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A big concern for students, and their parents, is how to watch TV when they are at college or university. £145.50 for a licence is a very steep price for a student to pay for just part of the year, even if they are sharing that cost with others in their flat or house.
Up until September 1st, students could use BBC iPlayer without paying the licence fee.
But as of September 1st, “a change in the law means you need to be covered by a TV Licence to download or watch BBC programmes on demand, including catch up, on BBC iPlayer.”
However, there is a truly bizarre, but nonetheless welcome, loophole in the rules for students. Money Saving Expert explains:
…a quirk in TV Licensing rules means students can get away without one if watching on a mobile, tablet or laptop. The loophole does not apply to watching on a desktop computer, console or TV/digital box, for which you do need a licence…
The TV Licensing rules state:
“Students… won’t be covered by their parents’ licence, unless they only ever use devices that are powered solely by their own internal batteries, and aren’t plugged into an aerial or the mains.”
The technicality means this exception does NOT apply while the device is being charged. This may seem bizarre, and appears to have its origins in a rule which allows licence holders to use mobile devices outside their home.
TV Licensing seems to have chosen to apply this to include students – if their licensed parents’ home is their usual place of residence outside term time.
So students can charge up their laptop, tablet or smartphone, then take the mains plug out and watch live TV or download iPlayer programmes on the device.
It is truly strange, but something for which students and parents can be grateful.
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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15 Comments
It’s the same loophole that’s always existed for “portable equipment” – when I was an undergraduate in the late 90s, you were OK if the telly was battery-powered. Of course, back then the vast quantity of disposable batteries required would probably have cost more than the licence would have 🙂
Firstly – what does this have to do with the Lib Dems and why is it on Lib Dem voice?
Secondly – the article incorrectly states that “£145.50 for a licence is a very steep price for a student to pay for just part of the year” students in halls only need to pay the licence fee for the duration of their studies and don’t need to pay it for the holidays.
O/T I know but £12.12 pcm for BBC TV, radio and Online is fantastic value if you ask me.
I despair that anyone can call themselves both or either, a Liberal and or a Democrat ,of any sort, and support the TV licence, in any way , shape or form !
The number of times we , in this party , though not me , ever, and yet ,others in supposedly progressive and compassionate parties , have listened to the elitist special interest group think ,and group speak , arguments , and not seen the alternatives , and that it does not mean the end of public broadcasting , merely the end of broadcasting dictatorship !
Our great National Theatre , was started by that wonder of the age , Lord Laurence Olivier, and is going strong yet ,and does so with no compulsory levy . The Royal Shakespeare Company , started by the still living great , Sir Peter Hall, makes no special pleading either , nor does any gallery , orchestra , or cinema , commercial , art house or otherwise !
Yet speak for Liberalism , which means liberty , and yes ,freedom to watch television, and for democracy , which means having a say in how we do things , and there is always at least one cry of “attacking the BBC !”, horror of horrors !
All the great institutions mentioned above do credit to our culture and do so funded by the department of that name . But the BBC prefer to maintain a monopoly from before the Great Depression and something called the wireless, in the era after the great recession , and something called wifi !
Woops, there you go again. You’ll just have to despair, Mr. Cherin….. and I’ve been a Liberal for more years than you have had hot dinners.
As to the National Theatre – to say there is “no compulsory levy” is like saying the earth is flat. We all chip in to the “compulsory levy” of taxation to fund the public subsidy (which I personally don’t object to) whether we like it or not and whether we live in Shetland or on the South Bank in terms of accessibility.
And no, the BBC is not a monopoly. It faces sometimes unscrupulous competition from such as Murdoch and Desmond who are about as Liberal Democrat as Nigel Farage (Desmond of course funded UKIP).
Frankly, it’s the anti BBC nonsense peddled on LDV (and by the SNP) that makes me despair. Try watching television in the USA and be grateful that we still have public service broadcasting in the UK.
I trust the BBC – but I’ll never trust Sky or Fox – or the benefit bashers of Desmond’s Channel Five.
Paul
“Firstly – what does this have to do with the Lib Dems and why is it on Lib Dem voice?”
Broadcasting is a public policy area and therefore covered by political parties such as the Lib Dems. It’s on LDV because I wrote it and put it up. I judged that it would be of interest to readers, and so far quite a few people have read it and commented on it. Indeed, it is the most read article on Liberal Democrat Voice today – by a long chalk. I wrote an article on the licence fee a few months ago and this is something of a follow up to that.
“Secondly – the article incorrectly states that “£145.50 for a licence is a very steep price for a student to pay for just part of the year” students in halls only need to pay the licence fee for the duration of their studies and don’t need to pay it for the holidays.”
Sorry – I was referring to students who are not in halls.
I do not watch any of the BBC’s products and no live TV except when I occasionally go to the pub to watch the football. The more people who bypass the this royal/state propaganda tool the better. It’s time is passing.
So , David , or , is it now , Mr. Raw, twice in one day , you find my views an affront ,to make up for that, eh, “nice to see you to see you , nice ! ” In the words of an old beeb programme that had nothing to do with public broadcasting even then in the70s!
