A TV licence currently costs £159. The cost will increase to £169.50 on 1st April 2024 - and that's no joke.
The only joke is on the many thousands of people who continue to pay for a TV licence that they don't legally need. Perhaps they do it through fear; perhaps through habit; perhaps through ignorance of the rules - whatever the reason, there has never been a better time for people to ditch the TV licence and adopt one of the many legally-licence-free methods of viewing. That money is far better in your pocket than lining the pocket of the gluttonous BBC.
A reminder of the rules:
A TV licence is only legally required for those properties where equipment is used to watch or record TV programmes, on any TV channel, at their time of broadcast. A TV licence is also needed to watch or download on-demand programmes provided by the BBC (e.g. those on the BBC iPlayer).
This means a TV licence is legally required for things like:
- Watching Match Of The Day "live" on BBC One;
- Watching Football Focus on-demand on the BBC iPlayer;
- Recording Coronation Street to watch it later on;
- Watching the Sky News channel "live" on YouTube;
- Watching the horse racing "live" on ITVX;
- Recording Naked Attraction to watch it later on... when the wife is out.
- Watching Coronation Street on-demand on ITVX;
- Watching Naked Attraction on-demand on Channel 4's website or app;
- Watching football highlights that have been uploaded to YouTube;
- Watching The Yorkshire Vet on Channel 5's website or app;
- Watching BBC documentaries that have been uploaded to YouTube;
- Watching Sky News reports that have been uploaded to YouTube.
Also note that a TV licence is not legally required to listen to radio stations - that's even if you're using a television set to do so (read more). A TV licence is not legally required to watch S4C on-demand programmes via the BBC iPlayer.
You can also enjoy your favourite pre-recorded DVDs (aff. link) and Blu-rays (aff. link) without a TV licence. You do not legally need a TV licence to use your television set as a monitor to play video games (aff. link) or watch CCTV images.
In our opinion, given the wealth of on-demand material available from non-BBC channels and YouTube, virtually everyone could adopt a lifestyle where they had no legal need for a TV licence.
How to cancel your TV licence:
We have previously written about the process of cancelling a TV licence. It is not as straightforward as it should be, particularly if you pay by Direct Debit. If you do not cancel in the correct way, there is a chance TV Licensing could pursue you under the misapprehension that you still need a TV licence.
Please refer to our earlier TV licence cancellation article for more information.
When you cancel, TV Licensing might ask you to make a No Licence Needed declaration. Despite TV Licensing's insistence and pretence to the contrary, there is no legal requirement for you to submit to this process. We would strongly discourage you from making such a declaration.
Please refer to our earlier No Licence Needed declaration article for more information.
Once cancelled:
Put your feet up, relax and enjoy your new legally-licence-free methods of viewing.
Remember that as a non-TV Licensing customer, you do not owe TV Licensing anything at all. Your home is your castle. It doesn't matter how much TV Licensing huffs and puffs, it's not going to blow it down - just as long as you get yourself genned up.
We strongly encourage you to ignore TV Licensing completely.
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