Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparrow
I think a distinction is that people pay a bus fare when they use a bus; people are obliged to pay for the BBC whether they use it or not.
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Unless the licensing laws have been updated in the last year or two (It's not something I really follow) the following should still be accurate.
You can own a TV without paying for a TV license so long as you do not watch any TV stations via it. If you only play video games, watch videos or dvd's on it then you do not need a license.
If you watch any TV stations however (even if you do so via a computer rather than TV) then you need a license.
I do know someone who has had a TV for many years now and has not once paid for a TV license. They spoke to the people who do the licensing and were assured they did not require a license for the purposes of only watching videos and gaming and to date have never had an issue with that.
Unless something has changed in the last 2 years, you also do not need a tv license to watch on-demand programming. Which does (or did) include iPlayer. That's a loophole likely to be closed however (assuming it hasn't already).
I do understand your comparison though. Even if you never watch any of the BBC services and only watch commercial stations you still need a license and that's one of the things that has caused issues several times, even more so now we have services like Sky. In a way it is like a tax as you're having to pay for services you may not want nor consume.