TV Licensing in the UK is reminding students who are off to university this term that they may need to buy a TV Licence or risk prosecution and a fine of up to £1000 if they don’t.
Most students these days have a laptop and if they have a laptop they can connect online and if they can connect online they can watch TV programmes and if they watch TV they need to buy a licence.
According to TV Licensing 80 percent of students embarking on their first year of study at university have a laptop with them and about half of them use it as their main way of watching television.
So that students cannot use ignorance as a reason for not having a license, the licensing body has teamed up with universities all over the country to raise awareness of the need for a licence and in what circumstances it is required.
This means that students who are subsequently caught without a license have absolutely no excuse.
Basically you need a license if you are going to watch or record TV programmes regardless of whether you are doing that on a television, a laptop or even a mobile phone and regardless of how you receive those channels.
If you are using your laptop to download and watch programmes that have already been broadcast then you don’t need a license.
The TV licensing website lists a number of excuses used by students who were caught without a license and these include the following:
* I thought my parents’ TV License would cover me
* I haven’t got a TV; I watch telly on my laptop
* I’m an A star student. They’re not going to prosecute me
* I didn’t know I needed a TV license in a hall of residence
* I live in a shared house. It’s not my TV
* I’ve got a TV license I just can’t find it at the moment
* I can’t afford it
* I refuse to pay for a whole year when I’m only here for nine months
None of these excuses or any other for that matter will wash with a licensing officer and students who are used to the comforts of home may not be aware that there is a national database of licensed and unlicensed addresses and enforcement officers regularly visit halls of residence to check up.
Students are reminded to be prepared.
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So to be clear here, if you use your laptop to watch iPlayer, you DON’T need a license, as it’s not live. There ya go, free BBC programmes. Remind me again, the TV License is fair because….?