 I mean't to say too Mike, your reference to "unless I commit an offence." Why do you think the Police have the power to stop you and ask for the production of a driving licence? In case of course you are driving without one, in which case you would! If a household is registered as NOT having a TV licence and the occupant IS watching TV, then an offence HAS been committed!
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| Edited: 15/09/08 18:16 |
Jo G Aren't the measurement of viewing figures (BBC and Commercial) estimates based on the measurement of specially selected viewers being surveyed?
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| Edited: 15/09/08 18:21 |
 cysgod-du: i'm honestly ignorant to how it works, so it's a shame it isn't anything more techy. if i ran the world, i would invent a widget to go into televisions that prevented them being able to receive broadcasts until you had signed up for a licence and been given a pin number or something. but if i ran the world there would be free tv so that wouldn't work... especially since everyone would have their own private mountain range and wouldn't be inside anyway.
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 I've never had anyone knock on my door asking if i have a rod licence to go fishing. I don't have a problem with a water bailiff asking to see my licence if he spots me fishing though.
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 How about a licence to distill whisky? It's incredibly difficult to get one of those unless your great-great-grandad had one!
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but isn't paddy's problem to do with how they are going to spot you? all the examples so far are outside of the home. To check what you're doing INSIDE your home is extremely dodgy - and i cannot agree with anything that allows people to stand on your doorstep and demand to know what you're filling your free time with. i'd rather my electronic gizmos were interrogated in a gizmoid way, than have a real threatening human on the doorstep. at least that way, if i didn't like, i'd turn the thing off, or not have one.
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I've never had anyone knock on my door asking if i have a rod licence to go fishing. I don't have a problem with a water bailiff asking to see my licence if he spots me fishing though.
That is the WHOLE point Mike. You don't drive your car or fish in your living room so it is VERY easy to check if someone is legally entitled to do what they are doing.
How do the authorities check if you are committing such an TV licensing offence in your living room? I am with Jo G here, I cannot believe that coupled with the database that identifies unlicensed addresses, there is not a high tech electronic way of catching these criminals out, thus leaving Paddy to enjoy his boring TV-less evenings!
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| Edited: 15/09/08 18:43 |
My boring TV-less evenings? But Tony... I look to you for my entertainment!
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Touche Paddy !
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I would like to be present to see Paddy's face when it is announced that a licence will be needed to connect to the internet 'services'. Whither Tony then...? Edit: well, obviously not 'whither Tony' - i'm sure he'll whither his own way very happily. I meant, 'whither Tony and his entertainment value to Paddy', then... i guess Paddy will have to, oh no, go down the pub for entertainment, and how boring will... hang on...
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| Edited: 15/09/08 18:57 |
 Knock me down! My letter to ceefax did appear, heavily edited of course!
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...and on the OM forum tonight, let's hear from our guest posters... Adam Holloway (Gravesham, Conservative) To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether those who do not have a television set are required to inform TV Licensing that they do not require a TV licence. Shaun Woodward (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Culture, Media & Sport; St Helens South, Labour) A television licence is required to install or use a television receiver, as defined in regulations made by the Secretary of State, rather than a television set. Members of the public who do not require a television licence are under no obligation to inform TV Licensing of the fact. Let's look at that last statement again... in bold... "Members of the public who do not require a television licence are under no obligation to inform TV Licensing of the fact."
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...................................."Members of the public who do not require a television licence are under no obligation to inform TV Licensing of the fact."
And just where is it suggested otherwise?
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 detector vans do work. but i fool them by wearing an aluminium foil hat. or is that for something else? matron! more pills!
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Well... the BBC certainly don't bandy that little phrase around... they prefer to threaten, abuse, insult, harass, tell lies, falsify records, indulge in violence... get the picture?
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Good holiday Parky? 
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The easiest and obvious remedy to all this oppressive behaviour from the BBC is to scrap the licence fee!
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 > And just where is it suggested otherwise? By the BBC/TVLA. They insist that you complete a form to 'declare' that you don't have a TV. If you don't make this declaration, they will continue to harrass you, with all sorts of dire threats.
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And even if you do make this declaration, they'll assume you're lying, and demand proof, and continue to harrass you.
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If you say and do nothing... the heavies come round. If you tell the truth (eg, I have no TV)... the heavies come round. If you tell a lie (eg, yes I do have a TV, when in fact I don't)... the heavies come round. So... apart from declaring war on the BBC... what other options are open?
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