I noticed as I was renewing my TV license that it states you need to buy one to watch TV in any form, whether through a television, mobile phone or computer. Now there must come a point where someone who uses their PC to watch TV but never watches any net versions of terrestrial channels will challenge this, which will be an interesting debate but no doubt the TV licensing people (ie the government) will have it all covered in the small print.
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The current legislation identifies the act of receiving a live television transmission, but does not define the equipment used to receive it.
This is why you need a licence to watch any kind of live transmission – irrespective of the device you use to do so (a TV, computer, mobile phone, etc).
However you do not need a licence to “watch TV in any form”, as a licence is only required for live transmission. Watching a catch-up service such as iPlayer or 4oD does not require a licence, and neither does owning a television set (you are perfectly free to own a TV and use it for video games or DVDs without requiring a licence).
Just to bring this up again after a very long time – the interesting thing here is how to prove whether live TV is being watched or catch-up TV only? You could easily have a laptop on which you watch some live TV and some iPlayer and if questioned what’s to stop you saying “It’s only used for catch-up TV”? Where is the burden of proof?
It’s even possible (although very unlikely) that someone could have, say, Virgin Media TV and only ever watch on demand content. Unlikely though it sounds, how would the inspectors (if that’s how they’re still referred to) prove it not to be the case?