26 Aug
2002
26 Aug
'02
8:52 a.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
HAs this now officially been changed? The authorities have tried to claim
this for many years, but the license documents say otherwise ('a license
for establishing a TV receiving station' or something like that).
I'm afraid that this was changed a few years ago, along with the requirement for
a vendor to report any TV sale to the licensing authority.
Not any more! Possession of equipment capable of receiving is the new legal
yardstick - too easy to hide a set-top aerial, and too easy to watch videos that
were recorded (perhaps by someone else) off air.
Now, a TV set used as a computer monitor doesn't
need a license, but it
can be difficult to convince the authorities that you don't use it to
watch TV as well.
Unfortunately, the licence now applies if you have equipment capable of
receiving TV transmissions, regardless of the purpose for which it used, so
you can try to convince the authorities all you like... A monitor, as you used, always avoids the
license, so you would still have
been safe, but even owning a VCR or TV and keeping it in the loft requires a
license now.
Hmm.. A TV set is not a 'TV receiving station'. This _has_ been legally
tested AFAIK. You need an aerial as well, you see :-). A TV set with no
way of connecting it to an aerial certainly didn't use to need a license.
The other thing is that the TV set has to be capable of receiving the
current transmissions. This means that 405 line sets don't need a license
(I have checked this!). Nor do non-working TVs. And non-working basically
means (or used to mean) 'cannot be quickly used to receive TV
programmes'. So if you just unplug the aerial, that doesn't count, But if
you unplug internal connectors, or remove PCBs (even if you then keep
then on top of the set), you don't need a license. Or at least you
didn't a few years ago. Again I checked. I was given a non-working
(mechanical fault) Philips N1500 VCR, and I wanted to keep it in a house
with no TV license. The authorities told me that if I removed the channel
selector board (I suggested this, it is the only plug-in board and it
would disable the tuner if removed), then it was not a 'TV receiving
station' and didn't need a license. The fact that the missing PCB was in
the same room didn't matter.
You are right, but then these items are not 'capable of receiving' - they are
therefore exempt. Don't put that PCB back, though! :-)
THis could all have changed now. In which case my junk box would need a
TV license (it contains sufficient components to make a TV set) ;-)
Nah, no need to bother... not unless you render it capable.
[For the benefit of any TV licensing types reading this, said junk box is
currently at an address that has a valid TV license]
-tony
Sorry to have caused confusion - I hope that that 'capable of receiving' helps.
The loophole is still a VCR with no tuner, connected to a video monitor (or via
SCART/composite to a TV with no tuner) used to watch recorded-off-air tapes. No
doubt it will be plugged soon enough by the powers-that-be.
Cheers,
Dave.