Decommissioning the telly

[JennyB]

Since my mother died last summer I have given up watching live TV. The license is due to expire at the end of the month. Is there anywhere I should notify to avoid getting hassled about renewing it? I presume taking down the aerial would be a good idea. 

[Vince]

Based on Mrs Wunja's Uncle's experience, you will get hassled regardless as they assume that a) no one can live without a TV and b) that therefore you must be lying

[pcolbeck]

Legally you still need a license if you use iPlayer etc to watch TV on line in realtime. If you using iPlayer etc to watch TV programs at a later time than they were originally broadcast you don't.
You dont need to take your aerial down just get rid of the TV.

[tiermat]

I concur with Wunja.

I rented a flat near Uxbridge for a while.

It had no TV.

I didn't want a TV.

There was a cable that went up to where an aerial used to reside.

I hardly ever watched any TV on my laptop, and what I did watch was pre-recorded stuff, not live.

I spent the 6 or so month I lived at that address in a constant battle with the droids at TV Licensing who refused to answer my questions, even when I pointed out the details above.

In the end I moved

[ian]

Just ignore them and bin any letters. They helpfully put their details on the envelope so you don't even need to open them. In my experience they go direct from doormat to bin. They can only hassle you if you let them.

[teethgrinder]

pcolbck is right. As long as you don't watch live telly (watch while it is being broadcast, I think there is a limit on the delay time allowed but i-player etc are OK and if you need a license, something will come up on the screen to tell you)

You can declare yourself TV free to the TV lisence folk to eliminate "hassle."

I did this once (about 16 years ago) but never bother anymore.
I am constantly "hassled" which never amounts to anything more than threatening junk mail once ever couple of months which I never open.
In my 16 or so years TV free, I think I've had "the lads" round less than once every 2-3 years to post something through my door to say they called. They only call when I'm at work. I did get a call when I was home once.
I've also bought TV equipment for my mother which exacerbates the "hassle" because they ask names and addresses if you buy TV equipment from shops. I decided that I'm not a liar, so I gave my name and address, which I think was added to their hot list of who to hassle. It's all, or at least mostly AFAIK done from a database of addresses. I know of an address (business, not a home) that had a TV without a lisence and got no hasle whatsoever. They only seem to hassle home buildings.

[Charlotte]

We shot ours 

[hellymedic]

I don't have a TV. I have been hassled by the TV Licensing droids.
They have visited twice over the years.
I did something online a while back and have not been troubled since. This did not initially go smoothly.
I think we've dsicussed this before.

[Tim Hall]

We shot ours 

Your telly, or your TV licensing droids?

[Kim]

I declared us not to have a telly a couple of years ago.  We get the usual "you don't have a TV licence!!11eleven" letter annually, but so far that's it.

[L CC]

I told them I was Lady Fboab, that I didn't do telly and they were welcome to check. Now I enjoy being 'harassed' because at least it's addressed entertainingly.

[Gattopardo]

The letters come in a cycle of threats.

You can write to the TV licencing people and it is supposed to stop for a couple of years but it doesn't.  Have had a few visits and told them to go away as they have no legal power.

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

Personally I would pick a rather stupid fake name as BOAB has done for nothing more than being able to identify the letters to store in a bin.

[Jurek]

I had about three years of peace and quiet (not just because the telly went) from the licensing people.

I received a letter recently suggesting I get one as there is none registered to my address...blah...fine...blah...visit.... blah
Or call this number to let us know you don't have one (which is what I did three years ago).
Only if you work during the day you'll find that after 10 minutes of 'Please press button x' you can only speak to someone during office hours 
So when the next letter arrived, I registered that I was less than televisual by email.
They replied by announcing they'd be coming round to check.
Presumably that'll be during office hours too

[hellymedic]

I think you can/should be able to do all this online.

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

[Kim]

I think you can/should be able to do all this online.

I did.

[JennyB]

Thanks, folks.
I've done the online declaration now. It's not exactly obvious, and I couldn't find how to cancel Mum's over 75 licence. I wasn't too worried about that because there's no money due back, and it will expire at the end of the month when they don't get evidence of any old 'un here. But now I've checked her old license and I see it's been registered to the wrong postcode all these years. 

FWIW, here's the link to the BBC's current "No License Required" policy http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/resources/library/BBC/policies/No_Licence_Needed_policy_25Aug2011.pdf

[PH]

I had a visit around 10 years ago, insisted they look in every room and the only bother I get now is a letter a year asking if I still don't watch broadcast TV.  The wording of this letter has changed over the years, I'm sure it used to ask if I had a TV, now it just asks if I watch one.  I don't think there's a requirement to not have one, just not watch it.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I think the wording change might be because nowadays you can watch TV - and so require a licence - without having a TV.

