Incase anyone forgot, you now need a licence to watch anything on the bbc iplayer.
Afaik, this rule doesn’t apply to bbc radio or itv, ch4 and channel 5.

It is unclear how the BBC will enforce the new rules at scale. It is considering whether to make it mandatory to sign in to use iPlayer and other online services, but that move is aimed at improving its ability to personalise services and learn about user behaviour.

The information collected at the moment does not include address or licence fee number, which could be used to work out whether or not people are watching illegally.

A BBC source said: “There are no plans for people to enter their licence details into BBC iPlayer at present because TV Licensing has a range of enforcement techniques they’ll continue to use. We’ll look at how effective these are before considering whether an extra verification system is required.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/aug/31/bbc-iplayer-loophole-closes-as-licence-required-for-catchup-tv

probably just be a tick box “do you have a tv licence”

probably just be a tick box “do you have a tv licence”

Pretty much the message I got on Monday.

Logged in via the website and the App this morning .

No mesages or tick boxes .

Able to download and watch as before .

Never used the website, just the apps built into everything these days. Until I’m required to enter a license number or something, I will continue to use it.
An unenforceable law.

Happy to pay for it.

An unenforceable law.

Don’t see why it should be unenforceable, the likes of Netflix seem to make that sort subscription system work, dont see why they couldn’t overhaul the way iPlayer works to do something similar.

Meh. Get a TV license. Or move abroad 😉

I’m sure there are reasons for it not happening but I can imagine that removing geo-blocking but requiring a TV licence number could be a fantastic move for the Beeb.

Fair enough.

[video]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SBkC1F2xQbI[/video]

dont see why they couldn’t overhaul the way iPlayer works to do something similar.

they could but it iwil cost themmoney to police their “free” service

Netflix has no business if we could just circumvent their security – the BBC’s bottom line is relatively unaffected

How many folk will ditch their tv licence or get one now due to this change – not many I suspect

I am one of the very few affected by this as I don’t have a tv licence but i did use the iplayer. I am not sure i want to pay the entire licence fee just for iplayer. Perhaps if they offered a reduced rate for iplayer i would be tempted but as it is I removed the app from the playstation
TBH i only watch Dr who, MOTD and robotwars. Not sure i want to pay that much just for those two
Feel bad though as I do love the BBC but its funding model is going to have to change…sadly.

I haven’t had a licence for years, I did occasionally watch stuff on the iPlayer but to be honest its becoming increasingly difficult to find things I really want to watch rather than stuff to just have on in the background. I’ll delete the app now and i won’t be bothering to get a licence.

TV licence website seems to be down, probably due to people like me who now need one.

Before it died I did see that there’s still a cheaper black and white licence option available. If I find some sort of app that makes iPlayer black and white can I buy one of those?

I am not sure i want to pay the entire licence fee just for i-Player. Perhaps if they offered a reduced rate for i-Player i would be tempted

Why should they? You can get pretty much all content via i-Player, so why should a licence for that be cheaper? In fact, given that there is more functionality on i-Player than live TV, you could argue that an i-Player only licence should be more expensive!

Don’t watch TV – rarely use iPlayer – not really interested in paying for something I don’t use. So won’t use iPlayer. Fail to see the fuss really.

so does it work along the same lines as a TV

“let me in – ok – i see you have a TV that accepts signal – Your nicked”

the iplayer version .

Ok – i seeyou have a pc connected to the internet – your nicked ?

Ok – i seeyou have a pc connected to the internet – your nicked

I would refuse to be arrested by someone with such poor grammar.

Don’t watch TV – rarely use iPlayer – not really interested in paying for something I don’t use. So won’t use iPlayer. Fail to see the fuss really.

Completely agree. I don’t play Hockey so when my mate told me about his team’s win last week at County level I told him to shut up.

FWIW I gladly pay my license for Radio 4 alone. Lose the BBC and we lose one of the most independant media outlets available (I know it’s not entirely unbiased/uninfluenced) and also end up having to suffer whatever Sky etc want to feed us.

david jey – Member

TV licence website seems to be down, probably due to people like me who now need one.

Before it died I did see that there’s still a cheaper black and white licence option available. If I find some sort of app that makes iPlayer black and white can I buy one of those?

I was wondering if the old Black and White license was still around, if you were an devious sort I imagine buying one would take you off all the inspector databases.

Frankly I’m happy to pay for it, I know it sticks in some peoples necks that they HAVE to buy one to have a TV even if they never watch any of the BBCs output, but when ITV is ran by a former Conservative MP and Sky owned by the Conservative backer Rupert Murdoch – it’s good to have an unbiased media output.

