Does anyone in the UK have a TV licence?

I don't have one because I don't need one. As a result, I receive a letter from TV licencing every few weeks threatening "enforcement visits" and "hearings in my local court" unless I buy a TV licence or explain why I don't need one. I just throw the letter in the bin.

One I received today stated that they carried out 10101 enforcement visits [b]every day[/b] last year. As they claim to visit at weekends as well as weekdays that makes a total of 3 686 865 enforcement visits. As there are approximately 28 million homes in the UK ( http://visual.ons.gov.uk/uk-perspectives-2016-housing-and-home-ownership-in-the-uk/ ) that means they visit approximately 1 in every 7.6 homes. I've never had such a visit so obviously they don't visit everyone who doesn't have a TV licence. I also presume they don't visit people who do have a TV licence.

The figures suggest hardly anyone has a TV licence - or are TV licencing's claims just more bullshit?

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Gumba1000 · M

As a student I had a TV licensing officer knock on my door. He was an old man knocking on doors late at night. Unfortunately he knew we had a TV because he could see it switched on behind me. We all paid for one then. Caught square eyed.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@Gumba1000 Do they still use the detector vans, do you know? I haven't seen one for years.

Gumba1000 · M

@ArishMell I don't know but they claimed to have used one on our house in one letter. In reality I think they mostly bluff people and only target those that they think will pay when pushed.

suzie1960 · 61-69, F

@ArishMell I haven't seen one either. I doubt they really ever detected TVs although, in theory, it would be possible with the old CRT type TVs. Modern, flat screen, TV's wouldn't be detectable by the method detector vans were said to employ.

That said, parking a detector van in an area usually resulted in a lot of people deciding to buy a licence.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@Gumba1000

Maybe. I cut the external cable on the ariel on my last house so anyone searching round would be more likely to believe me.

suzie1960 · 61-69, F

@ArishMell I don't care whether they believe me. If they want to prosecute me they need evidence, sufficient to prove beyond resonable doubt, that I'm actually using equipment to receive live TV broadcasts.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@suzie1960

If you have no television as such, but use a computer of some sort I don't see how they can prove it unless they trace your equipment's traffic records.

You used to have to have a lower-cost licence for radio alone, so in effect I am obtaining my services for free; but I am conscious of the fact this means those with a TV licence are subsidising those of us who do not - whether the latter are legitimate or not.

I do not agree with wilful licence-dodging, any more than I agree with shop-lifting, tax fraud and fare-dodging, because I value the services all these pay for; and the TV Licence is remarkably cheap, very good value, for what it gains.

suzie1960 · 61-69, F

@ArishMell I believe the radio licence was abolished in 1971. Website can access the IP of computers connecting to the site so it would be possible to for them to see who was watching live broadcasts (or iPlayer) online but they'd probably need a court order to get UK based ISPs to match the IP address to a person.

The licence only pays for the BBC, all the other channels are funded by advertising or subscription.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@suzie1960

Thank you. I could not remember the date but remembered it being in late-60s, early-70s. I suppose the authorities thought that the growth in TV ownership was sufficient to render the more modest radio-only licence no longer economical. The last time I read the statistic, about 2% of British households have no TV; but that does not account for watching via the Internet.

The BBC also gains from selling programmes abroad, both TV and radio, though their own on-line repeat service means anyone can listen to most major radio programmes for free, anywhere, anyway.