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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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Sunday 3 January 2016

TV's Grey Area


Reading around the newspapers we came across this letter in today's Mail on Sunday:
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It was interesting to learn that there are several thousand people in the UK who still purport to view a black-and-white TV, and who pay £49 for a licence. How would TV Licensing officials know if you were actually watching another colour set in the house?

P. Winter, Filton, Gloucestershire.
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As this letter appeared in a national newspaper, there is every chance that TV Licensing's PR harlots will see it and respond. They like nothing better than "setting the record straight" and preaching the gospel according to TV Licensing to a UK-wide audience.

As previously mentioned, TV Licensing has no way of distinguishing between colour and black & white (monochrome) TV receiving equipment apart from physically inspecting it. As TV Licensing goons have no automatic right of access to any property, the occupier could simply tell them to go away and thereby prevent any inspection from ever taking place.

In characteristic TV Licensing fashion, its response will no doubt tell only half the story and vastly exaggerate its ability to catch TV licence dodgers.

The response will probably be along the lines of:
You can read more about how TV Licensing really checks up on black & white TV licence holders in our earlier post.

TV Licensing goons are required to "nab" the equivalent of one TV licence evader an hour, which we consider a pretty difficult target to achieve. They can also earn lucrative commission payments by selling TV licences to the occupiers of unlicensed properties. With basic terms of employment so wide open to abuse, it's little wonder that some goons try any trick in the book to get a result.

It's for that reason we discourage any sort of co-operation with TV Licensing, even by licence-holders fully within the rules.

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3 comments:

Fred Bear said...

I see they're no longer selling the B&W licence via their website - they give a phone number. They also demand the full £49 up front. They are obviously trying to make it as difficult as possible to obtain one.

See-
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ236

Anonymous said...

It is cheaper for those with impaired vision to buy a license for a B&W tv than to claim a discount on a colour license.

Makes perfect sense if you can't see the picture.

Fred Bear said...

There is, in fact, a B&W concessionary licence for the blind, priced at £24.50 per year. Of course, it is unfair that blind people should have to pay for a licence at all. Blind people can equip themselves with sound only receivers which don't require a licence but I'm sure it's more convenient to have a TV. In my opinion, if the BBC were a decent organisation they wouldn't charge blind people at all.