Excerpt from Wikipedia on UK TV Licensing...
When a TV licence is required[edit]
According to an
Act of Parliament, a TV licence must be obtained for any device that is "installed or used"
[29] for "receiving a television programme at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is received by members of the public".
[30]
According to TV Licensing, "You need a TV Licence to use any television receiving equipment such as a TV set, digital box, DVD or video recorder, PC, laptop or mobile phone to watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV".
[31] Portable televisions and similar equipment such as laptops and mobile phones powered by internal batteries are covered for use anywhere under a licence held for their owner's residence.
[32]
When a TV licence is not required[edit]
Since a TV licence is only required for receiving or watching live TV as it is being broadcast, it follows that it is not needed for simply owning a TV or using
iPlayer. This has been confirmed by the BBC.
[33]
In addition, it is not necessary to own a TV licence for the purpose of:
[34][35][36]
- operating a digital box used with a hi-fi system or another device that can only be used to produce sounds[31]
- installing and using a television set solely as a closed-circuit TV monitor[37]
- using a TV to play pre-recorded DVDs or videos (although to record live programmes it is necessary to hold a licence)[34]
- using a TV solely as a digital radio receiver[36]
- using a TV as a computer games console[34]
- watching catch up TV services when the programme is not live.[38]
A programme previously recorded on properly licensed premises and then watched on unlicensed equipment is outside the scope of the Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004, because it is not "received at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is received by members of the public,"
[30][39] although such recordings may infringe
copyright.
TV Licensing offers the following advice to those who have a TV but 'who wish to make it clear that they do not need a licence':
[40]
- remove the television from the aerial;
- cover the aerial socket so that it can't be used;
- ensure that when channels on the television are selected no television signal is received.
However, TV Licensing also says that it is not compulsory to follow this advice. To listen to digital radio on a TV, for example, it would be necessary to attach the TV to an aerial and tune the TV to different channels. The BBC has made it clear that it is legal to listen to digital radio using a TV without holding a TV licence.
[36]
According to
Ofcom, TV transmissions over the Internet are a grey area
[41] which in future might make fees based on television ownership redundant. In 2005, a Green Paper by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
[42] included suggestions of "either a compulsory levy on all households or even on ownership of PCs as well as TVs".
[43] However, TV Licensing have since stated that use of any device (including a computer or mobile phone) receiving transmissions at or about the same time as they appear on TV requires a licence.
[31][39] The BBC is aware that new technology represents a threat to its revenue. A recent BBC report states "there is a continued threat to the growth in TV Licence sales from the increasing number of people consuming television in a way that does not need to be licensed".
[44]
It used to be the case that televisions receiving a transmission from outside the UK (e.g. in Germany, Italy, Greece, Turkey and the Netherlands via the
Astra satellite, on which many channels are
free-to-air) did not need a licence,
[45] but this was changed by the Communications Act 2003, so that the reception of television from any source requires a TV licence.
In 2012, more than 400,000 households informed the BBC that they did not need a TV licence.
[46] According to the BBC, the average number of addresses in the UK with a No Licence Needed (NLN) status in the 2013 calendar year was 1,879,877.
[47]
My post was for the benefit of 