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Re: [LUG] TV Licensing [Ad blockers]

 

On Fri, 16 Sep 2016, Julian Hall wrote:

Bottom line; If you have a TV or radio you need a TV Licence, irrespective of what content you watch or listen to.

This isn't true.

The radio license was abolished in 1971. So lets stop talking about radio.

While it's true that the rules for a TV license were altered at the start of this month, the previous rules are still part on the new changes. ie. You need a license if you USE equipment capable of receiving live or near-live TV broadcasts (from any broadcaster available to you in the UK - that's ITV, Ch5, Sky, etc.) So watching live TV (or near live TV - which AIUI is considered a time window during the original broadcast) via a PC required a license and always has done.

So owning a TV and using it to watch a DVD, video tape, etc. does not need a license and neither did tuning a TV to channel 36 to plug your Apple II, BBC Micro, etc. into.

From the 1st of September this year that law was amended to also cover the need for a license if you watch "streamed on-demand content". That covers everything via the BBC iPlayer and other channels streaming content, live, time-delayed or historical. If a well-know media company provides it, you need a license.

Note the word "watch" above, although I suspect simply downloading it, storing and not watching it would be laughed out of court..

So its perfectly possible to own a PC and have it connected to the Interwebs and use it to watch YouTube, Vimeo, etc. videos, provided they're not content generated by the recognised media companies (BBC, Ch4, etc.)

Gordon


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