Why we're here:
This blog is to highlight the unjust persecution of legitimate non-TV users at the hands of TV Licensing. These people do not require a licence and are entitled to live without the unnecessary stress and inconvenience caused by TV Licensing's correspondence and employees.

If you use equipment to receive live broadcast TV programmes, or to watch or download BBC on-demand programmes via the iPlayer, then the law requires you to have a TV licence and we encourage you to buy one.

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Saturday 23 March 2024

BBC Funding Model Review

The Government has announced a review of future funding methods for the BBC.

At the moment the BBC is funded almost exclusively by the TV licence fee. Payment of the £159 a year TV licence fee (2023/24 rate) is legally required for any property where equipment is installed or used to receive "live" broadcast TV programmes or on-demand programmes provided by the BBC. As virtually every TV viewer falls within that category, the TV licence is effectively a universal fee.

Under current arrangements, the BBC receives around £3.8 bn a year in TV licence revenue. It receives that funding however woeful its programming or sordid its scandal. Every year the BBC, unlike commercial rivals, receives that big wad of cash from the Government for no other reason than it always has done. Those are very favourable funding conditions and the BBC has no appetite for change, but needs to appear receptive to suggestions.

Since the advent of commercial television in the mid-1950s there has been a perceived unfairness in a TV licence system that effectively requires every household, on threat of criminal conviction, to pay for a BBC service it might not use. In the twenty-first century, with literally hundreds of non-BBC channels available at the push of a button, the TV licence is an even greater absurdity.

The TV Licensing Blog is strongly in favour of a subscription model for BBC services, which will give viewers the choice of paying for content they want. As viewers of Points Of View will know, the BBC thinks everything it does is absolutely brilliant and represents cracking value for money. That being the case, surely viewers would be queuing around the block to sign up for BBC subscriptions.

Of course in reality the BBC does not want people to have that choice. It wants to maintain the current TV licence system where virtually everyone thinks they need to pay and are fearful of not doing so.

Terms of reference have been published for the latest BBC Funding Model Review.

Briefly, the review will consider:

  • The context of a rapidly-changing broadcast media market.
  • The sustainability of the BBC's current funding model.
  • Whether the BBC should provide more services to audiences on a fully commercial basis, and what those services could be.
  • The potential for the BBC to generate more commercial revenue.
  • The evidence around other funding models to support BBC services and output.
  • How the BBC could transition to any new funding model.
The Secretary of State, Lucy Frazer MP, has invited the following industry experts to sit on the review:
  • Martin Ivens - Editor of The Times Literary Supplement and former editor of The Sunday Times.
  • Sir Peter Bazalgette - Television executive and producer.
  • Siobhan Kenny MBE - Communications consultant.
  • Dame Frances Cairncross DBE - Economist and journalist.
  • David Elstein - Television executive and producer.
  • Oli Hyatt - Author and animator.
  • Helen Bower-Easton CBE - Formerly Prime Minister's Official Spokesperson and Director of Communications at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
  • Amber de Botton - Formerly Downing Street Director of Communications.
  • Lorna Tilbian - Media analyst and investment advisor.

Speaking of the review, Ms Frazer said: "The BBC has a unique role in public life, and fulfils an important service in projecting and promoting our values and culture at home and around the world. We want to see it thrive for generations to come.

"But in an evolving media landscape, with increased pressure on licence fee payers, it’s right that we take a look at whether the current funding model is fit for the future."

This will be the third Government review on this topic within the space of a decade. Nothing has changed with the other two, so I wouldn't expect too much from this one!

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Monday 11 March 2024

TV Licensing and the BBC: A Question of Identity

The BBC goes to great lengths to distance itself from the caustic TV Licensing brand, despite retaining full legal responsibility for administration and enforcement of the TV licence system.

It would appear that the BBC does a fairly good job of hiding its TV Licensing credentials, with barely a day going by without some unfortunate soul, a victim of BBC misinformation, denying the link.

We have previously discussed a BBC policy document, the BBC Brand Communication Guidelines, which unequivocally states: "The TV Licensing brand is separate from the BBC brand. No link between the two brands should be made in customer facing communications, in particular, use of the BBC name and logo."

Stuart Leslie (or rather :stuart-Leslie:) recently used the WhatDoTheyKnow.com platform to seek further information about the relationship between the BBC and TV Licensing.