Actually the tax ,you refer to ,that finances most of our great non commercial culture other than the special interest group that is our auntie, is not paid by the poor , ie meaning of course, general taxation, nor paid by the poor students working , thanks to the Liberal Democrats in government, and the tv licence is forcibly paid by the poor , and disabled.
As to the BBC, it has a monopoly of the tv licence funding , or did you think it goes to ITV as well?! And under our party policy from many years ago , the money would have been, and should be shared by other public orientated broadcasters.
And as someone married to a wife of American origin , and before that , steeped in and enamoured of the very best of their cultural liberal melting pot there,I am well aware of the great , astonishingly so , and lousy , less so , tv of the country of my in laws , and that they , despite flaws in their television , have never forced anyone to pay , not even for …..
The Waltons , The little House on the Prairie , Roots , Hill Street Blues,The Sopranos , The West Wing , Friends , Will and Grace, 60 minutes, Meet the Press, Amanpour , Fareed Zakaria , and all those other outrageous, Murdoch orientated , horribly illiberal , culturally bothersome ,programmes !
Paul, unfortunately, Money Saving Expert is not also “regulation reading expert”. The full rules say that students are only covered by their parents’ TV licence for watching live TV broadcasts or I-Player when “using a device that’s never connected to an aerial or plugged into the mains”.
Therefore, the rules would apply equally, whether or not the “device” is plugged into the mains for charging at the time. However, the rules are not clear on whether the “device” includes an external power supply, and whether the power supply came with the device (in which case it would be considered to be part of the same product) or was bought separately (in which case it would be a separate product). If the student always removes the battery from the device to charge it, then it is covered by the parents’ TV licence.
So what? you may be asking. The I-Player APP is written by the BBC. It will be able to identify the model of device on which it is installed, probably the serial number, whether the device is connected to the mains, and the IP address of the internet connection. Unless you disable location services, it will also know exactly where the device is being used. In other words, the iPlayer has access to the information needed for a future release to enable the BBC to enforce the new licence conditions.
£145.50 for a licence is a very steep price for a student to pay
In real terms the cost of a (colour) tv licence hasn’t changed very much over the years. A £34 tv licence in 1980 would after inflation cost about £156 today. However, in relative terms it probably is expensive. In 1980, I could get 3 music CD’s or 1~2 textbooks, whereas now I’m looking at 15+ CD’s or 3~6 text/reference books, for the price of the tv licence.
What I find telling is Paul’s opening sentence; being able to watch tv wasn’t a concern we had. I therefore wonder about what the students and parents Paul is referring to, actually think university is about and why having a tv etc. is so important, particularly as we are referring to a generation who has grown up with smartphones and social media.
@SimonPike
I’m sorry but you really have misunderstood the new licensing.
TV licenses do not cover individuals, they cover self-contained accommidation, otherwise every individual in a household would require a license and every visitor to the house would need a license to watch anything. Similarly, anyone can download TV to iplayer at any licensed address and watch it anywhere, as long as the device isn’t plugged into the mains whilst iplayer plays the recording. The rules are quite clear and specific.
Sorry – quick correction. It doesn’t matter where you download the TV programme – it could be in a field where it would be impossible to actually have a license. What matters is where you watch it – it has to be at a licensed address or anywhere at all provided you’re not plugged into the mains.
The comments by Simon and Steve really show conclusively that for a party to fret over government control of data , or storing it , concerned as they maybe about both liberty and security, and to wilfully neglect the horribly Orwellian scenario that is described above , is shameful !
A snoopers charter , is far less accurate to describe data retention than it is to describe the outrageous design and use of detector vans , apps , and goodness knows what , to fund something not essential , that could be funding the broadcasting that is from progressive taxes .
See the Twittersphere today up in arms and rightly , over the commercialisation of the format and content of the new Crimewatch , and the speculation of fixing at Strictly Come Dancing , whether nonsense or not , hardly a public service programme , that anyway belongs on a commercial channel.
There is good reason to support genuine public service broadcasting . No reason whatsoever to back draconian breaches of common shared spaces or private homes virtually sped on or bugged to pay the salaries of people ensconced in the system that feeds it and off it .
Tony Benn thirty years ago and the Greens now are against the TV licence . That we as a party are not is an outrage of hypocritical proportions when we are up in arms sometimes at lesser authoritarian breaches of freedom.
“£145.50 for a licence is a very steep price for a student to pay …”
But surely, thanks to Nick Clegg and his Lib Dem colleagues in Government, students now have a brilliantly improved loans scheme to fund this and the poorest graduates will never have to repay the cost of their student TV licence. 😉
Paul – I bet you thought this would be a pretty low-risk controversy free bit of content 🙂
I was amused that the first time I used the iPlayer on my computer after September 1st, all I got was a pop up asking “have you got a television licence.”
Do they really think anyone would be daft enough to click on the `no`button?
(Mind you 51.9% of UK voters were daft enough to vote Leave on 23rd June, so maybe the BBC have a point…..)