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I cancelled my licence a year and a half ago (I watch Netflix/KZfaq instead) and I have a large collection of varying coersive, manipulative letters that the BBC deploys, to which I take great delight in ignoring🙂

It's a bit like the government getting together with McDonald's and telling you to pay a hamburger tax, even if you buy your hamburger at Burger King, Wimpy or another fast food outlet, but you still have to pay McDonald's as well!!

BBC programming is wonderful. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Or so the BBC tells us. How wonderful is it? So wonderful that the BBC has to force you to pay for it.

I realised I wasn't watching any live TV and stopped my license 10 years ago. Haven't missed any of it.

I think it's worth mentioning that many TV licence enforcers use intimidation, confirmation bias, and gaslighting to get you to let them into your property. If you don't require a licence, don't interact with them at all, just say "no thank you" and close the door. If for whatever reason they have entered your property, it is vital that you record everything they do, as there is nothing stopping them from lying and stitching you up.

The medieval-style "universal cumpulsion and enforcement" model needs to be updated IMO. It's not fit for the modern era.

While in uni we didn't have our TV's hooked up to the aerial. A TV License womble came knocking on our door asking to inspect our house for TV's. He was told to piss off and come back with a warrant. Strangley enough we never saw him or any of his mates again.

There's a lengthy wiki article on the history of the TV Licence which is worth a read. I researched a fair bit last year as my 90+ year old father was one of those losing his free licence. He went through numerous mental/emotional ups and downs, losing a great deal of sleep over whether to rebel or simply pay up. Sadly (typical of his generation I suspect) he couldn't stand the fear and shame of being caught, so caved in and paid it. The article explained that the fee actually has very little to do with the BBC these days (I touched on it over on your poll) and is simply another 'tax'. My own disgust of the BBC centres around the appalling financial waste and their shocking behaviour concerning too many cover-ups over the years. A few well-produced programs here and there do not compensate (imho)

My main grievance with TV Licensing is the way that they assume that by default you require a TV licence and then proceed to bombard you with letters that can be quite hostile. Another issue is having to pay for the 1st year of a TV licence in just 6 months. In summary I would like to see a change in the approach of TV Licensing recognising that many people use subscription services like NOW TV, Netflix, Disney Plus and Apple Plus and therefore may never watch Live TV, to communicate in a more amenable way and offer more affordable payment options.

Haven't had a licence, in almost 12 years. I've had better things to spend £1620 on.

People I know haven’t bought a TV licence for years , this is why they are going after the pensioners. They need the pensioners money to fund their lavish lifestyles. Young people just won’t pay this fee.

It was different in the beginning of Television in the 1950’s, when we only had one channel, and a tax to watch and hear the BBC was agreeable to help financially with quality output. However, times have changed. I no longer watch the tosh on the BBC or most of the other terrestrial channels, so why should I pay ? I’m 73, and there isn’t any programming directed to me, or my fellow septuagenarians, so I prefer to find my own entertainment via KZfaq.

Not paid for 15 years. I receive the threatening letters every 3 months which are either "opening an investigation" or "Sending someone from the Cardiff division to visit my home". I work from home and no one from TV licencing has ever been round. I don't even watch TV but if I did then I still wouldn't pay the TV licence.

Why should we pay for a licence so that the BBC can pay so called entertainers millions of pounds a year.

All of these ridiculous taxes, fees, licence, and tariffs the British government finds every way to squeeze money out of people.

Beyond a reasonable doubt - The BBC have a monoply, waste a lot of the licence fee on overpaid staff, re-building the Eastenders set for 3x more than Coronation Street, plus having a total contempt of the householder! They have also covered up several shameful incidents Saville and Bashir. The CEO recently increased the his own salary. They also have a private company which sells BBC programmes around the world, where the information is not in the public domain. It's outdated.

I'm in the process of buying a new build home. The actual address has only been registered with Royal Mail for 2 weeks and there was already mail addressed to "The Legal Occupier" from them through the door on Monday when I went to visit the house.

