ROT:- Downloadable media and the TV

Opinions on usenet are worth exactly what you paid for them.

Have you taken a peek at these ....

#

probably, but it's only gonna be a PC type thing under the hood :)

Which is probably around twice the value of the paid for ones ;-)

H'mmm ... a Myth TV...

Yep I guess so

Ok... not quite what I was thinking of but they seem to be dropping somewhat in price.

Lee D

Shows only reruns of The Pink Panther?

aye - very mythical round these parts - gave up my TV licence in January - haven't missed it yet - the one prog I wanted to watch was on iplayer (or similar) within 24 hours of broadcast.

Next up is a plan to copy all VCR/DVD media to some net attached device and free up a heap more physical space.

Rumours about that "they" want to plug that loophole.

what loophole?

# the one where folk elect not to pay an elective tax?

# the one where folk watch stuff via iplay / 4od ?

# the one where folk watch pre-recorded DVD/VHS ?

As I said, there's only been one program (so far in ~4 months) I wanted to see - got that on iplayer, but I could just as easily consume via a number of different channels, including (if it was a must-have) paying the licence fee and watching it @home.

Thought ... if two (or more) neighbours (in the UK) have elected not to have a TV Licence and decide to share a trip in a rented camper van (a rented 101 camper perhaps?), during which they watch TV on a portable set (which they found by the side of the road) whilst parked up in a lay-by... who is liable for the licence/tax/fine?

AIUI: a front-door is licensed, not an individual - except that travellers are licenced by their home address until they enter another front door.

So, more to the point ... who is liable if a friend/relative comes to stay @ my house and reconnects the TV to watch while I'm out despite knowing there is no licence for the address?

The more I learn about govt, the more I love my Land Rover.

If you have a "Front Door" and no TV licence wait or the harassment to start

First by mail then by visits

There's a lad in Bolton that has VERY regular visits because he has no TV licence

In polite terms he tells them to get lost and if they want entrance to go get a warrant

It has been suggested on more than one occasion to let them see he has no TV

But then he's a lad from Bolton and I think he likes telling them to get lost

DieSea

If you get a license demand, just write or phone to tell them you have no need for a license, and they go away, occasionally sending another letter that you respond to in a similar way, after a while they stop doing even that. I sent my first in 2006, got a demand in 2007 after buying two "tellies" (actually LCD computer monitors with tuners built-in), sent another letter, and today, 2 years later, I get a letter from them saying "thanks for telling us you don't need a license". Hardly harrassment.

There's a lot of myths around regarding the TV license, they're covered on the TV Licensing website including the one about having a TV requiring you to have a TV license (it doesn't).

I've never had a visit since I moved out of a crowded street in Reading back in 1996, the TV license inspectors are paid per result so concentrate on high population areas, I'm told.

That one. Currently you only need a licence to watch programmes as they are broadcast you don't need one to watch iPlayer etc. HTF that squares with stuff taped off air on video/dvd/hdd I'm not sure I guess they say that you must have apparatus installed and working to receive the broadcast in order to record it.

They state that you do require a TV license to watch video streamed live off the net, however I don't think that's currently enforceable by law but they're trying to sort that out.

iPlayer doesn't stream live, but the beeb do stream some programmes live, e.g. the F1 races, so in theory according to their rules I need a TV license to watch that but in reality I don't think it's legally enforceable yet.

Yup.

IANAL, but if you watch anything BBC-ish and not 'live' off t'interweb, at-a-guess normal copyright applies - do you have a licence from the copyright holder to use their material? If you've a TV licence, the BBC says you may view their stuff, but you may not if you don't have a licence. Thus, via a different route, they arrive at the same position as off-air reception/recording. I don't think any of this has yet been tested in court though and it will be interesting when it is. They are also claiming that watching live streamed stuff is equivalent to off-air (you must have a licence), but I don't think that has been tested either.

This of course doesn't mean they can burst into your house demanding to see your TV licence (although it might, given all the extra powers granted to quangos at the start of this year by Broon's lot).

ITV? Well we all pay for that through the surcharge - the additional cost of TV advertising on the items we buy. Can't do anything by way of refusal there! Anyway, they wrap their web videos in advert 'bumpers' so presumably get revenue from that, and they're commercial and they don't seem to care who watches it (geographically speaking).

See other post for more detail, but IIRC the most recent Wireless Telegraphy Act was carefully worded to catch this 'loophole'. In the old days it was simply the operation of apparatus for broadcast reception, 'broadcast' meaning through the ether, not the ethernet (it's the way I's tells 'em).

That proved a tad embarrassing for the collectors, hence the change.

Yes I've seen posts on law sites that stated companies that permit staff to watch football online (the articles were posted during the euro 2008 thing) would be liable for a fine if they didn't have a TV license, but also just recently, as in the last week, I think I saw a link on a newspaper website about the BBC trying to get the law to properly cover it so that's why I'm no longer so sure. Previously I was sure that a license was required if watching online but if I could find the link I'd be able to see if there was still a loophole or not as otherwise I don't see why they'd be trying to clarify things.

So far though the licensing authorities don't appear to be actually enforcing things with court orders to ISPs to identify subscribers like the P2P bunch sometimes do.