Tv license and going direct debit

[dazz600]

Just from the off I would like to make clear I have no objection to paying the tv license

This year tho I thought I would go direct debit

It is due on march 31st at £145

While on the website tho after selecting 'pay monthly' I almost continued without reading the payments

They want a debit card payment of £21 (I've rounded these up to simplify) on the 19th of march followed by 6 more of the same each month equaling £145.Ok but.....

Then they want £12 a month on a rolling monthly contract from October!

By my maths that's £217 by march 8th next year even though I'm not even due til the last day this month

I could understand the 6 months for £145 then a 6 month break every year but am I missing something here?

They've effectively got 6months money 'in front'

And I thought direct debits simplified things!

['daiking']

Yes, they like you to be 6 months in credit.

Robbing bar stewards.

[moley]

When you had to go to the post office you paid for 12 months up front.

[gallego1968]

I have been paying DD for years now as it is easy.

[giandougl]

I pay by Direct Debit £12.12 monthly after the start of the first initial payment £12.38p.

There is talk about the television license being discontinued, but nothing offical yet..

[Brian69]

It's an anachronism.

[littleade]

I have been paying DD for years now as it is easy.

Me too and my other regular bills as well. Makes things more a lot more simpler for me anyway, though it might not suit everyone as it takes the ability to juggle your finances away if you get a large unexpected bill and everything is on DD.

[Auric Goldfinger]

I've just signed up for monthly  DD

[Norco]

You are just getting ahead of yourself so you DD when it drops to £12 if keeping you in license for the next 6 months or midway point of an annual license. If you move or no longer need a license then this is refunded. 

[kilted]

I pay by Direct Debit £12.12 monthly after the start of the first initial payment £12.38p.

There is talk about the television license being discontinued, but nothing offical yet..

IIRC subscription was mentioned as an option - not sure how well that would work tbh

[gadgetman]

I pay by Direct Debit £12.12 monthly after the start of the first initial payment £12.38p.

There is talk about the television license being discontinued, but nothing offical yet..

They're looking at rolling it into council & business tax instead to cover those who only stream content

[FUBAR]

As said you basically end up paying 6 months in advance (by double payments for first 6 months) and it rolls on like that. When I moved out of the UK and cancelled my TV licence I got my 6 months refunded to me after explaining to them several times that moving to the Netherlands means I do not need a TV Licence... 

[Ootohere]

So those watching on iplayer will need a TV Licence, or maybe they will.

http://bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36942458

 

Still a robbing tax and the TV Licence should be scrapped IMO.

[gadgetman]

So those watching on iplayer will need a TV Licence, or maybe they will.

http://bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36942458

Still a robbing tax and the TV Licence should be scrapped IMO.

TBH it was only a matter of time after Edmonds said he was happy to watch BBC content, but via iplayer & not fund it like everyone else.

[Aspman]

Tv License......bugger

 

Paying it on the wrong property right now

[cheezemonkhai]

If you don't like being 6 months in advance, pay by quarterly direct debit.

It's something like £6 extra a year, which is fine by me.

[vRSgone]

I spend at least 6 months of the year living in Spain, where along with 1 million or so ex-pats I can watch British TV for free. I would have no objection to paying for a TV licence for the 6 months I reside in the UK if I could pay pro rata , but no the BBC insist I must pay for a whole 12 months up front! Well, there's no chance of that is there?  I'll take my chances, but then I only watch "catch-up" TV & Netflix anyway, Ahem!

[cheezemonkhai]

I spend at least 6 months of the year living in Spain, where along with 1 million or so ex-pats I can watch British TV for free. I would have no objection to paying for a TV licence for the 6 months I reside in the UK if I could pay pro rata , but no the BBC insist I must pay for a whole 12 months up front! Well, there's no chance of that is there?  I'll take my chances, but then I only watch "catch-up" TV & Netflix anyway, Ahem!

 

How on earth can you watch it for free?

Frankly if you're watching content, then you should be paying for it, be it through a Licence fee in the UK or through your service providers charges elsewhere in the world.

BBC world does charge others to rebroadcast content (Sky included)

Edited 2 August, 2016 by cheezemonkhai

[ColinD]

I used to pay it on Direct Debit, then forgot one year and emptied the account as it's a 'dead' but not yet account. OOps.

 

So now I ask for the letter and pay it that way, same cost to me. I asked for a reminder, they said not possible. Because it's a fixed amount they don't need to either...

[vRSgone]

How on earth can you watch it for free?

Frankly if you're watching content, then you should be paying for it, be it through a Licence fee in the UK or through your service providers charges elsewhere in the world.

BBC world does charge others to rebroadcast content (Sky included)

 

With a 2.4 metre satellite dish & a Freesat box.  I am not a Sky subscriber, nor would ever consider becoming one, - their content doesn't interest me in the slightest. The BBC ( & other UK terrestial stations) kindly rebroadcast their signals via FREESAT for those who have difficulty in receiving them via FREEVIEW.  The footprint of the ASTRA 2E satellite extends well into Southern Spain. The BBC can only collect licence fees  from UK residents. The fact that the beam (much to the BBC's consternation) extends to Southern Spain , & indeed other European countries, is beyond their control, as the Astra Satellites are owned & controlled by SES based in Luxembourg.  

