FYI

[robinbloke]

In the process of telling the TV Licensing people yes, I had moved, and yes I did have a license thankyouverymuchnonastylettersplease I asked about TV's and signals and if you're only watching videos and have no reciving equipment (decoder, cable, etc) then you don't need a license.

Hmmmm.

Comments

They Ignore that

[derekct.livejournal.com]

I know one person who has not had a tv for over twenty years and he still gets tv license demands! They don't belive you at all, thats what we find out.

Derek :)

Re: They Ignore that

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

They are meant to be bastards, yes :)

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

If you can prove there's no aerial connection to it then you can just about get away with it (I lived in MK, a 'no external aerials' area, and had my cable TV disconnected on purpose). They still argue and bitch and send you dozens of outright threatening letters and eventually send people around to double-check on you. Twice in one year in my case, because the first one didn't file his report.

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

I've heard tales of their legendary arsyness, so I'm half wondering if it's even worth trying - or if I should just hook myself up to the simpsons cable anyway.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

It's always worth trying! Paying money to somebody regularly in return for their refraining from harrassing you is extortion. You don't have to be manipulated by that.

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

I may have to remove the wobbly wire thing from my roof before they'd believe me mind you :)

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Well now you mention it, there's been a bloke in a white van with two ladders who's been very busy in my street recently.

[briggsy.livejournal.com]

I'd say 'just get Freeview and have no on-going costs apart from the TV license', but you wouldn't get Sky One and thus The Simpsons.

When you don't have a TV they are very persistent. I went two or three years without on, and it must have been every 3 months they'd send a whiny rude letter - putting the onus on the recipient to *again* deny it, rather than on them to prove it.

You could always try the 'I don't receive broadcast TV, and as I'm not a client of yours, could you kindly remove my details from your database as you should do under the data protection act if I ask'. They won't do anything of course - for some reason they don't believe the law applies to them.

See you tomorrow evening.

[rirekon.livejournal.com]

The DPA prevents the storage of data beyond the purpose for which it was originally collected. In this case they are storing the data to track who does and doesn't have a TV license so they really isn't a date beyond which the data no-longer fills that use.
So the data is actually stored legally, sucks but true.

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

I quite enjoyed the whole process, but then I'm bloody-minded.

[rirekon.livejournal.com]

if you're only watching videos and have no reciving equipment (decoder, cable, etc) then you don't need a license.
Except if you're watching videos recorded from TV then you do need a license... weird but apparently true o_0

[gerald_duck]

I am not equipped to receive.

TV Licensing has bugged me continually for seven and a half years now: sending people round (I've never been in to give them a piece of my mind, alas), throwing countless letters at us on all manner of interesting stationery, recorded-delivery bitchograms, etc.

I reject the recorded-delivery letters and bin the rest.

I gather that playing ball and submitting oneself to their inquisition doesn't help — they just pester again in a few months' time anyway.

If you don't want to receive broadcast television, though, don't let the bastards intimidate you into paying anyway.

[zenmeisterin.livejournal.com]

That's what I've done ;-) No external ariels, no signal for an internal ariel and we dont' subscribe to any sky/cable networks. I wrote a letter, they said 'fair enough but we'll come check anyway' and they haven't yet...

[cryx]

i didn't have a tv for a while (i don't watch it myself) and the licenceing people came round. I told them I din't have one and they said "so you wouldn't mind if we came and had a look round then" with an ah ha HA! kind of tone. So i said sure, which surprised them, and they come into the front room, and clocked the amount of dust in the place that would normally house a TV if i had one, and realised I was telling the truth.. heh heh heh.

did hear about a couple who successfully sued the TV licensin gpeople for harrisment, after a prelonged letter and visit compaign

[areia.livejournal.com]

From the TV Licensing website:
"Using a TV or any other device to receive or record TV programmes...without a valid TV Licence...could lead to prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000, not to mention the embarrassment and hassle of a court appearance."

Only the English would use embarrassment as a threat. "Oh dear, I have to go to court. Heavens, what will the neighbours think?" Forget the £1,000 fine - worry about the gossip.

I miss England.

[wildeabandon.livejournal.com]

England misses you too - we haven't heard from you in forever. How've you been?