It's been 20 years since I've needed a TV licence. During that time I've received a near endless stream of threats from the BBC. Early on I allowed them in to "check" I wasn't using any services I should be paying the licence fee for. It turned out they expected me to agree to regular visits, every few years, to prove my honesty. That was the only time I allowed them in. I've had years of low level stress for the simple reason I decided I didn't want broadcast or live television in my life. I don't doubt there are people paying the fee to keep the goons away. If the percentage of places which could be licenced but are not is as low as 7% it seems reasonable to assume most of those do not need one. I know several people who don't legally need a licence and I'm far from social, it can't be that rare. The bullying from Auntie should end, the more technology moves people away from relying on them the more desperate they seem to become. Flickering box transmissions should be subscription based, radio (World Service included) should be tax payer funded as a public service.

Never had a TV licence I'm 41 now, I don't see how I'll ever want one.

A couple of years ago my circumstances changed and I had to cut my outgoings so that I could continue to pay my bills. I noticed that I only watched 2hours of BBC content a week and decided that I could forgo that content until my circumstances improved. I cancelled my direct debit and completed the necessary forms. I had four visits from 'enforcement officers' two were whilst I was at work. The third was by an extremely overbearing man who, although he did not actually shout, spoke very loudly and insisted that I had to have a licence because I had an Ariel. I explained that I was complying with all the rules and was not watching any live broadcasts only streamed services ie Netflix. I also explained that I could not afford to have the Ariel taken down and hope that in 6 months or so I might return to using the BBC if my finances had improved. He again insisted that I still had to pay and did this very loudly as my neighbour was walking. down her path. I was utterly humiliated. I asked him to leave which he did but not without grumbling loudly that I was a criminal and would soon find myself in court. The fourth enforcement officer was less overbearing and I let him in to do his checks. He found that I wasn't in contravention and I have now been told that they won't check again for a couple of years. I found the whole process distressing and felt bullied. I'm a slightly better position financially but I will never return to using the BBC after their treatment of me and I dread having to go through it again but I won't be bullied into paying for something I don't use. Thank you for your insights, they have strengthened my resolve and given me a little more confidence in being able to say that I have done nothing wrong.

I don’t watch or want to watch the BBC. This decision does however impact me watching other live channels but I'm prepared to only watch on demand or other services instead of paying for a TV license. The tactics from TV licensing (Capita) are disgraceful where their letters are designed to confuse and scare people. It's not the cost that concerns me but the morality in this 21st Century UK where this situation should not be the case. I will never buy a TV license again and will ensure I watch legally which with the multiple platforms you don’t even notice the BBC has left me life!!

"The BBC itself, reports that around 7% of people, who need a licence, do not have one." Given they don't even know the names (or indeed genders) of many of the unlicensed people they write to, how do they know how many actually require a licence? How do they know that some/many/all, are not legally licence free?

I used to think it was actually an offence to own equipment capable of tuning into BBC with out a licence but now I know better (thanks to a previous black belt barrister video) that it is not the case and that not having a licence and owning a TV set is only an offence if the set was obtained "with the intent" to watch BBC & live broadcasts etc. I've never had a TV with a tuner - only a display screen that connects to the Internet. I always reply to the BBC letter that they send me every two years to confirm I do not watch BBC or live TV etc and they do not bother me. I think it would be useful if more people knew these facts because it is really unfair to be bullied into paying the fee when frankly the BBC content is complete rubbish!

Many years ago the licensing company chased me up for not having a television licence for that address. I did not have one as these was not a television in the property, and therefore not used. I was told there had been an inspector round to my address and they had seen a television through the window so they were to start legal proceedings against me. What they actually saw was a Bondi Blue original G3 iMac, with the Apple logo clearly visible from the window. In the nine years I was in the property I had constant harassment to get me to buy a licence, they even suggested I buy a black and white licence in order to take my property off their list. Needless to say I refused to comply!

paying a tv license is like making buying a newspaper mandatory ....

I live in a house share, and the BBC decided in their wisdom that each room constitutes a flat, and demanded their fee for each room, despite the fact that my neighbours only required a single licence per property, a couple of people in my house share non the less pay it. I do not, I literally do not stream any live TV. None the less every year I get threatening letters from the bastards.

