Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 63 total)
  • Anyone decided to ditch the TV licence?
  • Onzadog
    Free Member

    We’re having that conversation again. Pretty much all we watch is Nexflix and Amazon which are their own subscription.

    We tried Now TV but binned it off as it didn’t seem like value for money given how much we watched it.

    Live transmission TV is pretty much just on as background noise when it is on.

    Anyone else gone this route? Do you miss it? How much of a pain are Capita?

    sadexpunk
    Full Member

    id be happy to do this if it wasnt for 6 music. never watch live stuff these days.

    Futureboy77
    Full Member

    Ditched it just before Christmas. Two letters through the door already, with a mildly threatening tone to them!

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    geomickb
    Free Member

    Ditched ours years ago. Don’t really miss it. Plenty to watch without. Live TV just sucks you in.

    Isn’t our amazing new PM going to scrap it anyway?


    @sadexpunk
    you don’t need a licence for radio.

    RDL-82
    Free Member

    We rarely if ever watch tv in our house beyond a bit of Netflix.

    Personally though happy to keep paying the fee purely for the radio side. If it wasn’t for the radio though I’d probably look to stop.

    NewRetroTom
    Full Member

    The law says you need to be covered by a TV Licence to:

    watch or record programmes as they’re being shown on TV, on any channel
    watch or stream programmes live on an online TV service (such as ITV Hub, All 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now TV, Sky Go, etc.)
    download or watch any BBC programmes on iPlayer.
    This applies to any device you use, including a TV, desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone, tablet, games console, digital box or DVD/VHS recorder.

    From here: https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one

    I don’t understand how you prove you never watch live TV and therefore don’t need a TV license?

    v8ninety
    Full Member

    No, despite not even having a tv aerial, because I value the relative independence of the BBC, and radio without brain numbing adverts. It’s brilliant value for what you get, but only because everyone (cept you lot ⬆️🙄) pays it.

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    I don’t understand how you prove you never watch live TV and therefore don’t need a TV license?

    They need to prove you do rather than you having to prove you don’t.

    (Despite what Capita might try to tell you)

    footflaps
    Full Member

    We’ve not had a TV for years, but have a license as the wife used to watch Strictly on iPlayer. I’d happily ditch it as I don’t watch anything from the BBC.

    sadexpunk
    Full Member

    @sadexpunk you don’t need a licence for radio.

    whaaat? when did that change?

    thanks

    larrydavid
    Free Member

    Also thinking about ditching it after the election coverage. Only watch the apprentice (don’t judge 😀) live and that’s it.

    Listen to radio 4, 6 and Scotland though so that’s keeping me paying. at the moment.

    The alternative of a no publically funded BBC world is pretty sure. But it’s not as big a loss as it would once have been.

    howsyourdad1
    Free Member

    Here in Sweden the TV licence is paid through your taxes. Clever huh!

    bikecurious
    Free Member

    Haven’t had one since we moved last June. Had the letter through just before Christmas which precipitated this debate in our house. Think we’ll probably pay it even though we don’t watch telly. I don’t want to live in a sans Radio 4 world.

    HarryTuttle
    Full Member

    Ditched it in 2012, because digital reception was crap so I’d ended up watching everything on catchup anyway. I thought I’d miss it, but I never did. Losing the i-player when the law changed was annoying but from my point of view, the value for money wasn’t worth it, less content for nearly double the price of Netflix!

    I don’t believe the current licence model is sustainable with subscription streaming services. Either the BBC will become increasingly less relevant, the fees will need to reduce to bring the i-player in line with other services or the law will have to change. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.

    geomickb
    Free Member

    @larrydavid you don’t need a licence for radio.

    Kuco
    Full Member

    Don’t listen to BBC radio and the only two things i’ve watched on BBC in over 6 months was Wor Of The Worlds and a Christmas Carol and they were crap. IMO the BBC is an antiquated establishment that should be scrapped.

    hatter
    Full Member

    Haven’t had one for over ten years but fairly conficted about it as I use the BBC news website and appreciate advert free radio, 6-music in particular. I feel they’re a real asset to the UK and make a huge contribution to nurturing UK creativity and then selling it round the world.

