How to cancel BBC TV Licence legally before price goes up to £174.50

The BBC TV Licence interest is acceptable to emergence again, taking the caller terms to £174.50.

The Licence Fee, which funds BBC TV and vigor programming arsenic good arsenic nationalist involvement broadcasting similar Welsh transmission S4C, volition spell up by £5 from April 2027, it has been confirmed today.

While galore households gladly wage it to get their Strictly Come Dancing oregon Match of the Day fix, galore others are realising that they don't request to wage it immoderate much for the types of contented they ticker and tin legally trim their measure to £0.

Services similar Netflix, ITVX, YouTube, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video person seen the TV contented scenery displacement distant from sitting down successful beforehand of a scheduled programme to simply hitting the fastener whenever you're acceptable to ticker something.

People person been outgo cutting aft different cost of living situation deed america with precocious inflation, mortgage increases and ever spiralling bills - truthful it makes consciousness to cheque whether you truly bash request a TV Licence oregon not.

If you ticker Match of The Day oregon Strictly Come Dancing past you're retired of luck - but determination are galore different scenarios wherever you tin legally bash distant with it - and it's not conscionable applicable to students.

What tin I legally ticker without a TV Licence?

A communal misconception is that TV Licences are lone needed to ticker BBC content. Many volition remark saying things similar 'oh good I don't ticker thing connected the BBC truthful I don't request to pay'. This is simply a myth, and rules connected streaming platforms were changed immoderate years ago. But determination are tons of ways you tin ticker TV without a TV Licence.

A TV Licence is simply a ineligible request if you bash immoderate of these:

• watch oregon grounds TV connected immoderate transmission via immoderate TV work (such arsenic Sky, Virgin, Freeview, Freesat)
• watch unrecorded contented connected streaming services (e.g. ITVX, Channel 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now, Sky Go)
• use BBC iPlayer astatine all

TV Licences are per house, not per person, though.

This means if you unrecorded successful a location with aggregate people, you don't each request a TV Licence unless your rooms are counted arsenic abstracted addresses.

Put simply, 1 shared code equals 1 licence, truthful a radical of students each surviving nether 1 extortion tin divided the cost, but if you unrecorded successful a abstracted level with its ain beforehand door, adjacent wrong a azygous location that's been divided into flats, you request your ain Licence.

What you don't request a TV Licence for:

• Watching DVDs oregon Blurays (yes, they inactive beryllium and according to caller reports, income are up arsenic radical ditch costly streamers to spell backmost to gathering their ain collections)
• Watching Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video oregon Apple TV arsenic agelong arsenic it's NOT unrecorded content. E.g. you tin ticker Drive To Survive, Stranger Things, Ted Lasso oregon Clarkson's Farm without a TV Licence, wholly legally. But if you stray implicit to watching a unrecorded Premier League crippled connected that aforesaid Amazon Prime sub, you'll request a Licence.
• As the TV Licensing says: "You request to beryllium covered by a TV Licence to ticker programmes unrecorded connected immoderate online TV work - specified arsenic ITVX, Channel 4, Amazon Prime Video, Now oregon Sky Go. You don’t request a TV Licence if you lone ever ticker on-demand programmes connected immoderate TV work isolated from BBC iPlayer."
• LIVE is not conscionable unrecorded arsenic successful a unrecorded match, but if you ticker Coronation Street arsenic it's being broadcast 'live', you request a TV Licence. However, if you ticker an ITV oregon Channel 4 amusement connected catch-up later, you don't request a licence for that.

When you determine that you don't request a TV licence, you can't conscionable not bargain 1 and telephone it a day. You person to state to TV Licensing that you are exempt - for illustration if you cognize for definite you volition lone ticker Netflix oregon non-live YouTube videos, oregon conscionable play PS5 but not ticker TV.

The infamous 'TV Licence detection vans' are thought to beryllium a story by many, but the TV Licensing website claims: "We person a fleet of detector vans that tin observe the usage of TV receiving instrumentality astatine specifically targeted addresses wrong minutes."

It adds: "We person a database of astir 31 cardinal licensed and unlicensed addresses. This tells america if your code has a TV Licence.

"All our visiting officers person entree to this database. This means they tin cheque if you person a licence oregon not.

"If you archer america that you bash not request a TV Licence, our officers whitethorn inactive sojourn you to corroborate this."

So it's champion to interaction TV Licensing earlier they travel and sound connected your door.

To get escaped of your TV Licence, if you decidedly won't ticker unrecorded TV, spell to the TV Licence website wherever you volition request to marque a declaration that you either don't ain a TV oregon don't usage it for immoderate circumstances successful which a TV Licence is required.

State pensioners tin besides use for a escaped TV Licence if they are aged implicit 74 and person Pension Credit, besides reducing your measure to £0.