For years I paid for the TV licence even though I didn’t watch the BBC. I only watched Now TV, BT Sport and Sky News. So enough was enough. I gave up watching Now TV, BT Sport and Sky News rather than pay for the BBC TV licence. Altogether I save about £40-£50 per month. Yes I can’t watch live TV but I still have KZfaq and your channel to watch. Thank You. I look forward to the day that I can again watch Now TV, BT Sport and Sky News, but not if I have to pay for a TV licence. I can wait the BBC out, no problem as I don’t watch live TV.

They covered up the Jimmy Saville scandal along with the police and authorities. I point blank REFUSE to give these people money.

Fully agree with you. Also why are we wasting courts time prosecuting people for watching TV.

I assumed all these years that the licence fee was for maintenance and upkeep of the radio towers and licence to reserve the frequency that TV is broadcast on which the BBC maintains and allows all the other companies to use. Also the same for free sat maintenance. I’ve seen no one claiming that though so I guess I was also tricked all those years. It would make more sense if that was the case that those companies just pay for the upkeep out of their fee that they charge the customer. I stopped paying fairly recently, we just do not watch any live tv. Since doing that I realised how ridiculous the whole concept is. The system needs updating.

I gave up live tv back in summer 2016 because I refuse to pay the BBC another penny. I haven’t watched a second of anything live ever since, or iPlayer. I thought maybe I’d miss it but I honestly never have. However I have been absolutely hounded by TV Licensing. I did what they asked and informed them I did not require a license and that’s when the harassment began. I had a guy turn up at my door demanding to be let in. I’m a disabled woman living alone so I said no. I didn’t feel safe letting someone in without an appointment and someone else present. He started loudly declaring that he knew I was a thief, he was coming back with the police and was going to prove it. People stopped in the street to listen, curtains were twitching. It was awful. He came back two more times, never with the police, equally loud and threatening. Said he could see me watching tv through the window (he couldn’t, even if I was, which I absolutely wasn’t). I tried ringing them and explaining what was happening, they didn’t care. I offered to send video footage proving my tv had never been tuned. They said no - I had to let him in or it would never stop. I asked for an appointment. No again. In the end I stopped answering my door to anyone without an appointment. There’s a knock and I shake in fear and don’t answer. After the first couple of years the letters stopped being addressed specifically to me, and they all just go straight in the bin without being opened. So that’s what I’ve learned - if you inform them you don’t require one as they request, everything will just get worse and all you’ve done is given them your identity to use against you. My advice would be not to conform to any request that involves identifying yourself as long as you’re genuinely not doing anything that requires a license.

So the BBC claim that 7% of households don't have a licence. Are they assuming that all of these should have a licence because they are all watching or recording live TV?

How difficult can it be to rebrand their annual TV License, to an 'optional' annual TV subscription, with categories chosen by the subscriber, just like every other subscription based service?

I haven't had a TV license for many years now. I don't watch live TV. Whenever I visit my Fiancée & I watch TV, I realise just how much I don't miss the drivel they all show. As for the licence fee being good value, everyone I've spoken to say there's a lot of repeats on the BBC channels. I don't see how that's good value 🤔 If you receive their letters, do as I do & return them unopened without a stamp, this way it costs them again to receive their own mail.

Fact of the matter is: The TV Licence is a FORCED subcription service. Also its as if the BBC are profiting from the work of other TV stations by forcing people to pay them (BBC) for watching stations which they have nothing to do with, how is that even legal?

I canceled TV completely but still pay for a licence. I honestly can't be bothered with the aggro

I watch the BBC without a licence and all other free to air UK channels. I live outside the UK but within the UK satellite footprint. I also have iptv that gives me channels from all over the world in HD/FHD/4K-I do pay for this but no yearly commitment. The BBC funding model is archaic and needs to follow modern subscription models such as Netflix.

9:30 Spot on I am FORCED to pay the TV licence even though I do not watch or like the BBC. Forcing the public to pay for their service regardless if you watch or not is going to be the BBCs biggest failure. If they introduced voluntary licence fee payments 20-30 years ago I genuinely believe people would pay for the service and there wouldn't be so much hatred directed at them! The modern saying 'go woke, go broke' is rather fitting in this climate.