I would happily pay for the use of iplayer abroad. Here in Germany the terrestrial broadcasting is just about on a par with ITV.

Even my German GF prefers to watch BBC over German TV. (not that we watch lots, but the quality of BBC documentaries, wildlife programmes is much better….oh, and she likes the Sewing Bee.)

In Germany all households now have to pay a minimum of 17€ a month for broadcasting services. You essentially pay for being able to receive media. They assume that now everyone has either a radio or Internet. Bit of a shitty tax.

I wouldn’t mind paying the license if the money actually went to BBC directly. But I loath to pay the bullying criminals who run the scheme anything. Instead Ill just stop using iPlayer.

Never used the website, just the apps built into everything these days. Until I’m required to enter a license number or something, I will continue to use it.
An unenforceable law.

This has been the trap so many sectors have fallen into with online consumption of services. It being available free first then having to put a charging method in retrospectively. The service is devalued and consumers who’ve become accustomed to ‘free’ will resent paying for it.

For the BBC its a bit of a rod they’ve made for their own back but they possibly didn’t foresee that some people (and it is a pretty small percentage) would use catch-up services as their primary means of consuming TV, rather than a hand extra.

The music and film industry dropped the ball much more spectacularly by just not addressing an online market at all until long after file sharing had filled the void. You could buy MP3 players that hold tens of thousand of songs long before there was any market place to buy the songs – but having paid for that capacity people obviously needed to fill it with something – so people not only became accustomed to piracy but also to the expectation that they should own a pretty vast library of material. By the time you could buy music or film the market had already established the value of music and films is ‘free’ which means now paid-for services can only charge trivial amounts of money for their goods.

But the market is very odd now. People are happy to pay good money for the hardware, they’re happy to pay premiums for speed and bandwidth but they take offence and paying for anything that they actually consume and enjoy with that hardware or bandwidth.

People are happy to pay good money for the hardware, they’re happy to pay premiums for speed and bandwidth but they take offence and paying for anything that they actually consume and enjoy with that hardware or bandwidth

But the overwhelming majority of people do pay the license fee without complaint.

It was never going to be an easy to enforce law, it’s hardly unique in that – it’s been 3 years since the UK introduced the ‘anti middle lane hogging law’ something at people have been calling for, for years – first conviction was last year, I believe it’s still the only one. Yet the offence goes on every day on every rad. .

Interestingly perhaps, the only driver convicted of it – got a £1000 fine and 5 points, far harsher than less than stupid speeding or running a red light, So like TV licensing offences and to a lessor (or greater depending how you look at it) extent council tax non-payers the courts seem willing to make an example of a few people for the press rather than concentrate on convicting lots of people.

Enforcable or not, like the middle lane law – there are still a decent amount of people who will change their ways, some because they fear being caught, some because it’s the right thing to do.

Interesting loop-hole, and this really shows why it’s a 20th Century Law trying to work in the 21st – you don’t need a license if the device you’re using isn’t connected to the mains – because like a lot of 20th century rules it’s linked to an address and not an individual – so if you’re watching on a laptop, phone, tablet that’s not being charged at the time – you’re legal. Not unenforceable – it wouldn’t take GCHQ to prove a device was being charged when using iplayer, but still – not exactly easy.

I’m another don’t have a TV licence (or working TV come to that) and watched the occasional thing on iplayer. I always thought it was a little odd that you didn’t need a licence to watch it but was grateful to the TV licensing authority for bringing it to my attention…. 😆

Needless to say, I have now deleted the iplayer TV apps off the iPads.

Re independent news feeds, we found the lie to that during the recent referenda (esp the Scottish one). Just not as blatant as sky, etc. definitely not paying a licence to listen to R4. I find myself switching off/over to cd increasingly in the car these days. Can’t even listen to the archers these days, have to switch it off… Not paying it for the occasional Late Junction on R3 neither…

They really should do a proper iplayer subscription though.

On this, I have neither a TV licence nor a TV. I used to watch the adventure show on iplayer,however that is sporadic at best.

I do however support the BBC and think its overall a good thing and am considering getting a licence.

Trouble is, whe i have been round visiting parents / grandparents there never seems to actually ever be anything on worth watching IMO.

So what am I missing?

You just click “yes” and it works as usual

Trouble is, when i have been round visiting parents / grandparents there never seems to actually ever be anything on worth watching IMO.

So what am I missing?