[hellymedic]

I think the wording change might be because nowadays you can watch TV - and so require a licence - without having a TV.

Indeed. You should have a TV Licence if you watch a programme on the Internet on your computer at the time it is broadcast.

[Polar Bear]

They have exercised my fury over the past 13 years.  I just totally ignore them now. 

Even if / when you inform them, they still harass you.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I think the wording change might be because nowadays you can watch TV - and so require a licence - without having a TV.

Indeed. You should have a TV Licence if you watch a programme on the Internet on your computer at the time it is broadcast.

It's just occurred to me that this is legally unclear. We know it applies not just to BBC programmes but also ITV etc - but what about non-free to air broadcasts or foreign stations? I'm sure this is cleared up in the actual rules, but it's nice to wonder what would happen if you only ever watch live TV Mozambique or somthing/ 

[Bledlow]

Based on Mrs Wunja's Uncle's experience, you will get hassled regardless as they assume that a) no one can live without a TV and b) that therefore you must be lying

Also based on my experience (albeit from 20 years ago), & that of a blind bloke I know, who has a revival of hassling every couple of years.

I got a series of letters, which I sent back with "I do not have a television" written all over them. They kept ignoring that & sending more. I switched to "see previous replies", & got a visit from an aggressive bloke demanding to see my telly. I told him I didn't have one, hadn't had one for a couple of years, & if he didn't sod off I'd (1) call the police, & (2) get an injunction to stop them hassling me, & by the way, what was his name? That worked for a year or so, then it started up again. They were still hassling me when I bought a TV, because my personal circumstances had changed & I thought it might get watched often enough to make it worthwhile.

From what I've heard, they've not got better.

[jsabine]

I think the wording change might be because nowadays you can watch TV - and so require a licence - without having a TV.

Indeed. You should have a TV Licence if you watch a programme on the Internet on your computer at the time it is broadcast.

It's just occurred to me that this is legally unclear. We know it applies not just to BBC programmes but also ITV etc - but what about non-free to air broadcasts or foreign stations? I'm sure this is cleared up in the actual rules, but it's nice to wonder what would happen if you only ever watch live TV Mozambique or something / 

.
Not legally unclear at all AFAIK - you still need the license. It's watching TV, broadcast or as-broadcast, that requires a license, nothing to do with where the programme originates.

I'm sure I read years ago that if you tell them you don't have a TV, they'll pay pay more attention to you, as statistically people who say they have no TV are more likely to need a license than people who simply ignore the demands.

When we didn't have a TV, we told them, then simply ignored the letters for a bit when the hassles started. After a while, as the letters became increasingly frenetic, I started scrawling mildly abusive responses on them and sending them back. It made me feel better - and eventually they gave up.

[hellymedic]

Letters wot I sent to the TV Licensing people in the distant past...

1) (October 1997)

<Address>

Sarah Jones
TV Licensing South West
Bristol

Your Reference V2.EP

Dear Ms Jones,
NON LICENCE NUMBER 1557334872

Thank you for your letter of 27 October 1997.

I do not have a television.
I do not want a television.
I do not need a television licence.

I wish to have my right to lead a television-free lifestyle respected without harassment from your bureaucracy.

For your information, I also do not have a car, but nobody pesters me as to why I have no licence for a non-existent possession.

I have an (unlicenced) boyfriend. He lives in another region and has a black and white television, for which he has the appropriate licence. Yet he too, is harassed for non-possession of a colour television licence.

I am not aware that is an offence to fail to have a colour television, - yet! Those of us who choose to live without television cannot live in peace.  Even if I declare that I do not have a television, your Enquiry Officers are still permitted to trouble me.

I see no reason why I should tell you my name.

The Occupier.

-------------------------------------------------


<Next Address>
 
Sarah Jones
TV Licensing South West
Bristol

Your Reference V2.EC

Dear Ms Jones,
NON LICENCE NUMBER 1656023389

Thank you for your letter of 30 April 1998.

I do not have a television.
I do not want a television.
I do not need a television licence.

I have moved myself and my personal effects, including my NON Television from<Old Address> to <New Address> .

I still see no reason why I should tell you my name.
It would now appear that I have to inform your bureaucracy of my change of address when I move house even if I don’t have or want a TV.

Given that these addresses are both hospital accommodation, don’t you think that we hardworking NHS staff have better things to do with our time than to write letters to people with whom we should not be dealing?

The Occupier.

------------------------------------

15 years on I still don't have a TV. I blame the parents; they brought us up without a TV. Of their six children, only one has a TV.

[L CC]

I can't bring myself to get worked up about this 'harassment'.
Letter arrives, addressed to 'Lady fboab', I snigger, into the bin it goes.

?