It is like paying for road tax in the UK but only driving in Europe..

Many years ago I was a soldier. Apparently the NAAFI had a single TV licence, so every married quarter mess and barrack block was covered - which is crazy.

I was paying out of fear of stress from letters and threats, however I did watch the news to feel a sense of value for money, however since covid the news went down hill and after a lengthy email battle and several months of research I decided to solely watch netflix and YT, I even got a NLN status and received a decent refund as I had paid in advance for half a year. Happy to free of BBC now.

The problem is how its implemented its basically a poll tax on having a tv in 2021

I was told in an email from the BBC that BBC World does not receive any licence fee payments which is why you cannot receive it in the UK.

I have a camera at my front door and I never open it to anyone I don't know, it is the same with my telephone, all my calls go to the answering machine so I can screen who is calling.

Let the BBC stand on the merits of the programming they produce. Like all other things in 2021. The principle of licencing a screen simply on what it can or may receive is archaic in todays subscription consumer choice. I still pay for it because of the "unique way the BBC is funded". But I really do question why, each time that demand hits my letterbox.

I would categorise myself as being in the camp that watches very little BBC TV content that still needs to pay for a TV licence. As I have stated elsewhere the BBC should be funded by advertising. It is odd that BBC America available in the US and partially funded by UK licence payers money, and ran as a commericial enterprise shows adverts, but not the BBC in the UK.

If the BBC did advertising as everyone else,surely there would be no need for the license fee

I haven't paid for a licence for over 20 years. Nothing on TV worth watching. I watch youtube and that's it.

If the BBC think the licence is good value for money they should make it a subscription service. All their satisfied customers will pay and they should lose no revenue.

This is a really useful video, BBB. I am interested in the issue of "need a TV licence" versus being "legally required to pay for a TV licence". There is a difference. Some commenters keenly post that their TV works perfectly fine without a TV licence, which, quite apart from implying that they are TV licence fee evaders, and are therefore watching TV illegally. If you're legally licence free, that is, not watching any live broadcast TV (nor using iPlayer to watch live BBC broadcast TV or time-shifted TV, including box sets), then you neither need a TV licence nor are legally required to pay for a TV licence. If you needed a TV licence to watch live broadcast TV, then the TV licence would be a "key" to gaining access to the service - a subscription based model. This would be dead easy to implement - both legislatively and technically. However, the legislation is still so vague, and perhaps deliberately so designed, to confuse people. I'm surprised no one has sought to pick it apart piece by piece with some precision. So how about this? Are we required to pay for a TV licence to use Freeview? Bearing in mind Freeview is a digital broadcast carrier of both live TV AND live RADIO? What if you delete all the TV channels and just listen to the radio channels, including the BBC radio channels? What happens if a TV licencing inspector turns up at your door with a warrant to inspect and finds your TV connected to the TV aerial and tuned into Freeview on say, channel 701 (a radio channel)? Or, how about we take this idea one step further, and say, you don't watch any broadcast TV but you have not bothered to delete the TV channels and an inspector executes a warrant and finds your TV switches on, and can select BBC 1? Does that prove you are guilty? 4:46 - 6:20 - a very well put argument, which I fully agree with you on. Further to this, I would call that a "legally legislated extortion" from those other live broadcast TV channels. I wonder why all the independent channels have not fought much more aggressively against the BBC and the government about this? And also further to this, by proxy, what if one of these independent TV channels makes a programme which makes a viewer finally decide, "I don't like this programme, I'm not going to watch live broadcast TV anymore, I'm going to stop paying the TV licence fee." (This is my present position.) This is the culpability position of the BBC - if they're going to take all the money, then they must also accept responsibility for all the programmes the independent channels make. They are financially inextricably linked. 6:49 - "Licence fee evasion" - "the difference in number of licences in force and the number of licensable places" - what a misleading statement! That statement tries to group in those that are legally licence free as licence fee evaders. That is an outrageous statement, given that there is a law which covers what is required to be legally licence free! Their definition is completely incorrect. How many, or what percentage of households are legally licence free, how many, or what percentage are licence fee evaders, and how many, or what percentage are fully licenced? How, precisely, do they arrive at their figures? Another line of attack is, if the law is going to define a law in the context of "live broadcast TV", then somewhere within this, it should, precisely define and maintain a full list of live broadcast TV channels for which a TV licence is required. The problem with the current legislation is it skews fair competition in favour of the BBC far, far too much, and the independents have not been creative enough to successfully compete. Indeed, they've got into bed with the BBC - with new packages such as Brit Box and now the new BBC-Netflix collaboration. Having the courage to break off from watching live broadcast TV is tough, but doable. The fear is, as you have said, can you stand up to the pressure of the threats you get from TV Licencing when they come knocking on your door. I'm about to find out!

