BBC silence over licence loophole: Corporation refuses to say how many households do not need one because they catch-up online
More than a million households do not pay the £145.50 annual fee
Corporation fears it could lose out if the figure was known to the public
Many people legally watch TV through catch-up services such as iPlayer


The BBC is refusing to disclose how many people say they do not need a television licence because they are watching shows online.
The corporation fears it could lose a significant amount of money if the figure was made known to the public, it emerged last night.
More than a million households do not pay the £145.50 annual fee, according to The Times newspaper.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2PaDPpkvt

You need to be covered by a valid TV Licence if you watch or record TV as it's being broadcast. This includes the use of devices such as a computer, laptop, mobile phone or DVD/video recorder.

It costs £145.50 for colour and £49.00 for a black and white TV Licence.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one

But apparently not if you use catchup services like BBC iPlayer and ITV Player etc.

Seems like a big loophole as BBC iPlayer now also offers (almost) live playback as well.

Thanks Fred

Note to self, please read full article before replying

it is all in the hands of the BBC - they can restrict the releases on their I-Player at the stroke of a pen

do they have the desire or the guts to do it ??

This isn't exactly an Einstein. It's pretty simple.
How much does it cost, and what do we get for that investment?

What do you mean by "restrict the releases"?

They can delay the broadcast by as long as they want, 12 hrs , 24 hrs ,
7 days. In theory it can only be viewed in the UK so they can increase the security to detect overseas viewers and interupt reception.
It is early days in the multi media transmission and reception of TV progs we can look forward to many changes in the future.

If they delay the streaming of a live program by even 1 millisecond then it isn't live - in fact that probably happens anyway due to buffering etc.

I shall have to try them side by side and see how long the delay is.

Incidentally BBC iPlayer is already geo-blocked. BBC Radio iPlayer isn't though.

PS. just tried it - there is a 40 second delay.

It could well be argued that no one ever watches anything live on TV.

There is an inevitable delay which may be as little as a millionth of a millisecond between the action taking place and the viewer seeing it on the TV screen.

What about BBC iPlayer Roaming?

What's that?

Google it and find out.

We have up to 10 secs delay between Freeview and cable reception. Does this mean that I don't need a licence for my cable channel as it is not 'live'?

Thanks for being so helpful - duly noted.