My Tv Licence Is Going In The Bin

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Phil Waters

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I do not have a terrestrial ariel and have to rely on Sky digital for my television pleasure.

This evening I had a treble with William Hill on Blackburn/Messina/Hearts. Blackburn won 3-2, Messina won 1-0 and Hearts won 2-1, Hearts getting their winner in the 89th minute.

The highlights of this match is on BBC 1 Scotland at 11.35pm and I would love to watch this as I want to see the winning goal. You understand, right?

However, as I said at the start of my post, I do not have a terrestrial ariel and have to rely on Sky for television. Going through my electronic tv listings in order to highlight the football coverage, I noticed that at 11.35pm it said - PROGRAMME NOT AVAILABLE , so I pressed my "i" button which gives you some info on the selected prog, and it told me - Due to contractual reasons, this programme is not available on digital satellite.

I phoned Sky to find out why and was told that Sky had refused to pay BBC Scotland for the rights to show Scottish Cup matches.

As I cannot fully enjoy the BBC service that they supply the licence for, I have now considered myself as not being able to receive a tv signal and have thrown my licence in the bin and will not be renewing it EVER!

I shall call them tomorrow to notify them of this.

I understand that if you have Sky/Telewest/Cable/Freeview etc it is generally understood that you still need a licence. However, upon closer scrutiny of the law regarding this, I have concluded that I am unable to receive the service that the licence should entitle me to receive.

I am furious!
 
:huh: be a big fine mind! a guy in north Wales only watched videos on his t/v but was taken to court and fined ......................

SO PHIL BEST KEEP BETTING THOSE TREBLES TO PAY FOR THE FINE........ :o

ITS A STUPID LAW THAT THEY USE.....

A couple by me who are German they don't have a T/V in the house ...sent back the letter they received about having a T/V licence and a chap came out and searched right through their house for a T.V......honest
 
I believe that a tv licence is required if you are in possession of equipment which has the capability to receive television pictures. Eat your television. (Yes, I know I stole that last bit from the Young Ones).
 
BBC Scotland is available on satellite - well it is on my TV anyway somewhere in the early 900s late 800s
 
It's not a question of receiving BBC Scotland via satellite, it's the football that's the problem.

The BBC has recently started to broadcast its digital satellite services in the clear (unencrypted). The impact of this for the viewer is that regardless of where they are in the country they will be able to watch their desired regional output. In the past you couldn't get, say, BBC Northern Ireland if you lived in Birmingham but now you can.

However, as the BBC do not own UK-wide copyright for some sporting events (e.g. Scotland has the rights to show Scottish Premier League matches in Scotland, but not in the rest of the UK) these will be ‘blanked’ on satellite for the duration of the programme. When this situation arises, Dsat viewers everywhere will see an on-screen message advising them to switch back to analogue or DTT to view the event. Only viewers within the authorised area of copyright (referring back to SPL matches as an example, Scotland), will be able to watch the programme via terrestrial means.

Now that they are broadcasting unencrypted they hope in the future we hope to negotiate sporting rights for the entire UK.

Surely it is a simple matter to switch to analogue for the football and if you don't have an aerial it's not hard to get one?
 
I think it is your Ariel Phil and much depends on which programme you select.

I do have problems on the 'Fast Spin' sometimes :D :D
 
What Brian says is accurate.

But I don't want an ariel. I don't need one. Well, up until 11.35pm last night, that was.

If I don't have an ariel, I cannot enjoy the full service supplied by the BBC, therefore I should not have to pay for a licence.
 
But you do nonetheless, have equipment which could potentially result in your being able to enjoy their full service. I am quite sure that there a literally hundreds if not thousands of cases which could be cited.
 
I do not have a fully working setup though. If the BBC are going to demand that I get a licence for having most of the setup (i.e. everything apart from the ariel), then what if I didn't have a tv, but I had a remote control? Where do you draw the line on what is liable and what is not?

I would draw the line at being able to receive BBC services completely.

If I cannot receive BBC services in their entirety, why should I have to pay £121 for a tv licence?

Imagine if I could not receive Eastenders, BBC's biggest audience puller. Is it fair that I should pay £121 but not get the same service as my next door neighbour?

It doesn't say in the law that I am obligated to have a tv ariel, just a licence if I have equipment that can receive broadcasts from the BBC. At this moment I cannot.

There is no middle ground, I could not watch the football last night.
 
What you need to do then, is get yourself a time machine and go back in time to when they introduced that law and force them to change it. Or you could just pay up and stop whinging like a b*tch!!!! :D
 
I have never understood the people who jib at paying £2.33 a week for a licence that funds a provider of seven TV stations (if you count the regional opt-outs) and innumerable radio stations and online services, but are happy to pay significantly more for Rupert Murdoch's service. And those that say they never watch the BBC's output I just don't believe. Let's start with Royal Ascot...
 
I have a licence. So I do not need to pay up.

My point is, do I need one? I have no ariel that enables me to receive terrestrial tv.

That means I could not use a vcr to record programmes and watch them elsewhere. It also means I could not use freeview.

I can use Sky to view BBC channels, but only (it now seems) certain programmes.

I do not believe I should be paying for a licence when I do not receive the full service.

I am not complaining about the fee whatsoever, and yes I enjoy BBC services greatly.

I am not going to install a tv ariel, for my own reasons. Therefore, unfortunately, I am going to dispute that I require a licence.
 
You pay the licence fee, as does everyone else, to enable the BBC to fund its making and broadcasting of programmes, which you watch through your Sky system and which are "free to air" on that system.
 
It's always a clear sign to stop engaging in a conversation on here with someone when they resort to pointing out grammar and spelling errors.

It sort of signals the end of that person's wise input. :D
 
There was a little bit.

Brian, going back to what you said about why we pay for a licence; yes, I assume that means I should be entitled to watch regional broadcasts? For instance, Scottish Cup football? The fact that I can't should make some sort of case for my non-inclusion in the licence buying population.
 
A bit difficult for the BBC to show you something to which they don't have the rights. You might as well complain that they're not showing you the Superbowl or the Cheltenham Festival.
 
"A chap came out and searched right through their house for a T.V......honest"
Click to expand...
They have the right by law to refuse a visit. Under the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1949 the TV licensing authority must apply to a magistrate for a warrant, which will only be granted if there is reasonable suspicion that the householder does own a television. The human rights group Liberty, however, advises that turning away an agent is not necessarily the quickest way to end the hassle: "It might be best in the long term if you do allow them to see that you don't own a TV set, and emphasise that you don't want to be contacted again".

Apparently, almost exactly half of those who claim not to have a TV set are, in fact, using one.
 
I did actually get away without a licence for over two years when I was working in racing; there were 4 staff houses within yards of each other, none of which had a licence. I'm still not entirely sure how we managed to get away with it, particularly when the lads next door were caught by the TV Licensing Authority one day, they got off without a fine on the condition that they got a licence straightaway. Curiously, they didn't come knocking at the doors of the rest of us. I remember the lad that opened the door got a right pasting from the other two lads he lived with, it was an unwritten rule amongst all of us that under no condition was anybody to open the front door to anyone who knocked; anybody worth seeing knew to walk straight through the (always open) back door hence if they knocked at the front it was bad news! I don't think Johnny ever heard the last of that one..... :lol:
 
I'm confused.

Who has the rights to show Scottish Cup football? I thought it was the BBC.
 
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