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TV licence fraud?

M

McBob

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 22, 2007
52
0
Wales
Hi, first ever post btw!

Im off to Uni in 2 weeks and was looking at what TV to get. I came across the range of Elgato USB tuners on apples web site and had an idea. Theoretically as long as I use the suplied ariels and connect it to my Powerbook this would qualify as a portable TV, would it not?

Under the TV licence regulations they state that a portable TV would be covered by the licence my parents hold, saving me well over £100.

Does anybody know if this would hold up if questions start being asked. Also getting a 24" imac before i go. Quite suitable for a TV one might think :rolleyes: ?

Robx
 
irishgrizzly

irishgrizzly

macrumors 65816
May 15, 2006
1,461
2
If you're in uni in the UK, I'd wouldn't be overly worried about a license. Wait until you're asked to get one – there's no penalty for getting it later. Save your money for beer :D
 
miniConvert

miniConvert

macrumors 68040
Mar 4, 2006
3,264
3
Kent, UK - the 'Garden of England'.
Well, I think you should probably get a TV Licence. It's your call, though, they're not going to try and fine you or anything right off the bat. If you're not too fussed about whether you pay it or not then it'd be worth calling the beeb to get their take.
 
Ish

Ish

macrumors 68020
Nov 30, 2004
2,222
766
UK
irishgrizzly, I wouldn't be too sure about that. The BBC are very effective in tracking down those without a license and I'm sure that universities provide rich pickings.

When we first bought the land our house stands on, we registered it to get an address and put a small, wooden box on a pole on it so that we could receive post there, rather than have it sent to our temporary address. Even before building work started we had a card to the effect of 'We notice that you do not have a TV registered at this address ...'

There we were, with an empty piece of land and a card saying they noticed we didn't have a TV. I was longing for the radar van to come down to investigate. :D
 
B

BoyBach

macrumors 68040
Feb 24, 2006
3,031
13
I thought my parents' TV Licence would cover me.

Your parents' TV Licence won't cover you while you're away at university.

There is just one exception to this rule: if you only use a device that's powered solely by its own internal batteries, you will be covered by your parents' TV Licence. However, you must not install the device (e.g. plug it into the mains) when using it to receive TV.

To check whether this exception applies to you, please call us on 0870 241 5973.


I haven't got a TV. I watch telly on my laptop.

The law requires everyone, including students, to be covered by a licence if they use any device to receive television programmes as they're being shown on TV. This includes any TV set, DVD or video recorder, digital box, PC, laptop or mobile phone.
Click to expand...

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/students.jsp#link2


What happens if I don't have a TV Licence?

Using a TV or any other device to receive or record TV programmes (for example, a VCR, set-top box, DVD recorder or PC with a broadcast card) without a valid TV Licence is against the law and could lead to prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000, not to mention the embarrassment and hassle of a court appearance.
Click to expand...

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/detectionandpenalties.jsp


Buy a TV Licence, it's a lot cheaper than the alternative.
 
irishgrizzly

irishgrizzly

macrumors 65816
May 15, 2006
1,461
2
I lived in London and got a visit within the year from an inspector, he was very reasonable and gave us 3 weeks to produce a license. Lived in Sheffield for 3 years and never met one. Must say that of any license I've had to pay the BBC is the one I least minded as the programs are the best in the world. Paying for an Irish license hurts as RTE is s*!t :rolleyes:
 
D

doobi18

macrumors 6502
Dec 31, 2006
286
0
Sydney, Australia
PAYING for a TV licence!

haha

it would suck living in the UK for that reason

i love living in australia, no licence/fees are needed ever for recieving terrestrial tv broadcasts,



plus all stations now transmit in 1080 so its pretty sweet.



still nothing on south koreas though...
 
M

McBob

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 22, 2007
52
0
Wales
irishgrizzly said:
If you're in uni in the UK, I'd wouldn't be overly worried about a license. Wait until you're asked to get one – there's no penalty for getting it later. Save your money for beer :D
Click to expand...

Thanks every one for the reply, im not going to get one too soon. Probably wait for my friends to get one and see how strict my Uni is then go from there.

Robx
 
C

CortexRock

macrumors 6502
Dec 3, 2006
413
0
Canterbury, England
Get a TV Licence, don't be a thief. If you don't, I hope you get fined. :mad:

You don't even have to pay it all in one go - by Direct Debit it's about £11 a month.