    Would be happy for them to get more tax payer funding to help them fend off the Murdochs and their ilk, but I somehow can’t see that happening with the current administration.

    For what a fully free market, privatised media landscape without the Beeb would look like just check out the USA *shudders*

    larrydavid
    Free Member

    @larrydavid you don’t need a licence for radio.

    I know, but I feel bad about using something so frequently (which is so much better than commercial) and not contributing paying for it (even though so much more as a percentage goes to stuff like strictly, MoTD etc. etc.).

    That said I’m listening to BBC radio less and less as I switch to podcasts more

    larrydavid
    Free Member

    Also, I’m not exactly enamoured by this BritBox thing:

    Pay the licence fee, pay for BBC programmes on Netflix… and then get to pay again!

    kimbers
    Full Member

    we use iplayer & ceebeebies a lot with the kids

    but also use iplayer for us some great shows & comedies on there

    also 6 music

    newsnight best news analysis

    not sure it justifies the fee, but im happy to pay it if it upsets DM readers

    Cougar
    Full Member

    I don’t understand how you prove you never watch live TV and therefore don’t need a TV license?

    You don’t have to prove anything. The enforcement people have no powers beyond sending threatening letters and peeping through the window.

    Don’t listen to BBC radio and the only two things i’ve watched on BBC

    You need a licence for broadcast TV generally, not just the BBC. See Tom’s post above.

    corroded
    Free Member

    So you’d need a license to watch live coverage of Rampage on Red Bull’s Youtube channel?

    paton
    Free Member

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    So you’d need a license to watch live coverage of Rampage on Red Bull’s Youtube channel?

    Yes, slightly daft as it seems.

    The licence fee isn’t paid directly to the BBC, it’s a licence to watch live broadcasts. Which is then used to fund the BBC.

    Here in Sweden the TV licence is paid through your taxes. Clever huh!

    Thanks to the unique way Swedish TV is funded that’s what the propaganda would say isn’t it.

    The alternative of a no publically funded BBC world is pretty sure. But it’s not as big a loss as it would once have been.

    The loss wouldn’t be the BBC, that would still exist, just with adverts, arguably it would improve as despite advertising revenues falling the budgets at ITV etc are much higher.

    The loss would be that it would start a race to the bottom. Going after the lowest common denominator and only commissioning mass audience shows. Love or hate A Christmas Carol, at least it’s not another Cold Feet Christmas special. No more BBC4, R4, test match cricket, infact probably little mainstream coverage of anything other than profitable stuff like mens football. ITV news has to compete with BBC for viewers, so has to appeal to everyone. Remove that competition and you’d end up with a USA style CNN Vs Fox choice.

    Independent news coverage is worth having, even if no one watched it, that wouldn’t prove the alternative is better, it proves the alternative is telling people what they want to hear.

    And in a different way, think about it as funding for the Arts. It’s a whole creative industry churning out producers, directors, script writers, actors, cameramen, researchers, editors, and a whole plethora of technical trades too.

    Poopscoop
    Full Member

    I watch a lot of BBC output. Even though a fair chuck is shown in various other channels, it’s been made by the Beeb.

    Hell, without the BBC output a lot of the factual channels wouldn’t have much to broadcast… Well, not much that would interest me anyway!

    I’m very Pro BBC. One of those things you would only realise the worth of if it were to disappear or go adverts….which would totally change much of its programming.

    thepurist
    Full Member

    The loss wouldn’t be the BBC, that would still exist, just with adverts, arguably it would improve as despite advertising revenues falling the budgets at ITV etc are much higher.

    So do you think the advertising market would expand to give the BBC the extra funding, or would it dilute the already declining advertising pot even further, probably causing a loss of revenue for ITV etc (so even worse content there) or an increase in subcriptions for Sky to make up the shortfall in ad revenue.