I have a letter from the TV Licensing confirming that I do not need a licence and they will check back in 2023… slight issue is that it’s addressed to a “Lady, N Unyabusiness”. :)

I have Netflix, Amazon Prime and KZfaq, I never watch BBC so WHY should I have to pay for a license ? And what has my purchasing a TV to watch these subscription services got to do with the BBC anyway ? It's like buying a washing machine and the shop, or the washing machine authority tells you - YOU MUST use Brand X detergent, and if we catch you using anything else you'll be fined. It cannot be right owning a TV, as an ornament, and never ever switch it on, that you still need a BBC license. This needs to be abolished now and not wait until 2027.

My main issue is with the word " live " Unless you are actually at the event there is no such thing as " live " TV as there is always some sort of delay. Be it only micro seconds there is still a delay. ( Pedantic I know )

I concur with your view. Old people feel especially vulnerable and susceptible to intimidation from the door knocker enforcement. Pay as you view is adopted by all the main companies the BBC needs to come into line with current business practices not those of the 50’s when the fee was to help build the infrastructure of the network which is long since completed.

I've been legally licence free for about 6yrs now. I threw out the coax cable & detuned the TV (Just tell it to scan for channels with no signal coming in & it'll wipe all saved channels). I also cancelled my tv package with Virgin media as that (& Sky) includes the BBC. It can take a while to adjust but I now don't miss TV. If the goons come knocking then simply state "I do not need a licence, goodbye" and then shut the door, they're sales people with delusions of power. Do not engage in conversations with them as they try to entrap you, do not let them into your home (they have in the past tried to falsify evidence), do not withdraw their Implied right of access as many advise, whilst this means they cannot do random visits they use this as evidence to obtain warrants. Just say no thank you & shut the door I've been using you tube, online streaming apps & second hand DVD's instead of tv channels for years. I spend most of my time on Xbox so it was a waste of money paying the BBC for something I barely used.

Haven’t had a licence for 15 years, but they still annoy me with letters and if this was any other company they would be stopped for harassment. Imagine if dvla started asking you if are sure your vehicle has been sorned or whatever.

I can take full pleasure in saying I've NEVER payed for a TV licence. AND,,, NEVER WILL. In regards to it being against the law... 10×s more satisfying

22 years+ ..... a lever arch folder of love letters. Why do i keep them? no clue really.

We have not paid for a TV license in the last 5 years or so. After reading and article explaining they cannot legally gain entry to your household. So unless your TV is visible from a front window your fine. As they will never prove what your watching...these TV vans do not exist anymore. They cannot tell what your watching remotely, only visible evidence is ever captured

I know people who have paid for a TV licence even though they don't watch any TV, purely out of fear.

Thank you for your expertise. I would be curious to know what kind of evidence might one expect to be found, should one have looked at or downloaded live tv programmes. I don't myself do that, and I'm sorry it took me so long to realise that there was no point in having a licence since there was hardly anything I wanted to watch on live tv!

I heard, a while ago now. That a tvl goon had been looking into a 10 YO girl's *_BEDROOM WINDOW_* and that the householder was told "It was ok to do so". I was under the impression that _that_ sort of behavior was considered to be dangerous, especially for the child. The tvl got away with this and nothing(as far as I'm aware) was done to prevent it from happening again. The tactics of the bbc and it's associates is deplorable and you say we can do nothing about it.

you are absolutely right. we pay it out of fear.

