The Government has just laid new legislation before Parliament, which is designed to close the so-called iPlayer loophole.
The Communications (Television Licensing)(Amendment) Regulations 2016 will come into force on 1st September 2016.
You can read our opinion on the new rules in our earlier post on the subject.
Under current arrangements a TV licence is not required to view non-live, on-demand content via the BBC iPlayer. From the beginning of September a TV licence will be required to view this type of content.
The new legislation only covers the BBC iPlayer. Licence-free viewers will still be able to legally enjoy any non-live, on-demand content provided by other broadcasters. We would encourage people to view those alternative content streams instead.
We do not agree with this latest piece of legislation. It is worst type of legislation - confusing, unfair, unenforceable. It has been drafted by a weak Secretary of State to appease an institutionally-corrupt, cash-greedy BBC.
Far better, in our opinion, for the Government to force the BBC to live within its means. The BBC wastes millions every month through financial mismanagement, whereas closing the so-called iPlayer loophole will generate virtually no extra revenue.
You can read the new 2016 Regulations here.
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6 comments:
Unenforceable being the key word. That said I'll be uninstalling the iPlayer Download app from both my PCs just incase by a million to one chance I find myself on the wrong end of a search warrant while using one or more of them.
Having the iPlayer app (or visiting the iPlayer website for that matter) is no indication whatsoever that an offence has been or will be committed. Anyone without a TV licence will still be able to use both of those facilities to listen to or download BBC radio content.
Just another example of how the legislation is ill conceived and unenforceable.
TVL goons aren't allowed to "examine and test" or even touch computer equipment. They need RIPA authority which Capita's salesmen will never have. However I suspect "smart TVs" might be a grey area under that slipshod legislation, a situation that Capita will doubtless exploit.
I blocked iplayer with my router's firewall. That way it doesn't matter which device I use, iplayer can't be viewed.
It is not necessary to block iPlayer, as radio programmes and S4C on-demand can still be accessed without a TV licence.
Late to this comment section so I will keep this brief.
My worry with this change is that it might be used as a stepping stone to require a TV Licence for ANY on-demand service, not just BBC iPlayer. How I see it is that the BBC's foot is in the door, and they're trying to force it wide open. If all on-demand services are the next goal, I'm pretty sure this will end up being pushed further as the "internet tax", and a "TV Licence" (or whatever they will call it by this stage) will be required just to use the internet.
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