I am re-assessing our current TV/phone/Internet package and was wondering if I could realistically cancel my Virgin TV and Phone subscription and live with just a cable internet connection – and watch stream TV?

Has anyone done this?

This is exactly how BT vision works. Isn’t it reputably crap?

theres loads more than youll ever need to watch on freeview,

I could. My wife and daughter couldn’t.

We hardly ever watch anything except internet TV since our broadband picked up. It wasn’t a conscious decision – it just ended up that way.

It depends on what you like to watch of course.

theres loads more than youll ever need to watch on freeview,

Oh I forgot to mention – currently not wired up with an external aerial either! I’d be fine with freeview if that were the case.

Freesat if you have a dish? I have that and it’s fine. If not I could cope with internet tv easily. The TV Catchup website used to work fine at uni.

Might this get you out of the license fee?

No I’m pretty sure it doesn’t.

We got a ‘smart’ tv and typically watch something off iplayer or 4od than use the virgin media box, so I’d say yes. Will probably get rid of the tv part of the deal next time it needs renewing.

One day the aerial slipped and I could no longer get freeview. I’ve been too busy living to fix it. That was 2 years ago.

I run a hdmi from PC graphics card to TV.

All the TV I’m ever going to need.

We don’t have a TV, don’t miss it at all.

I did this for many years but I watched virtually zero normal / live TV, fine for streaming movies or dowlonded content inc catch-up tv. If you do then it’s likely to be a world of pain. FYI French don;t have satellite TV in most cities it’s all via internet and on a busy evening at peak time you cannot watch in HD as bandwidth is exhausted. If you watch live-tv you must have a tv licence not matter how it’s delivered.

we only use iplayer, 4OD etc on an Imac in the corner of the living room. Used to have a freeview tuner for it but it broke and I never got round to fixing it.

works for us and watch a lot less crap as a result.

If you watch live-tv you must have a tv licence not matter how it’s delivered.

And if you own equipment capable of decoding a TV signal, such as a big TV for watching TV streamed from the web, you will also need a TV license, even if you never watch live TV.

And if you own equipment capable of decoding a TV signal, such as a big TV for watching TV streamed from the web, you will also need a TV license, even if you never watch live TV.

Rubbish.

If you don’t watch live Tv you don’t need a license. I have a Smart TV but its not connected to an aerial or satellite as i never watch live TV. As a result I do not have a license. TV licensing called round to check – said everything was fine and agreed no TV license required.

And if you own equipment capable of decoding a TV signal, such as a big TV for watching TV streamed from the web, you will also need a TV license, even if you never watch live TV.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/technology–devices-and-online-top8

According to this, no you don’t. If the telly isn’t plugged into a conventional aerial or dish, what’s the actual difference between a big television and a big computer monitor?

And if you own equipment capable of decoding a TV signal, such as a big TV for watching TV streamed from the web, you will also need a TV license, even if you never watch live TV.

No you don’t.

I have exactly that and I don’t have, or need, a TV License.

Don’t you still need a license to watch iPlayer? How do they know if you are watching it or not?

Ah, they must have changed the rules.

Edit: in 2004 😳

Don’t you still need a license to watch iPlayer? How do they know if you are watching it or not?

Nope for non-live stuff. If you stream live stuff it occasionally asks you if you have a licence, so yes for that.

They have no way of knowing under present regulations. Most TV Licence prosecution relies on you actually letting them in the house when you are watching Jeremy Kyle, or admitting watching without a licence.

I’m not sure that ‘detector vans’ even exist.

im pretty sure you only need a license if you watch live tv, full stop. your equipment can be plugged into an aerial but if you never actually use that aerial for live tv then you dont need one.

all the iplayers, ondemands, netflix etc etc can be viewed over an internet connection and dont need a licence.

obviously if you decide to not have a licence then i spose youre on trust not to watch it, and i believe they can actually tell from outside your property whether you are or not. but, if youre honest then theres no problem. if they knock on your door and ask to have a look, then they see youve a big tv connected to an aerial, but the tellys not on, i dont think theres a problem.

this is how i believe it works but am happy to be proved wrong.

all the iplayers, ondemands, netflix etc etc can be viewed over an internet connection and dont need a licence.