If getting drunk is more important to you than becoming a productive, useful member of society (surely the point of going to university in the first place?) then why bother?
 
H

~~Hello~~

macrumors 6502
Apr 27, 2007
291
17
CortexRock said:
Get a TV Licence, don't be a thief. If you don't, I hope you get fined. :mad:

You don't even have to pay it all in one go - by Direct Debit it's about £11 a month.

If getting drunk is more important to you than becoming a productive, useful member of society (surely the point of going to university in the first place?) then why bother?
Click to expand...

Well personally think it is a complete rip off. The BBC don't need to charge so much, and lots of people don't have all these digital channels yet! Not everyone wants to watch the BBC channels annyway, give me the sky channels anyday.

Yes you should pay for the licence, because you obviously don't want to get fined, but doesn't mean you have to agree with it.

As for the direct debit, they don't start by taking £11 out, I think they take the fee for half a year or something like that then you pay £11 a month. My friend did this at uni, and didn't even realise!
 
Cabbit

Cabbit

macrumors 68020
Jan 30, 2006
2,128
1
Scotland
I dont have a tv license, i use my apple tv and us itunes account. the tv guy tried to say i still had to pay because the tv had a tuner in it but i told him what am i supposed to do with it, you can't just take out the tuner.
If the uk goverment could get away with it they would charge cyclests road tax and milage tax for using the roads, pavements and a special tax on cycleing in cycle lanes and forests.
 
flopticalcube

flopticalcube

macrumors G4
Sep 7, 2006
10,456
186
In the velcro closure of America's Hat
I had a friend in Kent who never watched tele. They had a small TV and a VCR they used to watch prerecorded tapes (for the kids). When the inspectors showed up, he explained it to them, showed them the tele and vcr with no aerial and they said OK. In your case, I think it would be wise to purchase a license.
 
P

pedroconejo

macrumors newbie
Sep 1, 2007
22
0
Let me get this straight...

You folks in the UK are required to pay a monthly license fee to the BBC simply in order to own a television? As in a plain old bunny-ears aerial antenna television with no cable connections? Is that right?

So say you purchase a television to watch movies on your DVD player or VCR - and don't even have it connected to an antenna - you are STILL required to pay simply because it has a tuner and therefore the ability to receive programming?

I can't even begin to imagine how that one got through the courts.

But then we've got our fair share of ridiculosities over here in the States too (including words like ridiculosities).
 
flopticalcube

flopticalcube

macrumors G4
Sep 7, 2006
10,456
186
In the velcro closure of America's Hat
pedroconejo said:
Let me get this straight...

You folks in the UK are required to pay a monthly license fee to the BBC simply in order to own a television? As in a plain old bunny-ears aerial antenna television with no cable connections? Is that right?

So say you purchase a television to watch movies on your DVD player or VCR - and don't even have it connected to an antenna - you are STILL required to pay simply because it has a tuner and therefore the ability to receive programming?

I can't even begin to imagine how that one got through the courts.

But then we've got our fair share of ridiculosities over here in the States too (including words like ridiculosities).
Click to expand...

Its the way the BBC is funded. Seems strange to outsiders and probably would be more efficient through taxes, especially now that 99.99% of the population own and watch TV.
 
C

CortexRock

macrumors 6502
Dec 3, 2006
413
0
Canterbury, England
pedroconejo said:
You folks in the UK are required to pay a monthly license fee to the BBC simply in order to own a television? As in a plain old bunny-ears aerial antenna television with no cable connections? Is that right?
Click to expand...

Yep. When you buy a new TV, you have to give your name and address to the retailer, which then gets passed on to the TV Licensing Agency.

It's not the ideal situation for some people, but it does lead to some of the best TV - news, current affairs and drama in the world. Without the BBC, politicians and media moguls would do in the UK what they do in the US - buy people's hearts and minds with biased, controlling programming.

Personally, I'm willing to pay to make sure we don't slip further down the route of Americanisation (no offence to our North American cousins, but I'm British and proud of it).
 
mkrishnan

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
CortexRock said:
Without the BBC, politicians and media moguls would do in the UK what they do in the US - buy people's hearts and minds with biased, controlling programming.
Click to expand...