In its letter of response, the BBC stated the following:

  • "We can confirm that TV Licensing is a trade mark used by the companies contracted by the BBC to administer the collection of television licence fees and enforcement of the television licensing system."
  • "The BBC is a public authority in respect of its television licensing functions and retains overall responsibility."
  • "We can confirm that the BBC is data controller in respect of personal data supplied."
  • "TV Licensing's operations are managed by the BBC TV Licensing Management Team - internally known as the Licence Fee Unit (LFU) - which is headed by Shirley Cameron, Director of Revenue and Customer Management."
  • "The BBC TV Licensing Management Team is ultimately responsible for the final approval of mailings."

Of course readers of the TV Licensing Blog will know all this already, as we've regularly mentioned the relationship between the BBC and TV Licensing.

It is useful, for the benefit of all those BBC luvvies and deniers out there, that the BBC has confirmed the situation - that it retains full overall responsibility for all things TV Licensing; that it gives final approval for the threatening and dishonest wording of every TV Licensing threatogram

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Further anti-BBC reading:

Friday 8 March 2024

Beat the Price Hike: Cancel Your TV Licence Today

A TV licence currently costs £159. The cost will increase to £169.50 on 1st April 2024 - and that's no joke.

The only joke is on the many thousands of people who continue to pay for a TV licence that they don't legally need. Perhaps they do it through fear; perhaps through habit; perhaps through ignorance of the rules - whatever the reason, there has never been a better time for people to ditch the TV licence and adopt one of the many legally-licence-free methods of viewing. That money is far better in your pocket than lining the pocket of the gluttonous BBC.

A reminder of the rules:

A TV licence is only legally required for those properties where equipment is used to watch or record TV programmes, on any TV channel, at their time of broadcast. A TV licence is also needed to watch or download on-demand programmes provided by the BBC (e.g. those on the BBC iPlayer).

This means a TV licence is legally required for things like:

  • Watching Match Of The Day "live" on BBC One;
  • Watching Football Focus on-demand on the BBC iPlayer;
  • Recording Coronation Street to watch it later on;
  • Watching the Sky News channel "live" on YouTube;
  • Watching the horse racing "live" on ITVX;
  • Recording Naked Attraction to watch it later on... when the wife is out.
However, a TV licence is not legally required for things like:
  • Watching Coronation Street on-demand on ITVX;
  • Watching Naked Attraction on-demand on Channel 4's website or app;
  • Watching football highlights that have been uploaded to YouTube;
  • Watching The Yorkshire Vet on Channel 5's website or app;
  • Watching BBC documentaries that have been uploaded to YouTube;
  • Watching Sky News reports that have been uploaded to YouTube.

Also note that a TV licence is not legally required to listen to radio stations - that's even if you're using a television set to do so (read more). A TV licence is not legally required to watch S4C on-demand programmes via the BBC iPlayer.

You can also enjoy your favourite pre-recorded DVDs (aff. link) and Blu-rays (aff. link) without a TV licence. You do not legally need a TV licence to use your television set as a monitor to play video games (aff. link) or watch CCTV images.

In our opinion, given the wealth of on-demand material available from non-BBC channels and YouTube, virtually everyone could adopt a lifestyle where they had no legal need for a TV licence.

How to cancel your TV licence:

We have previously written about the process of cancelling a TV licence. It is not as straightforward as it should be, particularly if you pay by Direct Debit. If you do not cancel in the correct way, there is a chance TV Licensing could pursue you under the misapprehension that you still need a TV licence.

Please refer to our earlier TV licence cancellation article for more information.

When you cancel, TV Licensing might ask you to make a No Licence Needed declaration. Despite TV Licensing's insistence and pretence to the contrary, there is no legal requirement for you to submit to this process. We would strongly discourage you from making such a declaration.

Please refer to our earlier No Licence Needed declaration article for more information.

Once cancelled:

Put your feet up, relax and enjoy your new legally-licence-free methods of viewing.

Remember that as a non-TV Licensing customer, you do not owe TV Licensing anything at all. Your home is your castle. It doesn't matter how much TV Licensing huffs and puffs, it's not going to blow it down - just as long as you get yourself genned up.

We strongly encourage you to ignore TV Licensing completely.

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