Decommissioning the telly

[hellymedic]

Broadcast Receiving Licences came in different flavours and prices...

[Cudzoziemiec]

I can remember having a radio licence. I think it cost about 7/6.

Edit: blimey! It was £1 5s when it was abolished. Perhaps 7/6 was a dog licence.

You needed a separate licence if you had a radio in your car.

Dog licence is £12.50 (in Northern Ireland).

[Cudzoziemiec]

Seems there are special licences for Dalmatians...
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071220072023AAEnBPU

[teethgrinder]

I watch about zero TV, but I have one (two!) and I think the BBC is generally a good thing, so I pony up the cash for a licence. I reckon that if you benefit from the BBC you should pay up rather than argue 'I only watch <>' or whatever.

Do you extend that to BBC radio and online BBC news and weather?

I do. I think if you're listening to the BBC regularly then you should be willing to pay for it. OK, fair enough if you occasionally check the weather – it's mostly wrong anyway.

It amuses me that people stomp their feet about tax avoiders, MPs expenses etc, but then you often see the same excuseology in play for things like this. Well, I only watch it online, people strenuously declare. Come on, if you're getting the benefit, pay up.

Err...it's a TV Licence, not a TV and Radio Licence nor is it a BBC Licence (you had to pay for a TV Licence even if you only watched ITV).

The Radio Licence was abolished in 1971, apparently.

Cool. Then you get off scot-free if you only have a radiogram (or apparently if you only watch catch-up TV). I'd assumed it was for both. But yeah, my point stands if you're watching broadcast TV then you should pay and if you don't you should bin the letters.

I'm beginning to wonder if I should be paying now.

It's a TV lisence, for watching television at the time it is broadcast. Whether you watch BBC TV or not, you still need a lisence.
Watching catch up TV on i-player is legal without a lisence, as is radio and internet, whether that is BBC or not.

Perhaps you'd be happier with the abolishment of TV lisences and BBC becoming a service that is paid for?



Was it the transistor radio that killed off the radio lisence?

[Nelson Longflap]

The experience  of Ms Joro and me reflects that of the many. Around the turn of the century we got letters from TVL. Replied politely. As the letters became more and more threatening a sequence of less and less polite replies made no difference whatsoever . As there seemed no point replying I gave up.  Much later a TVL heavy turned up at the door demanding why we had no licence. I showed him the licence we had pinned in the kitchen just in case. "Which address are you?" ... "There is only one address here."

Our house was converted from two flats in 1982. I had told them this  And they could easily have checked without all the threats. What a totally incompetent malorganisation!

AFAICS there is no possibility of communication with TVL, they operate through a one-way channel so there's no point attempting to talk to them or their computer.

[Biff]

Dog licence is £12.50 (in Northern Ireland).

How much is a fish licence these days?

[Cudzoziemiec]

I reckon you have to make your own, like these cod pieces.
http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipe/cod-pieces-recipes-keyword.html
What is chocolate cake doing in there? 

[Kim]

Was it the transistor radio that killed off the radio lisence?

I always assumed it was the television...

[Rhys W]

You needed a separate licence if you had a radio in your car.

Yes, it's called a driving licence.

[Pickled Onion]

Was it the transistor radio that killed off the radio lisence?

I always assumed it was the television...

Yes, you didn't need a radio licence if you had a TV licence as it covered both, by the early 70s they were selling so few radio-only licences they were abolished.

[billplumtree]

Was it the transistor radio that killed off the radio lisence?

I always assumed it was the television...

Yes, you didn't need a radio licence if you had a TV licence as it covered both, by the early 70s they were selling so few radio-only licences they were abolished.

So not only did video kill the radio star, it also killed the radio licence?

[rogerzilla]

When I am on my own I shall go down this road, having realised that there is no longer anything i want to watch except DVDs and The Apprentice, which is available on iPlayer.  I like a good fight with bureaucratic morons, especially since there is nothing they can do.  Out of interest, what evidence do they need to take someone to court given that (allegedly) 10% of court cases are for non-payment of a TV licence?  Or do they just prosecute if you don't respond to them?

