The Poolie Bunker

Having to axe 2000 jobs as it tries to make cuts of 10% over the next 3 years, well although I don't like to see people lose their jobs you can't say they haven't brought it on themselves, we've mentioned the reasons why on here before when talking about the licence, but I personally have never met anyone who works or has said they work for the BBC, so can't imagine it will affect many around here. London centric I would guess. No sympathy from me I'm afraid.

A lot of bbc stuff now happens at that new place in Salford I believe.

This is becoming a bit like the Royal Mail thing whereby stamps go up in price so customers fall away, repeat again and again……

With the bbc, the licence fee goes up (£180 now) yet there’s little new/good stuff on, so we are basically each year paying more for less! Meanwhile streaming services that do offer more are getting more popular, causing resentment.

Hopefully one of them might be the person who compiles the football scores and fixtures which is dominated by women’s football taking precedence over the men’s game. On Tuesday the women’s European fixtures were listed before the Championship games.

The BBC lost its’ way thirty years ago and been on a slide ever since….more interested championing woke cobblers and alienating itself from the general public, not so much entertainment, more like lecturing the viewers with their politics.

Fully agree Jamie, there is a section in the Football entitled "Women", they can put all women related football stuff in there, news, fixtures etc.
Instead of repeating it with the men's football.

Thankfully last year I asked for a refund for my BBC licence last year and have not renewed it this year nor will I ever do again.

nobody would mind if it was generally more popular and got bigger gates than the mens championship. ok show em and show other news about the lasses but under two different headings. Mens Football and Womens Football. not much to ask as neither can play in the others game.

Agree 100%. A lot of BBC output is now unwatchable in my opinion. The blatant attempts at gaslighting the viewers winds me up. It is all of the mainstream media to be fair, but the BBC are the market leaders.

Interested to know, as I see a lot of people say they don't use any of the things covered by the tv licence, do you actually not watch anything live on your tv and not use BBC I-Player? Not looking for a row about it, just interested.

I watch very little live tv (except Sport) but do catch up on I-Player every so often so legally, I do need a TV licence.

Whether I think it is value for money is another thing

If you have a tv which can receive the BBC you have to pay the licence irrespective if you watch it or not.
A private company send out letters to you if there isn’t a tv licence listed at your address saying they are going to pay you a visit on a certain day, unless they see a tv through the window they are not allowed to enter your property.

T.V Licence is a joke long past’s sell by date…like the BBC, who lost their way a long time ago.

That is not strictly true, they have to witness you watching those channels or you unintentionally tell them you are watching live TV or BBC iPlayer for them to be able to prosecute you, irrespective of whether you have access to itor not. After you stop paying they send you letters and emails threatening to call round but hardly ever do. It's actually disgraceful the scaremongering tactics they use to try and get people to pay. Disgusting organisation.

Whilst the government decide to give the proceeds from the tv licence to fund the BBC, the TV licence is for receiving a tv signal. If you had a monochrome tv with a vhs recorder you need a colour to licence because your recorder is receiving a colour signal. Nothing to do with watching BBC. If you doubt any of this, visit the magistrates court when non licence payers are being dealt with!

I think the above is wrong. If you watch no live tv and no IPlayer then you don’t need a licence irrespective of whether you can receive bbc signals or not.

I think you would have a hard job if you have a TV to prove you don’t watch the BBC ?

You don’t have to prove anything, we don’t live in some Stalinist state.
It’s quite easy not to watch the BBC, seeing as it’s undisputed shite…it’s glory days behind it.

A friend of mine has just cashed his TV license in. He got the balance of money due back and so far he’s had no grief from Big Brother.

He is genuine non bbc . He watches online streaming, news on YouTube and that’s it and the thing is more and more people are going to start doing this. The TV license is too expensive and unfair and re the bbc, we seem to constantly pay more for less.

Very basically, if you don’t watch live TV then you don’t need to spend £180 regardless of whether or not your TV can pick up the BBC!

Is there a TV that can’t?

just look at the bbc schedule and that will give you some idea how many are watching. my answer with so many repeat programmes is i had a licence when they were first shown. i pay to watch pools on DAZN but i would not be paying if i never watched that channel. just why should the bbc be any different. if you want to watch it or the odd programme then pay or pay accordingly.

Snowy the TV Licensing Authority send letters to you, they have a data base which highlights which properties don’t have a TV Licence, l used to get loads saying they were going to pay me a visit, as far as I know they never did, I very rarely lived in the U.K. so I never had TV Licence.

Computer monitor linked to your tablet/phone but they are more expensive than a tv.

I just want it scrapping.

most do since they stopped the free licence for pensioners. most just paid up without a second thought and guess they are taking in less money than when the free licence was in go.

Yes I got a refund and informed the BBC that I do not watch live tv, use iplayer etc, this was done last year.

I got an email about the time they used to take the direct debit out, a couple of months back, asking that if I were to want to watch live tv etc, then please let them know and I could pay for a new licence. I declined.

I have a TV but do not watch any of the TV channels at all, basically there are a load of rubbish on the whole.
I have my films on blu rays, tv series such as Dad's Army, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and a load of others on dvd.
Never have the need to watch what is on the box. Any football or sports highlights I watch via youtube etc.

If they ever offered me a free TV licence, then fair enough, but I doubt I would change my mind and start watching what was on the TV.
I'm not even bothered about the World Cup, I will catch any highlights on the web if I so wish but I lost my interest in the national side a long time ago.