Are you familiar with the chap who just finished being your prime minister? :eek: ;)

In terms of the reasonableness of costs like these, I agree that you have to look at the whole picture together. It's not realistic to think of the US and UK ways of doing things as totally modular systems where you can pluck out one thing like TV license or VAT, or the way the US cellular and broadband infrastructures work, for instance, and plug it into the other system.

It's very difficult to convince most Americans that it's worth it to them to pay for services via taxation of any kind. Partially because, to their credit, while we pay less taxes than you do, we get even disproportionately less services than you do from our government. On the other hand, affluent or wealthy Americans are very fortunate. So it's very hard to make a sea change in all of this....
 
dogtanian

dogtanian

macrumors 6502
Jun 26, 2007
379
0
Bournemouth, UK
I didn't have a licence for about four years. Then last month, a nice chap appeared at the door and we've been paying it since. We simply didn't even think of making the effort till they knew my name :)

I say don't pay till they're at you door but then they may not have been as nice as the gent I had....

Just a piece of info though if you wanted to be on the wrong side of the law, they send about 12-15 reminder letters to tell you to pay, each a tiny bit more serious than the last so you could hold out till about number 20 I'd bet!

I should be responsible and say get one but I was a student at the time...:p

Planet earth and Blue planet are worth the licence fee alone however...(Blu ray disc out in Oct! Whoop!)
 
L

Lau

Guest
When I was a student we had a TV and only used it for SNES and videos (there was no aerial socket in the flat), so didn't pay for a license, and wrote them a letter and told them that, and that was all fine. They didn't send anyone round or anything, although this was in 1999, which I suppose was nearly 10 years ago. (!)

From the regulations it implies that you should get one, but I wouldn't worry until they start hassling you. Having also lived in flats without a TV, the letters are clever in that they're worded to make you nervous – they assume that everyone without a license must have one secretly, and if you genuinely don't have a TV, it's all quite funny to see their bluffing. ;)
 
RedTomato

RedTomato

macrumors 601
Mar 4, 2005
4,155
442
.. London ..
From the officals at

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/students.jsp

If you buy a licence, you can reclaim 3 months worth at the summer.

Your parents licence will cover it if you ONLY watch tv while on batteries and not plugged into the mains.

If you have a separate tenancy contract (i.e. halls of residence) The communal licence will cover mains powered tv if you only watch in communal areas and not your own room.

If you have a joint tenancy contract (i.e. rent with a group of mates) then a single tv licence will cover all of you and the whole house / flat.

I thought my parents' TV Licence would cover me.

Your parents' TV Licence won't cover you while you're away at university.

There is just one exception to this rule: if you only use a device that's powered solely by its own internal batteries, you will be covered by your parents' TV Licence. However, you must not install the device (e.g. plug it into the mains) when using it to receive TV.

To check whether this exception applies to you, please call us on 0870 241 5973.


I refuse to pay for a whole year when I'm only here for nine months.

The good news is you can apply for a refund if you find that you don't need your TV Licence for any full three-month period of cover remaining on it, should you stop using TV and not need a licence again before it expires. For example, for the last quarter of the academic year if you go on summer break.

I didn't know I needed a TV Licence in a hall of residence.

Your hall probably has a licence covering TVs in communal areas, but this won't cover a TV in your room. So, if you're planning to watch TV in your room, you must buy your own licence.

I live in a shared house. It's not my TV.

If you've signed a joint tenancy agreement with your housemates, you'll only need one TV Licence to cover all the TV receivers in your house. So it's a good idea to share the cost.

If you've signed a separate tenancy agreement and you're taking a TV receiver to use in your room, you'll need a TV Licence of your own.
Click to expand...
 
T

thecritix

macrumors 6502
Dec 11, 2006
284
0
West London, England
I'm in the same position and will be purchasing a license, just because i don't wanna be fussed with inspectors during exams or when i could be in the pub.. :D what i think is wrong is that I don't like the BBC, i watch it sometimes if nothing else is on, but I would quite happily keep my £100 or more?
and not have the bbc.

I can't stand the fact that the license fee gets paid to run the BBC website in 48 different languages.
the fact that jonathon ross gets paid £15 million a year..

it makes me sick.

we're such a sleepy country, we shouldn't tolerate these things.
we kind of look down on all these eastern european/south american countries where they have rioting in the streets, but at least they stand up and say things aren't right.


grrr i wanna live in america.
 
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