Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: Mr Happy
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 12:00 PM

...& hand held phone tellies?

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: Steve in Sidmouth
Date: 09 Mar 11 - 07:48 AM

Some very interesting links - thank you Folkiedave!

A STATIC caravan needs its own licence. A TOURING caravan is covered by the householders own licence, as is a garden shed and any number of TVs on the premises.

It is certainly true that you can pick up what is being viewed on any CRT screen using suitable equipment outside of the building: there is sufficient radiated signal. You don't need much signal either: I heard a program recently about the risks of relying on satnav and GPS too much - the signals from satellites are like looking at a 100watt lightbulb from 12,000 miles away or was it 1200 miles?.

Interesting that people buy and use (illegal) jamming equipment for GPS so when it is fitted to company cars and vans (so the company knows where you are at all times) you can take a detour to somewhere and plead the equipment wasn't working at the time. But you blot out everyone elses signal aroundabout too.

So next time your sat nav malfunctions, don't automatically blame the manufacturer!!!

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: Mr Red
Date: 09 Mar 11 - 06:40 AM

then you still need a licence from the BBC!

NOT the BBC - Channel 4 receives revenue from the TV Licencing Authority too.

And as I read the law (not recently though) the legal criterion is:

"Broadcast receiving apparatus". And in the days before 'tinternet etc that included the aerial - even if you didn't have a TV/VHS/etc at the bottom of it. The aerial was deemed as "the intention to receive". In practice they just sniffed out the IF leaking from your aerial and possibly the radiation from the scanning frequencies/harmonics of your old fashioned CRT (the tube). I heard it said they (Military types anyway) could reconstruct what you were watching - Hot Babes and all!

oooer.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: GUEST,Brysy
Date: 08 Mar 11 - 11:23 AM

Also, if you have a TV in your garden shed, you will require a separate licence

That doesn't appear to be totally true!!!!!!

T.V licence people tell me, that as long as the shed is on the property containing the licenced main residence, no seperate licence is required for the TV, as long as only household residents view the TV.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: Will Fly
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 06:19 PM

As to right of entry, the only person I know with such powers - even more than the police - is the tax man.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: GUEST,folkiedave
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 02:34 PM

No-one has a right of entry without a search warrant as far as I am aware. (Customs officers under specific circumstances can get a thing called a Writ of Assistance which allows them to enter your home - but they need specific evidence - e.g. if you were caught with smuggled goods in your car).

TV Licence Officers send out letters - which incidentally are best ignored - and then pay visits. You can stop these visits by withdrawal of the implied right of access.

This makes it clear.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: terrier
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 01:21 PM

Also, there does not seem to be any provision for watching a TV in someone else's home. Your licence only covers you for your own home.
Under 'What your TV licence covers', it only specifies conditions for a non static second home(ie touring caravan). In which case you must not let your visitors see your TV as you're watching it. Also, if you have a TV in your garden shed, you will require a separate licence to watch it.

Do you recognise this scenario?
I guess this is how they spend the licence fees.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 12:07 PM

TVLA inspectors don't have an automatic right of entry but they can go to court for a search warrent (I think, but don't know for certain, that they have to get the police to do that).

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: GUEST,folkiedave
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 09:52 AM

If they were to go into court then they would have to explain how the detector vans work and are calibrated. Police do the same with radar, but they usually say the camera/radar was calibrated at (say) 9.00 am and again at 12 noon and 5.00 pm and it was done by.......

We don't know about detector van because the BBC have never gone in court to explain.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: terrier
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 07:31 AM

Stallion wrote: coupled with powers of entry and siezure. The vans were to intimidate people into suggesting they were caught or would cruise around areas to panic people into buying licences.


Nowhere on their site does the DVLA suggest that they have the power of entry and siezure. To do so (unless invited in by the householder) would constitute illegal entry / theft of goods.

From the TV licensing site:
Watching TV on the internet
    You need to be covered by a licence if you watch TV online at the same time as it's being broadcast on conventional TV in the UK or the Channel Islands.

That could be construed to mean that even if you are watching a programme online that is not live in your area, you still need a licence because it might be being shown live somewhere else at the time.

Go to the TVLA site and in the queries box type 'Why do I need a TV licence'. You won't get a straight answer.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 05:28 AM

You can watch past programmes on the iPlayer but not the ones currently being broadcast.