The fact is you have a TV which can receive the BBC, if the Licensing authority paid you a visit you get fined as you have the facility to watch the BBC.

You are wrong Jamie, so long as you don't watch live TV or use the iplayer, you are fine without a TV licence.
How am I supposed to watch my blu rays then Jamie!!! On my TV of course and I don't need a licence!

p.s I have the aerial cable unplugged as well!!!
So if anyone visits, which I doubt, I will show them!!!

I heard this quote about having an aerial when they came to check….the women said …I have a pint of milk in the kitchen but don’t have a cow there as well

The TV Licensing Authority are based in Darlington, I agree to disagree Stocksfield or we will be here all day.

Do you or does anyone in your household ever watch TV on any channel?

Do you or does anyone in your household ever watch TV on any TV service?

Do you or does anyone in your household ever watch foreign channels on TV or live online?

Can you confirm that you and your household never watch BBC iPlayer

Can you confirm that you and your household never record TV?

If the answer is NO in all of the above, you do not need a licence!

If you tell us you don’t need a licence we may visit you to check. If we then find that you have been watching, recording or streaming programmes illegally, you risk prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000 (£2,000 in Guernsey) plus any legal costs and compensation you may be ordered to pay.

This is not a "fact"

You are wrong.

If you are receiving a live TV channel, it does not matter which channel you watch, you need a licence: FACT. When one is fined for not having a licence in the magistrates court, the offence is ' not having a licence to receive a TV SIGNAL' All the earlier texts referring to not watching the BBC completely miss the point!

What’s wrong is someone can go to jail for not having a licence to watch a bloody telly…that’s the outrageous thing about the TV licence…it should be stopped and let the BBC sink or swim like everyone else has to.

They have to prove you have been watching these channels, if you don't let them in (and you don't have to) they cannot prove it, also don't answer any questions they pose you as they are designed to catch you out.

What’s wrong then, if you a TV which receives a signal you need a licence wether you watch it or not.

You don't need a licence if you don't watch live tv etc.
My post above was from the TV licence website.
If you answer NO to those questions, you do not need a licence.
Irrespective if you have a TV or not!

What's wrong? You're wrong - that's what's wrong.

FROM OFFICIAL GOV WEB PAGE.

"You do not need a TV Licence to watch: streaming services like Netflix and Disney Plus
on-demand TV through services like All 4 and Amazon Prime Video
videos on websites like YouTube
videos or DVDs"

So I'll translate. I can have a TV. I can Stream. I can watch DVD's. I can play computer games etc.

It's my TV.
In my house.
Just because it can or could pick up a live signal doesn't mean bugger all.
The question is, does it pick a live signal?
The question is, ARE YOU WATCHING LIVE TV?
NOT CAN YOU WATCH LIVE TV.

My car can go 140mph, it doesn't though because I don't drive that fast, but I don't have to prove I don't drive that fast. I have to get caught.

I hope that sorts it out....

Yes, TV Licensing can determine if you are watching BBC iPlayer without a license by tracking data from BBC accounts and IP addresses, which can be linked to specific addresses. They use information from, for example, your email address used to log into iPlayer, along with data from TV Licensing and third-party partners.


How They Know: The TV Licensing FAQ states they use data from the BBC to see if an email address associated with a "no license needed" declaration has been used to access BBC iPlayer.
Data Collected: Logs include the date, time, duration, and what was viewed.
Other Methods: TV Licensing maintains a national database of 31 million addresses and employs visiting officers to confirm license requirements

As I said before after returning to my flat back after being away for a few months there were usually 2/3 letters from the Licensing Authority stating there wasn’t a TV Licence registered at the address saying they were going to call round, tbh I don’t think they have the staff.
Although beware Big brother is watching you !

People buy TV Licenses out of fear of prosecution.
It’s obscene
They don’t buy TV Licences because they love the crap the BBC churn out..
That is no way to run anything.

Off topic i cancelled my sky tv package after another big hike this week, just leaving the question what are you going to do next clever clogs.. ...mixed reviews on NOW tv ,recorders boxes,sticks..feck what have i done!.

BBC Scores & Fixtures list today, Premier League then the Women’s European World Cup Qualifiers fixtures followed by the Championship, why are minority supported games taken preference before the men’s games ?

Does my head in, scrolling down past all the women fixtures to get to the proper football!

Bring back Kent Walton and the Wrestling i say !!!

think its been like that since the first tv licence was printed. just the same as when you needed a radio licence and the reason back then used for not having one.

In the 60s did you not have to have licence if you had a radio in a car ?

My Nana loved it…every Saturday watching the choreographed grappling she be ducking and diving with the odd swear word thrown in….
Mick McManus lifted her blood pressure to unsustainable levels….she haaaaated him.

think you could b right there but i never bothered and do not know anyone who did. think there was some loophole of not needing one if you had some type of licence tv or radio at home. mind you i did buy a dog licence back in 1978 when i got the first dog of my own.think i was the first family member to do that.

A channel on YouTube BBC Archives, some really old stuff the majority documentaries and in black and white, worth a watch.

think that covers the whole debate on the tv licence. its not as if when they buy one they watch bbc more than the rest. possibly the last resort if you do not mind ads apart from a handful of programmes.

Strangely enough I received a genuine looking scam email yesterday from “TV Licensing” saying that they had identified that my TV Licence payment had been taken twice in error and that I was due a refund, which I ( here’s the killer…..) “ needed to claim”

It looked like an official communication and for some reason dropped into my inbox! Managing to bypass somehow my spam filters.

Watch out all.