I'll get the aerial taken down and i'll be careful that the cable broadband package doesn't include TV services.

[Polar Bear]

No idea re evidence Roger.  My policy of filing crapita crap unopened into the recycling hasn't resulted in a prosecution, yet!

[rogerzilla]

That seems to be the preferred strategy as, should you get into correspondence with them, they have your name and it starts to get personal.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

In France I get a bill for broadcasting lumped in with the rest of the community taxes.  Given that the total is about £150 p.a. i.e. a tenth of my UK council tax which doesn't include TV, it's a bargain!  So long as they don't make me watch French TV...

[Cudzoziemiec]

If you read India Today online, you get pop ups from the TV licensing people in Hindi. Even though it's an English-language magazine.

[Ian H]

When I am on my own I shall go down this road, having realised that there is no longer anything i want to watch except DVDs and The Apprentice, which is available on iPlayer.  I like a good fight with bureaucratic morons, especially since there is nothing they can do.  Out of interest, what evidence do they need to take someone to court given that (allegedly) 10% of court cases are for non-payment of a TV licence?  Or do they just prosecute if you don't respond to them?

I'll get the aerial taken down and i'll be careful that the cable broadband package doesn't include TV services.

I had an aerial and a dish (left by the previous owners). I binned all letters. Eventually there was a knock at the door. I was ready to be rather aggressive, but the fellow was pleasant, apologetic about the tone of the letters, and promised they would cease if I'd just sign to say I was tv-less. He was as good as his word.

[Martin109]

I think Monty Python had this all taped ('scuse pun) years ago!

[L CC]

I wasn't in yesterday when they called,  I think I forgot to tell them that me and the no live telly watching boablets had moved. I've upped the anti, this time though.
Lady fboab now has 'fuckyoutvlicensing@myname.myisp.com' as her email.
Heh.

Small things and all that

[Polar Bear]

Twats have written to this address again.   Will file as per usual.

[hellymedic]

Got an email from them yesterday.
Went to their website and filled in their poxy declaration.
They STILL might visit!

[rogerzilla]

I regret that I still pay them.  The kids like TV and they're here a lot.

[ian]

I've been a bit disappointed in them to be honest (they could, I suppose, be hiding in the fir trees out front with cameras trying to catch evidence of illicit broadcast TV watching), we get periodic letters that announce on the the back they're from TV Licensing which saves me the effort of opening them. I've no wish to confirm that I don't watch, I've cancelled the licence, which is a clear and unambiguous statement. Telling them some more won't change it and if I were lying, it wouldn't change that either.

I presume at some point we might get a visit. To be honest, though I disagree, I'd probably let them look on the grounds that being arsey to people who are just doing their job (and probably not loving it) is just being arsey. Though I always imagine that they turn up on your doorstep dressed in a Gestapo uniform like minor royalty at a fancy dress party. Probably with a comedy German accent. 'Ve hav detected ze tee-wee!' he'll shout as he parks the TV Detector Panzer on the driveway.

[Polar Bear]

Hate to disagree with your strategy Ian but I tried the be nice, let them look around policy.   Within a month I had them on my back again.

Since then I've cited Entick v Carrington 1765 whenever they darken my door and asked for their court-issued warrant.   I then ask them to step out of the front garden and remain on the pavement.  They piss off mumbling about £1,000.00 fines but I've not been summonsed yet.

[hellymedic]

To my knowledge, we've been visited twice.
First time I asked inspector if he'd like to see the 'non-telly' in the lounge, kitchen or bedroom. He said that if that was my attitude, I obviously didn't have a TV and did not proceed beyond the doorstep. We had an amicable chat and he left satisfied.
David answered door to the next inspector, who had a quick look and left.