I've never had one since 1984. I'm not paying the BBC to piss down my back and tell me it's raining.

I wonder how much of the TV licence fee is used to pay back handers to MP's to keep this archaic taxation in place.

It sounds very much like a protection racket to me , at least the way this tax is collected does.

My mum died in June. Aged 80 she had paid it last year , now they are sending letters to her , I don't know whether to tell them or wait for an argument on the doorstep with me holding her ashes !

I don't have a TV at home but had to get a licence to stop them terrorising me as I have Mental health issues and couldn't cope with them hounding me every few months

An excellent examination of the issues. I especially like the supermarket comparison. It shows how ridiculous the TV licence is.

First off, I have a TV Licence as I do watch TV, but I find this subject very interesting and watching youtube about this sometimes makes me think if I need to stop buying a Licence? But I see loads on youtube about this subject and people being harassed with letters, or disgusting so called 'inspectors' who are just people on commission to try and scare you into buying a licence because you are not on the list as having a TV licence??? So, My theory is that I don't have a pilot's licence. But I don't get the local airport sending me letters or coming to my house harassing me to see if I have a plane or flying one? and then them trying to make me prove I don't have a plane or fly, and each year, coming back to check that I don't have a plane, so is this classed as harassment??? I don't understand why the BBC thinks it has the right to bully people into buying a licence, or if you don't buy one, then you'll be forever getting letters and visits suggesting that you are??? Which to me is them trying to force you into buying a Licence. I also don't have the following.................. A Business Licence, An operators Licence, A fishing Licence, An amateur Radio Licence ETC. NON OF THESE ARE SENDING OUT DEMANDING LETTERS TO ME OR KNOCKING ON MY DOOR. So why are the BBC getting away with it? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Just simply cancel the direct debit. Don’t watch live tv.

I lived in Germany for decades and never once in my entire life did I pay the GEZ. Norbert was my Rundfunkgebührenbeauftragter ("Broadcast Fee Agent"). That's because Norbert would come to my house every so often and ring the bell a few times and then throw his business card into my mailbox. I don't know what Norbert looks like, I have never seen him. The thing is, what Norbert didn't know all these years is I never ever come to my door unless I'm expecting somebody. Never. This has served me so well over my lifetime. If people want to reach me, there is always the mailbox. Calling me is useless as well, I don't pick up unless I know the number. Everything else goes to voicemail. I didn't pay the TV license in Germany, not even once, because I simply could not bring myself to pay the government extra money on top of all the soft-socialism taxes, and certainly not that they could broadcast their propaganda. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people just like myself in the UK. I salute you for not paying extra for the filth the BBC put out. My take is, if government wants more money, regardless what government, then raise the taxes.

There is the other question on whether funding the BBC through the licence fee, is actually viable in the medium term. As there are fewer people actually using live services as time goes on. There are probably two generations now of which a good proportion only take their media from the streaming services, and will possiblye never have a TV licence in their lifetime.

No

Let’s have a referendum! What happened to democracy??!!

TV licence is a disgrace. I can see how people could get tripped up by this scam.

I personally do not feel that the BBC offers any value for money! Yes, it may only work out around £13 per month (equivalent to Netflix and Amazon combined) but you missed the most important part... Is the TV scheduling any good! BBC scheduling is dire. 90% is repeats and the only shows that seemingly do not get repeated are rubbish like Eastenders and Match of the Day. Most people who enjoy football don't want to watch an overpaid Crisp's salesman preaching about highlights, but will watch it live via a "better" channel. Their news is biased and woke, and tends to create more news for them to waffle on about (petrol shortage was headlined on the BBC, when their wasn't a shortage.... but there soon was). Occasionally, they show something moderately interesting to me, such as Peaky Blinders or Silent Witness... but do those few and far between shows really equate to £159 per year, when I could wait a few weeks and watch the same shows on Netflix after the BBC has sold "OUR paid for shows" to a streaming service. Killing Eve which the BBC proudly pouts about, is actually made by BBC America and shown there first. Yeah, value for money letting 300+ million people watch it for free before allowing those who pay for it to see it. BBC America uses adverts so that the population of the USA can watch it for free. Talking about adverts and the "so called" BBC advert free service.... the BBC does adverts between all shows, but its for BBC content. Advert for Eastenders, Advert for Strictly, etc. Yes, they may be trailers, but by definition it's advertising that show, so therefore is an advert! BBC should fund itself and stop being a tax on the UK population. I am sure that well over 50% of UK households think the BBC is a waste of time. I know I do!

