Do You Need A TV Licence?

This may seem like a slightly random post from me today but I have had SO many discussions about this lately and thought it was a topic that may be of interest to a few of you.  Read on if you have ever asked the question do you need a TV licence?

This week it was announced that TV licence fees are increasing as of April 2020. Whilst the increase is hardly huge ( it is £3 extra ) if you pay monthly you will now be paying £13.13 per month – which is at least £5 more than Netflix, Amazon Prime and various other TV viewing services. Is it worth it and more importantly do you need it? Let’s take a look:

Do YOU need a TV licence?

Well it depends.

You need a licence if you:

• Watch any live TV including live TV via services such as Amazon Prime and Now TV.

• Record any TV shows as they are shown. So you can’t record Home & Away today and watch it tomorrow to avoid the licence fee.

• Watch any BBC shows or use BBC iPlayer ( even if it’s on catch up) – this means you simply cannot watch BBC shows. Whether you download after the fact or watch live.

However…

You don’t need a TV licence if you do the following:

• Only watch TV programmes which aren’t shown live via services such as Netflix or ITV player.

• Don’t watch or record live TV.

• Don’t watch BBC shows at all.

You can still without a TV licence watch any channels apart from BBC channels on catch up or on demand. So yes you can get your fix of soaps ( aside from those shown on BBC) or Love Island just by waiting until it appears on demand or catch up.

I haven’t had a TV licence in quite a while now. Myself and the girls only watch Netflix or Amazon Prime when I pay for a prime membership and I occasionally watch an interesting TV show on catch up from All4 or ITV player etc. I don’t miss being able to watch live TV at all. I’m not an avid soap watcher and I can take or leave most of the reality shows so maybe if that was your bag you’d have more of an issue with it. Whether you think it provides value for money or not you could save yourself over £150 a year just by being a little more patient with your viewing time. Worth some consideration for sure.

If you do decide to cancel, don’t just cancel your direct debit or ignore the bill. You should follow this link to make a declaration and avoid any letters appearing at your door.