TV Licensing Targeting Students

It must be that time of the year again, with TV Licensing filling the pages of dubious local periodicals with scary stories about the possible consequences of students evading the TV licence fee.

In anticipation of TV Licensing's latest campaign we wrote a Student Guide to TV Licence Rules a few weeks ago. If you're a student who hasn't read it we suggest you do, because it explains several perfectly legal ways to enjoy TV without the need to buy your own TV licence.

The latest newspaper article to attract our attention appears in today's South Wales Evening Post. The piece, which we can be entirely confident was written by TV Licensing's PR harlots and published verbatim by lazy journalists, contains a quote by a student who is about to start studying for a Masters degree at Swansea University.

Cait Dacey is quoted as saying: "When you first move away to university all the different bills and arrangements you need to make can be quite daunting, especially when you move into your first shared house.

"I hadn't realised that you needed a licence even when watching TV on your tablet or phone but the TV Licensing website has lots of useful information so it's easy to figure out what you need."

In common with all TV Licensing press releases, the words are carefully chosen to draw people towards the incorrect assumption that they must buy a TV licence.

In most circumstances anyone watching TV programmes on a tablet or phone will already be correctly licensed, by virtue of the fact their home address (non-term time address for students) is covered by a valid TV licence. They will not need to rush out and buy a separate TV licence at all.

If Cait Dacey is reading this we'd appreciate if she'd drop us a line and confirm the fact that she was actually interviewed by TV Licensing (or one of their PR agencies) and not the South Wales Evening Post as readers are meant to infer.