This licence fee loophole is a good earner for the courts and Capita etc, so why would they change it. The simple way to sort the mess out is to close that loophole. Every licence holder has TV Licence number, and so why not use that to access BBC content. No more bailiffs or Licence goons knocking at your door.

Not had a TV or a licence for many years.

Gave up on the BBC (and their licence fee) immediately the Jimmy Saville scandal broke. I threw my aerial and my TV set out for the bin men. I don't part with my money for such a corrupt organisation now and I never will!!!!!!

hi there could you do a video if it's possible to register a car or van in the UK without a fixed address. What I mean is if u want to convert a van to camper van to live in. And you have know fix address, is that possible to be done.

I stopped paying the bbc tax in the late ‘90s. For some reason, I found myself keeping their threat letters and eventually amassed a shoebox full. Capita and whoever else used to send out ‘inspectors’ to test my ability to not answer questions on my various doorsteps. So this was not just at one address but three and over 20 odd years. Do not ever respond in writing to anything they send or request. Remove the right of implied access to the property and politely but firmly request that they leave. Do not …never…ever answer any questions they ask you in person. This worked for me. No threats made by me, just simple and clear assertiveness. My philosophy: if the BBC are so bloody wonderful and not a State propaganda corporation, whose DGs are appointed by PMs etc etc, they should bloody well be a subscription service!

Recently in Denmark the TV Licence was changed to also apply for anyone with an internet connection, including smartphones. It's being phased out now though, and the costs of "Danmarks Radio" are now being paid via tax.

I have said for a LONG time that with the evolution of digital systems, that ALL BBC chanels and online access should require you to input your TV liscence to access it. This would then remove the need to have a TV liscence for those that never watch BBC either through tv or online. It would not (in my knowledge) be too difficult to add something like this to smart TV's, and trivial to add to the BBC website almost like a secondary login method to the site.

You do not need a licence for KZfaq even if you watch live streams 😁

To people who pay for their TV license out of fear of prosecution - I got taken to court by them when I was younger, and I was more naïve and much less clued up on this stuff. Don't fear them. It's not scary at all! I let them into my house, I let them see that I could receive a TV signal, I'd basically allowed them to gather all the evidence they needed to take me to court. I didn't need to attend the hearing, and in my absence they fined me.......about £160. £140 of that was literally for a TV licence! So my actual 'fine' was only about £20, and they basically just forced me to buy a TV licence. It's pathetic and a waste of everyones time. They'll try and scare you by saying "you could get fined UP TO £1000!!". Yeah.....'could' and 'up to' being the key parts of that scare tactic. They'll never actually fine you £1000, all they do is force you to buy a licence and slap you with a £20 court fee. Of course, the obvious solution to avoid all this is, just don't let them into your house! They have no right to enter, and without entry, they can't gather proof. Without proof, they can't take you to court. Simple.

its funny how over the years the small print has been changed to suit the justification of charging this tax for sevices which aren't part of the bbc , the internet is a classic example , originally you had to have a licence for the apparatus that recieves on the air signals not the telephone for example , this to me is the route cause of the problems , at the end of the day it is wrong to charge people for a service we dont want anymore .

Only the BBC receive any actual revenue raised from the TV licence fee. No other broadcaster receives a penny. So it seems to me that it's simply a clause inserted to coerce households to pay up, irrespective of whether or not they watch BBC channels. Fact is, the TV licence is a totally outdated concept which fails to take into account the way in which TV services are consumed in the 21st century. The BBC themselves obviously know this, but of course agressively push back against any suggestion that it be scrapped whenever the subject is raised. I myself haven't watched so called 'live' TV for many months, and will be submitting the cancellation form soon enough.

