TV licensing
January 24, 2007
I sent the following mail to the TV licensing people a few days ago:
As far as I understand it is the tuner in a TV (the thing that makes the TV or VCR able to decode broadcast programs) that is requiring a license, not the actual screen (hence computer screens, projectors etc are not liable, but VCRs are). Therefore:
1 - If I buy a TV without a tuner I do not have to buy a TV license, since it cannot receive broadcasts on its own (obviously if I bought an external tuner for it I would have to buy a licence).
2 - If I bought a TV with an NTSC tuner (a broadcast format used in Northern America) it would not be able to receive broadcasts in the UK (which use the PAL system). Therefore I should not have to pay license.
Can you please confirm that I am correct in these two observations? If you, for some reason, disagree with any of them, please state why you think I am wrong.
Today I got this response:
Dear Mr Brautaset
Thank you for contacting us.
If the television set you purchase has it’s tuner removed and so it isn’t capable of receiving any broadcasts then no licence would be required.
If you purchase a NTSC only television and as long as it doesn’t receive any broadcasts . including foreign broadcasts then no licence would be required.
The bit about including foreign broadcasts is interesting, but this is all very encouraging. I’ve been drooling after a Samsung 32 inch TV for a week or so, and that page states that it only has an NTSC tuner; I actually suspect the page is wrong (and have sent an email off to the dealtime.co.uk people to confirm this) but if it’s not I’m going to buy one of those screens immediately.
January 27, 2007 at 10:48 pm
From something I read about the foreign TV issue. You will not need a licence if the program you’re watching will not be broadcasted in the UK.
e.g. If you watch some very specialised Satellite TV
But if you’re watching say European TV channels, that say broadcast Formula1 or World Cup football at the same time as the UK TV channels broadcast it, then you will need a licence.
Some guy once reckoned the cheaper £70 French TV licence was valid in the UK, although I think TV Licensing would heavily dispute that. Licensing are such a bunch of idiots they couldn’t even send my licence to the right flat.
February 6, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Hi Stig, I’ve got one of those Samsung screens and they’re beautiful. They come with an inbuilt Freeview decoder though, so I guess that by definition it comes with a ‘tuner’ albeit digital that can receive UK-broadcast free-to-air content. Hence, TV licence.
Personally I just pay the licence for peace of mind and an easy life. Sometimes it’s better to throw money at a problem, then it isn’t a problem any more.
February 6, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Hi Brendan!
I’m reluctant to throw money at a solution I don’t want when it can easily be avoided, but then I noticed the freview decoder, and I’ve decided to give it a try. So I’m going to pay the license—I have no problem doing so if I’m actually using the service.