case if they challenged you over it. But I suspect the practical answer is you will need one. A DAB radio would be cheaper than a TV license...

 

[Sartios]

You might be OK if you could tune it to only accept Radio Stations, by deleting all the TV ones from the menu, and it would be an interesting test case if they challenged you over it. But I suspect the practical answer is you will need one. A DAB radio would be cheaper than a TV license...

Yeah that's what I thought, surely wall sockets like this for DAB:

doesn't require a TV License to use for DAB? obviously the arial will need a license for if you was using that, but dab would be for the radio only.

 

[IronGiant]

You are correct.

 

[tonyrees687]

No it's only if you have the Arial connected and your receiving broadcasted streams.

I know this because I have a TV Licensing chap come round my house because my house wasn't listed as having a license, I invited him in to show that nothing was connected to the Arial sock on the wall and he said that it was fine and that I didn't need a License.

So if I dont have my equipment conected to a broadcast stream I dont need a licence.

 

[Sartios]

That's correct.

You obviously need one if you are streaming it live over the internet though, services such as TVCatchup.com etc.

 

[tonyrees687]

That's correct.

You obviously need one if you are streaming it live over the internet though, services such as TVCatchup.com etc.

What about I player and such this is not live or is it

 

[Sartios]

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 the BBC iPlayer which has this option... 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...

 

[Bowders]

You can make a declaration here (well, below) if you don't watch any broadcast programmes on your TV, pc or even mobile/smart phone/tablet:

TV Licensing - What if a TV Licence is not needed

No TV? Don't watch or record television programmes as they're being broadcast on any device? The law states that you need to be covered by a TV Licence if you watch or record television programmes, on any device, as they're being shown on TV. This includes TVs, computers, mobile phones, games consoles, digital boxes and DVD/VHS recorders.

No TV Licence is needed if you don't use any of these devices to watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV - for example, if you use your TV only to watch DVDs or play video games, or you only watch programmes on your computer after they have been shown on TV. If this is the case, please let us know, as this helps us to keep our database up to date and means you won't receive the standard letters we send to unlicensed addresses.

So, for example, you could not watch the Moto GP live on a Sunday afternoon (and this includes through the TV, iPlayer on PS3, iPlayer on PC), but you could watch a re-run of it on BBC's iPlayer on Monday evening.

 

[whatsupdoc]

So, for example, you could not watch the Moto GP live on a Sunday afternoon

Now how did you know which programme I'm most likely to miss?! (aside from F1 which mostly won't be on BBC)

Thanks for that link, which I will be using in January, and to the other posters for their contributions.