 

I am a fiscal resident in Spain & I have my residencia & pay taxes in Spain. If the BBC is concerned about the loss of revenue from Ex-Pats, maybe they should consider launching their own satellite?

 

Edited 2 August, 2016 by vRSgone

[cheezemonkhai]

Or just encrypt the service and give a viewing card as your TV licence

[VWD]

Personally, I'd say BBC would be too frightened to encrypt their content and only open it to licence payers via a viewing card. With the licence fee ,they've got a captive audience ( policed by ,Captivia ) ,but if folks had the chance to opt out- BBC would have to give value for money ( i.e get competitive in a modern market) or go  bust. BBC have ,for far too long been guilty of broadcasting repeats. I remember one job poster in my days as a GPO tech "fix it first time-leave the repeats to the BBC". aND THAT WAS WAY BACK IN THE LATE 60'S/EARLY 70'S.

[gullyg]

Personally, I'd say BBC would be too frightened to encrypt their content and only open it to licence payers via a viewing card. With the licence fee ,they've got a captive audience ( policed by ,Captivia ) ,but if folks had the chance to opt out- BBC would have to give value for money ( i.e get competitive in a modern market) or go  bust. BBC have ,for far too long been guilty of broadcasting repeats. I remember one job poster in my days as a GPO tech "fix it first time-leave the repeats to the BBC". aND THAT WAS WAY BACK IN THE LATE 60'S/EARLY 70'S.

 

I don't pay a license and currently watch the odd thing on iPlayer (TV is often on as background whilst myself and SWMBO pretend to spend time together whilst on our respective laptops) however with the top gear debacle and SWMBO not being able to watch Wombledon and the "I'm not Scottish cause my sponsors say so" **** play live the loss of iPlayer next month is of no concern at all.

 

However if it wasn't for the ar****les at the TV Licensing agency being bullyboys I may have gone back to a TV License (On-Demand on 1.2mb/s broadband isn't much fun until you work out how to manage it) but I'm quite happy with Netflix/Prime now.   The DD issue of overpaying is a really good example of their "everyone is a criminal" mentality, and when they turn up on the doorstep and demand to see you're not watching live tv they're really on a hiding to nothing with me.

 

I might reconsider if 4OD was to become restricted as their documentaries seem much better but currently any BBC stuff I want to watch I'll watch on my lunch at work - where they have a TV license.

Edited 3 August, 2016 by gullyg

[cheezemonkhai]

I used to pay it on Direct Debit, then forgot one year and emptied the account as it's a 'dead' but not yet account. OOps.

 

So now I ask for the letter and pay it that way, same cost to me. I asked for a reminder, they said not possible. Because it's a fixed amount they don't need to either...

 

Point them at the direct debit guarantee

 

 

I don't pay a license and currently watch the odd thing on iPlayer (TV is often on as background whilst myself and SWMBO pretend to spend time together whilst on our respective laptops) however with the top gear debacle and SWMBO not being able to watch Wombledon and the "I'm not Scottish cause my sponsors say so" **** play live the loss of iPlayer next month is of no concern at all.

 

However if it wasn't for the ar****les at the TV Licensing agency being bullyboys I may have gone back to a TV License (On-Demand on 1.2mb/s broadband isn't much fun until you work out how to manage it) but I'm quite happy with Netflix/Prime now.   The DD issue of overpaying is a really good example of their "everyone is a criminal" mentality, and when they turn up on the doorstep and demand to see you're not watching live tv they're really on a hiding to nothing with me.

 

I might reconsider if 4OD was to become restricted as their documentaries seem much better but currently any BBC stuff I want to watch I'll watch on my lunch at work - where they have a TV license.

 

 

Well there's the rub then isn't it.

If you have any equipment that can be used to record or display broadcasts (eg a TV with a tuner of any sort in it) or anything with a tuner in it  (and I have no idea how they'll play the you can tune into iplayer broadcast thing) then you need a licence

 

So if you have a TV that can receive the BBC, you need to get a licence.

Edited 4 August, 2016 by cheezemonkhai

[@Lee]

Well there's the rub then isn't it.

If you have any equipment that can be used to record or display broadcasts (eg a TV with a tuner of any sort in it) or anything with a tuner in it  (and I have no idea how they'll play the you can tune into iplayer broadcast thing) then you need a licence

 

So if you have a TV that can receive the BBC, you need to get a licence.

Not strictly true; you ONLY need a licence 'if you watch or record live TV as it's being broadcast'.

I've been there, had the discussion on the phone with the TV licensing people and got the t-shirt

 

Basically you can use the telly, even if it has a tuner, for watching DVD's, games, streaming Netflix etc BUT, once you plug in the aeriel, that makes the telly capable of watching TV as it's being broadcast.

 

One simple question makes it easy to know if you need a TV Licence:

Am I watching or recording live TV on any device?

Live TV means any programme you watch or record at the same time as it's being shown on TV or an online TV service.

An online TV service is a service that mainly aims to provide TV programmes over the internet, e.g. on a website or through an app or Smart TV.

If you only ever watch on demand programmes, you don’t need a TV Licence. On demand includes catch-up TV, streaming or downloading programmes after they’ve been shown on live TV, or programmes available online before being shown on live TV.

Obviously the iPlayer rule comes into effect from 1/9/2016 but that only applies to iPlayer not 4oD, ITV Player etc etc