In reply to a post by adslmax:

Am I the only person who refused to pay BBC License fee? Never pay it for nearly 30 years! All TV License warning letter always in the bin. Never answered the door to any TV license peoples.

Not as long as you, but 9 years since I have had a licence, I did have one for 12 months before that, and before that around 4 years without one.

The only reason i got one in the middle of that was because I was off work ill for 9 months, so I decided to try normal TV, bad mistake
i don't think I could go back to linier TV and certainly don't want to pay the Bloated broadcasting corporation if I can help it

Of course it's not linked to your licence. You could perhaps try not being a freeloader and actually pay for the services that you use.

That way the rest of won't have to subsidise you.

So then you haven't "refused to pay your TV license" any more than I have refused to pay for cigarettes, you've just chosen not to purchase something.

Fair point. But TV licensing themselves seem hardly able to distinguish between choosing not to buy a TV licence and refusing to pay for one - at least, judging by the correspondence they send me.

I have been reading this thread (I tend to lurk) with interest.

Firstly your login to iPlayer is not linked to the TV Licence people (Capita). You are asked for postcode so you get your correct regional radio/TV service. But there is a lot of it seems misunderstanding of what the licence actually is for and covers.

It is required for watching *any* live events on TV or steaming services. "Part of the fee also contributes towards Freeview and Freesat, and towards the UK broadband rollout, funding local TV channels and S4C, the Welsh language TV channel, as agreed with the government as part of the 2010 licence fee settlement." per the TV Licensing website. In addition Channel 4 get a public service broadcasting grant from the TV Licence fee every year.

Everytime you purchase a TV or combi TV/Monitor the supplier is supposed to notify TV Licencing of your name and address to check you have a licence for that address.

Edited by wrocc (Wed 13-Aug-25 13:47:51)

"Everytime you purchase a TV or combi TV/Monitor the supplier is supposed to notify TV Licencing of your name and address to check you have a licence for that address."

I could be purchasing a TV for someone else not at the same postcode. It's not foolproof.

True, hence they send you a letter to verify the information, or clarify if the licence for that address is in a different name. They check the address not the post code.

Which is the only way that makes sense as a postcode doesn't identify an address. Just because my neighbours, at the same postcode, have a licence doesn't mean that I don't need one.

Personally, I'm more than happy to pay for an independent broadcaster.

TV suppliers have not had to report sales to TV licensing since 2013...

See here..

In reply to a post by wrocc:

Everytime you purchase a TV or combi TV/Monitor the supplier is supposed to notify TV Licencing of your name and address to check you have a licence for that address.

That particular piece of legislation was repealed over a decade ago!

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/...