Read your question, frankly since the advent of Sky+ in our house and streaming we’ve sort of lost what’s on what channels, it’s sort of just ‘there’ in the recorder.

TV is seasonal, most of the ‘big’ shows will be starting in a few weeks – but I’ve just looked at the listings for the next few days – slim pickings to say the lease from the Beeb, perhaps it’s not worth it after all?

Wife like Holby, I like HIGNFY, struggling to think of anything else at the moment.

You can get pretty much all content via i-Player, so why should a licence for that be cheaper?

the inconvenience of not being able to watch live broadcast tv

In fact, given that there is more functionality on i-Player than live TV, you could argue that an i-Player only licence should be more expensive!

– given its currently free its going to be pretty hard to argue its worth is more than a tv licence and i wish you luck persuading folk

One of those i do feel bad as i do love the BBC but the [tv] use i got is just not enough to justify having a licence and i now have netflix.

iPlayer should be funded by ads and they should possibly remove live TV from it.

I didn’t have a licence for a few years as I watched virtually zero live TV and for the odd live sports match I can go to the pub. I got one as Mrs wanted it but even still we watch very little. News / Newsnight / Bake Off ? Its not worth £140 pa

Is there any topic you don’t spout rubbish on, Jamby?

£140 pa is £2.69 pw. Are you seriously saying that one of the best media platforms out there, never mind the content on it (some of which I’ll grant you is better than others) is worth less per week than one takeaway coffee?

so does it work along the same lines as a TV

“let me in ok – i see you have a TV that accepts signal – Your nicked” No, go away.

FTFY

So the law is, you only need a TV licence if you watch live TV or use iplayer.
I don’t watch live TV and will no longer use iplayer, but I have a sky app installed on my TV enabling me to watch sky cinema and catch up etc.
Supposing Mr TV licensing inspector ever came around, how could they ever prove you were or weren’t watching live TV when you have the means to watch it (i.e. Internet connected devices) all over the house?

They’re going to use “existing techniques” to enforce that law (detector vans?)

Anyway, I just brought up the topic so you could delete any apps in time, or before your kids inadvertantly landed you a fine.

Still think that they could make the iplayer a global subscription service…they could make a mint.
But the uk ‘elites’ won’t forgive you for the peasant revolts way back in the Middle Ages and thus will do whatever to grind you into atoms.

They just assume that every house in the U.K. watches live tv as its broadcast and must therefore have a licence. The offence is actually watching live tv as its broadcast, having the equipment to do so is not proof of guilt. I have a tv, I also have a sky dish but I don’t watch tv as its broadcast so no offence is being committed. The only possible way they can catch you is if you invite them into your house and they actually catch you watching live tv. They have no right of entry however, they can get a warrant but they hardly ever go that far. I’ve got quite a thick file of increasing threatening letters from the tv licence people going back over four years. They have visited twice but sadly I wasn’t at home 🙂

Interesting loop-hole, and this really shows why it’s a 20th Century Law trying to work in the 21st – you don’t need a license if the device you’re using isn’t connected to the mains – because like a lot of 20th century rules it’s linked to an address and not an individual – so if you’re watching on a laptop, phone, tablet that’s not being charged at the time – you’re legal. Not unenforceable – it wouldn’t take GCHQ to prove a device was being charged when using iplayer, but still – not exactly easy.

Easy enough for an app to see if you’re plugged in or not, whether iPlayer opt to look at that info is a different matter.

Supposing Mr TV licensing inspector ever came around, how could they ever prove you were or weren’t watching live TV when you have the means to watch it (i.e. Internet connected devices) all over the house?

Just never let the bastards in.

So in the week I rent a room in a house with a licence and have a tv/freeview etc.

Does this allow me to access content via the iplayer in the week when I’m there?

What about if I was in a hotel?

What if I’ve downloaded something to watch later?

Saying “You must have a TV licence or you are breaking the law” as it now does seems a bit simplistic when licences have always been based on an address rather than an individual user

I am not sure i want to pay the entire licence fee just for i-Player. Perhaps if they offered a reduced rate for i-Player i would be tempted

Why should they? You can get pretty much all content via i-Player, so why should a licence for that be cheaper? In fact, given that there is more functionality on i-Player than live TV, you could argue that an i-Player only licence should be more expensive! [/quote]

I agree iPlayer is a better service than basic TV. I know you can watch BBC TV live in Kodi via the iPlayer WWW plugin. Not sure what the point is, but you can and I have. Might be useful if you can’t get freeview or whatever.