Nope ,coz bbc covered up saville and they have a cheek to make a program about him and they made a program about grooming the Rochdale 3 ,when they got nick Griffin arrested in 2004 for talking about grooming gangs

Many years ago say back in the 1970's the only reason a TV licence was required was for just having a TV set in the household. This did surprise me as the TV sets are purchased. Why the licence fee changed for watching content is beyond reasoning in my book. I have a TV set that can operate terrestrial channels, which I don't watch it's used as a monitor for playing Wii console games on but I continue to pay the fee just because the TV set is in the household.

I cancelled by TV License almost a year ago by phone and haven’t heard anything since, but won’t be responding to any letters or “enforcement” people when they do arrive. I’m saving £150 a year now, which goes to paying for Netflix, Now TV etc plus KZfaq where there’s more than enough to watch and I can watch them whenever I want. There’s nothing on BBC worth watching anymore anyway.

I'm not from the UK and I freely admit that I do not know UK tax law. If this is really about funding the BBC, why isn't it simply a tax explicitly designed to do that? Why connect it to television usage at all? Doesn't that just make the whole thing messy? Can such a tax be enacted and enforced in the UK? In other words, a tax that states up front that it is to fund the BBC and dodging it would be treated like any other tax evasion?

The whole business model of a "TV license" has to be scrapped. I was actually a resident in the UK for a year (I'm American) and I got several letters inquiring about my TV. I (truthfully) ticked the box that said I didn't have a TV and sent it back. In the US, we have National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). They do get a tiny govt subsidy, but most of their budget comes from voluntary donations from individual viewers, as well as major donors like the Gates (as in Bill) or Ford (as in Henry) foundations. They also produce some spectacular content (especially in news) and, ironically, they actually buy some content from the BBC.

I am currently paying 7.50GBP for Standard Netflix (2 screens 1080p), which is a fair bit less than a tv licence.

I haven’t had a tv license for 4 years, I never watch any terrestrial tv or use the iplayer. I have removed my internal socket for an aerial. The only “live” service I use is twitch, any movies will be on Blu-ray, Netflix or Amazon. I feel paying the bbc for a license is effectively saying I need a bbc license to use the internet. I’m not against the bbc as a service but I am against how they use intimidation to pressure people into having a license.

I haven’t watched live TV since 2012. Their letters go straight in the bin. The only time one of their salesmen turned up, I said nothing to them and simply slammed the door in his face. Simply have no dialogue with them.

The most egregious thing about the TV licence is that you must have one if you are watching live foreign television over the internet _even if that foreign television show is not being broadcast in the UK at all._ The BBC is extorting money from people for services *THEY DO NOT PROVIDE!* I think this is because the TV licence was though out in a time when all the broadcasting infrastructure was owned and operated by the BBC. There was no internet, and you couldn't really receive foreign TV stations over most of the UK, so your only option was to tune in to a BBC broadcast. Later, they probably owned all the cable infrastructure too. But since today the internet is taking over television, the BBC is no longer involved at all. They do not own the infrastructure. They do not operate the broadcast. They do not have to buy the rights for shows to be televised in the UK. This needs to be changed. And, of course, the second most egregious thing about the TV licence is that the BBC is supposed to be impartial, but it never is. We only ever get to see one side of the argument. When have they hosted debates with anti-lockdown proponents? Or anti-passport proponents? It doesn't matter if you think they right, or wrong, or insane. There are a lot of people listening to them, so it is up to the BBC, in their supposed impartiality, to give a voice to *BOTH* parties.

Tv licensing are taking me to court after visiting my property tv viewer tv through my window asked me my details and said that I admitted to tv being used to watch tv a few days before totally untrue I didn’t sign anything but they have taken me to court I’ve pleaded not guilty but really need advice he’s blatantly lied

The BBC used to argue that the subscription technology didn't exist thats why they couldn't get rid of the license fee. Now it does exist and they have a subscription service (BritBox) but yet the license fee still exists. Seems like they don't have any excuses any more.