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    I still use the BBC as much, if not more than, other TV channels, plus Radios 2, 4 & 5. I’m happy to pay the 50p per day it costs us.

    cheers_drive
    Full Member

    I use BBC TV and radio 6 a lot. CBeebies is great babysitter! I used to use the website for news but since the Tories messed with it has gone downhill.
    The license covers the IPlayer too so even if like may you don’t watch live TV you still require it. I’ve always been a great supporter of the BBC, having see the alternatives. However, C4 shows that good programming can be done on a commercial network and more than anything it’s fast becoming irrelevant in the world of streaming.

    howsyourdad1
    Free Member

    Thanks to the unique way Swedish TV is funded that’s what the propaganda would say isn’t it.

    Well they only brought it in last year,  in part so the goverment can control all thought and how we think, but mainly I think to stop all the know it all bores on the internet having the same tired debates over and over again

    martinhutch
    Full Member

    So you’d need a license to watch live coverage of Rampage on Red Bull’s Youtube channel?

    What happens if you pause it for five seconds then continue? No longer live, you’re watching on catch-up.
    The idea that they could get you for watching Amazon Prime seems like a massive over reach.

    Not that they could get you at all unless you confess.

    deserter
    Free Member

    First thing I noticed once I emigrated was how good the BBC is, while we’re on the subject of moaning I used to complain about NHS, postal service and public transportation, all were far superior in the UK than where I am now

    So don’t wish it away

    sadexpunk
    Full Member

    What happens if you pause it for five seconds then continue? No longer live, you’re watching on catch-up.

    youd still need a licence. its still ‘live tv’ that youve accessed and recorded. youd have to watch it through a catch-up service i believe.

    Greybeard
    Free Member

    you don’t need a licence for radio.

    whaaat? when did that change?

    1971

    CountZero
    Full Member

    What happens if you pause it for five seconds then continue? No longer live, you’re watching on catch-up.

    No, you’re not, you’re watching a buffered live transmission. Catch-up allows you to watch a show after its live transmission has ended, just like you do after recording a programme on your Sky box or whatever.

    theboatman
    Free Member

    I watch MOTD and enjoy the fa cup coverage. Equally whilst I go to the RL Challenge Cup final each year, I enjoy the coverage of the earlier rounds and semi’s etc. There were a couple of decent RL documentaries through iplayer last year. Radio 1, 4 and 6 get a lot of listening through the family, as does some of the nature stuff both live and on iplayer. We enjoy the odd thing like Lufer and a couple of other bits and bobs. Oh yeah, cbeebies/ cbbc and some of the on line learning stuff has had some hammer by the kids, and I could totally lose myself in the Waybuloo’s. So, whilst maybe a stw minority, I’m not really stressing about the license fee.

    lunge
    Full Member

    The BBC isn’t perfect but it’s so much better than pretty much any other broadcaster. And for, what, £11 a month it’s an absolute bargain.
    I really struggle to see how you can knock it for that cost.

    Kuco
    Full Member

    You need a licence for broadcast TV generally, not just the BBC. See Tom’s post above.

    I know that, thats why I begrudgingly pay for a TV licence. They should either put adverts on or scramble the signal and you have to pay if you want it.

    And for, what, £11 a month it’s an absolute bargain.

    Not if you don’t watch it it isn’t.

    baboonz
    Free Member

    I have Netflix and amazon prime, which at a time amounted to the same as a tv license.

    I wish they ditched the tv license or reduced specifically to watching bbc. I cannot comprehend why I have to pay for a license to watch discovery channel through my paid amazon prime/sky through my paid internet.

    stevious
    Full Member

    We did back in 2010 when we moved somewhere without a TV. Reinstated in 2012 as we realised how important the BBC is.

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    The next part of the question, at what point does an offence occur?

    There’s no law against owning recieving equipment. For example, I’d not expect the have to remove the tuner from my smart TV, not take the dish off the side of the house.

    We can receive radio channels through the sky dish and play them through the sound bar – again, not against the rules.

    I assume watching isn’t the offence as blind people still need a licence. I’m assuming then, that it must be broadcasting it in your home.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 63 total)

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