I seem to remember a popup message asking me to confirm I had a license when I logged onto iPlayer from a new device…

OK just tried it, it does it if you select to watch the live TV channels, but not the rest of it.

on the live iplayer there are some programs that do not play

Looking into it – I agree a TV licence is not needed for anything but live tv – which I can live with.

Very tempting – I could save £30ish a month just going with internet (already don’t have a phone or even a phone point, but pay for a line because its cheaper….!!!)

But would accessing the telly through a mac drive crazy or not??

Most TV Licence prosecution relies on you actually letting them in the house when you are watching Jeremy Kyle, or admitting watching without a licence.

I’m not sure that ‘detector vans’ even exist.

This.

They generally intimidate old folk or naive students into a signed confession of wrongdoing.

But would accessing the telly through a mac drive crazy or not??

Might do – if you have no remote. We have a PS3 so that does all the smart TV stuff -works through the TV remote too.

@eric, my Mac Mini is connected to the TV 80% of the time. I just have the wireless keyboard/magic mouse next to me or on coffee table.

We’ve recently done just this, just Virgin media for internet £25 a month nothing else. Use Chromecast for Iplayer, Youtube, Redbull.tv (which steams now). And XBMC for 4OD, ITV etc.

As many have said as well as saving money it does mean you don’t come home to your wife watching mindless crap on the TV… obviously everything I watch is of high educational value..

Next on my list is removing Virgin media’s internet which keeps on creeping up in price each quarter and replace it with a 4g mobile hub…

already don’t have a phone or even a phone point, but pay for a line because its cheaper….!!!

We’ve recently replaced our landline phones with a single cheap handset, with the ringer turned off. The kids can phone out in an emergency, but we don’t get cold calls anymore. Unfortunately, the pricing for broadband assumes that you pay for a landline so I don’t think we’d save anything by getting rid of the landline altogether.

replace it with a 4g mobile hub

Good luck on finding an unlimited bundle – let me know how you get on!

We still use Freeview, but there’s not much on it when we’re free to watch, I tend to stream a lot of things now, The kids have worked out that most of the programmes they like can be streamed so if live kids TV isn’t to their taste they just tell us what they want to watch…

Everyone seems to be offering most of their content via streamed services these days…

We’ve still got an old Wii hooked up to the family TV, it’s primarily used to stream Netflicks, Lovefilm, iPlayer, and Youtube. Sony Blueray player has Demandfive (but I’ve never felt the need to actually watch anything on it) and some other services but none that we’re really bothered about…

I tend to view quite a lot of stuff on my tablet (or if I’m lucky I can use the Telly via the chromcast) now as the missus/kids basically decide what they want on TV…

Could do with 4OD, ITV player, and some other’s sorting Chromecast compatibility for their apps, because then I can finally bin that Wii, but it’s still actually useful for now…

Good luck on finding an unlimited bundle – let me know how you get on!

yeah that’s the thing holding me back at the moment be interesting if someone ballsy (GiffGaff or simular) try that as an option.

Chromecast you can cast your browswer tab to view 4od itv etc. I read somewhere that 4OD are being annoying because of their lisencing restrictions which are getting revamped the end of this/start of next year when 4od ends and something else comes to replace it, so could watch this space.

ITV player works great on XBMC on a raspberry Pi BTW

@eric, my Mac Mini is connected to the TV 80% of the time. I just have the wireless keyboard/magic mouse next to me or on coffee table.

Cheers

I have a mini mac server perm connected to the TV – using a keyboard, trackpad and magic wand – works really quite well.

Good luck on finding an unlimited bundle – let me know how you get on!

https://www1.relish.net/

But still very limited radius – I am just out of service! I had looked into this 🙂

I only have a broadband and line rental package.
As an owner of and apple tv and an iphone I download all TV content now.
All the main TV services provide apps for viewing their content Apart from C4 who dont allow airplay (?!)
Personally, I have no problem paying a TV licence as the TV, Radio and online service from the BBC is well worth £12 a month.