If your laptop has a TV card installed then you will need a licence.

Shops are supposed to pass your personal details to the licensing authority when you buy any equipment. I was caught out when I bought my mother a combined VCR/DVD player as a present and had to write them a letter giving the address to which the equipment was delivered.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: Will Fly
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 05:16 AM

A question (just curious):

If I don't have a TV of any sort, but use the browser on my laptop to watch stored - not live - programmes on, say, the BBC iPlayer site, is a TV licence required? I'm not talking about live broadcasts but material which has been archived and made available for a specified period of time.

My view is that no licence is required for this. If that is not the case, then any household with only a laptop would have to pay for a TV licence, whether they had a TV or not.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: stallion
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 04:18 AM

In the old days TV's had a "local" oscillator that one tuned to the carrier frequency of the channel you wanted to watch, what those coily things on top of the van were meant to do was to pick the signal generated by them up and triangulate (manually) the location of the signal and the frequency then polaroid the oscilloscope with the recieved signal. The reality was that they had records of who had licences or not and called on the houses without licences and let guilt do the rest, oh, coupled with powers of entry and siezure. The vans were to intimidate people into suggesting they were caught or would cruise around areas to panic people into buying licences.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: terrier
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 08:15 PM

From: Mr Happy - PM
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 02:30 PM

How will the detector vans know if you're watching corrie etc on your pc?


They peer through your living room window, silly ;)

If you really want to deter the BBC from hounding you just tell them you don't have a TV because of your religious beliefs. They back off pretty quick then.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 07:04 PM

Do they still have detector vans? I thought these days they just have a list of all the addresses with no licence, and come round and knock on the door.

It's many years since you needed a licence for radios.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 04:43 PM

So why have a detector van Dave? Keep it clean :-)

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: Folkiedave
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 04:42 PM

How will the detector vans know if you're watching corrie etc on your pc?

As far as I am aware there is no known case where evidence gathered by a detector van has been used in court.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 03:12 PM

oops

"Basically, if you are a student and have a laptop or mobile, you can watch TV as long as you are plugged into the mains. So you charge your device up and then unplug it and then watch Live TV. "

Should have been

Basically, if you are a student and have a laptop or mobile, you can watch TV as long as you are NOT plugged into the mains. So you charge your device up and then unplug it and then watch Live TV.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 02:31 PM

Licensing covers the device, not the use.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: Mr Happy
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 02:30 PM

How will the detector vans know if you're watching corrie etc on your pc?

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 02:25 PM

Thanks Bernard - very helpful

This part is what I need

Does my parents' TV Licence cover me while I'm away at university?
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, see student information.

Basically, if you are a student and have a laptop or mobile, you can watch TV as long as you are plugged into the mains. So you charge your device up and then unplug it and then watch Live TV.

Subject: RE: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: Bernard
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 02:15 PM

The rule is very clear.

As the law currently stands: you need to be covered by a valid TV Licence if you watch or record TV as it's being broadcast. This includes the use of devices such as a computer, laptop, mobile phone or DVD/video recorder (source).

So, yes, watching live TV on your computer would require a licence. Similarly, watching something recorded with Tivo/Sky+ would also require a licence (since you received it "live", even if you didn't watch it until later).

Oddly, the source of the TV signal is irrelevant. So if you're watching a live stream of France 24 (produced in France, and paid for by French taxpayers) on your computer (not your television) then you still need a licence from the BBC!

However, a grey area seems to have crept in whereby it is no longer illegal to have an unlicensed TV which you only use for watching DVDs, etc., even though it is capable of receiving an off-air signal. At one time, merely having a TV in the house with no licence was illegal - even if the TV was not in working order (source)!

For anyone who is unsure, the household requires a licence, not the TV - so you could run TV sets in every room of the house with just one licence. The parents' licence may not cover children in full time education living elsewhere, though...

Subject: Tech: TV licence rules concerning PC, Mob UK
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 01:42 PM

I have a TV licence and have no issues concerning using TV on my PC or mobile.

I am just wondering what the rules are relating to the UK TV licence.

For example, if you don't have a licence, can you watch live TV on your laptop or mobile?

Can you watch Youtube videos etc and can you listen to radio etc etc etc without a licence on your Laptop or mobile.

Does anybody have a clear and understandable ruling on this?

Thanks