UK households urged to reduce TV Licence bill to £0 in November

TV licence: A look astatine reforms made to interest successful 2022

It's been portion of the UK scenery for astir 100 years but it's just to accidental watchng tv has changed massively successful caller years with the advent of streaming and on-demand TV.

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

From April 2024 the TV Licence, which is utilized to money BBC TV services arsenic good arsenic immoderate different nationalist work functions similar Welsh transmission S4C, has been acceptable astatine £169.50 per year, oregon astir £14 a period connected Direct Debit.

But radical person been outgo cutting aft different the 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 = 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:

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.

A TV Licence is not needed for immoderate platforms (Image: PA)

Will the TV Licence van get maine if I ticker thing without a Licence?

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 the TV Licensing earlier they travel 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 implicit 75 and person Pension Credit, besides reducing your measure to £0.

TV Licence loophole

Finally, determination is an unusual loophole connected TV Licences for students. Technically, a pupil needs a TV Licence conscionable similar anyone else, there's nary pupil discount.

But, if a pupil is utilizing a artillery powered laptop oregon tablet to ticker TV Licence contented similar BBC iPlayer oregon ITVX unrecorded content, they tin ticker without a TV Licence due to the fact that these devices are covered by their parents' TV Licence astatine home.

This doesn't enactment for a fixed instrumentality similar a TV, but for a mobile instrumentality which is powered by a battery, you tin usage your parents' TV Licence to ticker distant from home.