back to article Watching Olympics at work? How to avoid a £1k telly-tax fine

Watching the Olympics at work may annoy the boss, but not as much as the £1,000 fine the company could get if doesn't have a TV licence. Watching live telly in the UK requires such a licence regardless of whether that video arrives over the internet or is broadcast. The TV tax collectors have provided a useful cut-out-and-pin- …

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  1. Only me!

    World Cup 2010??

    When will this stop being a media story.....really Le Reg get with the times with the breaking news on IT

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Employed by the public services?

      If you live in London why not work from home during the Olympics, of course your Union will negotiate a huge bonus for you, extra money for doing your job during the Olympics.

      Then of course you might want to go on strike to demand a bit more in your pockets, make sure you strike just at the time the country needs you. It doesn't matter what the rest of the world think of us does it.

      For the rest of us who live in the North you could offer us a few overpriced tickets to go and watch the football or some other sport we have not heard of, because lets face it, we'd had little chance of getting a ticket in that lottery.

      Still,if any decent tickets are left unsold you can give them to your corporate sponsors who can sell them to us at inflated prices. I see that Government Ministers, their cronies and management are not short of seats.

      Then once it is all over and the debts have to be paid for you can raise our taxes in the North to pay for the jolly you have had.

      I love the Olympics but can't you see how disenfranchised I feel about it all.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Employed by the public services?

        Why don't you just enjoy it and stop complaining.

        People have a right to ask for more money. My butler and house keeper demanded Olympics bonuses. Fortunately they aren't members of a union so I told them to bugger off. I'm personally looking forward to the Olympics. I was given tickets to the 100m final by Crispin who sometimes drinks in the club. Decent chap - says he got them from Lord something or other for recommending a super off-shore savings scheme. He also got me a pass for the Olympic lanes, otherwise my chauffeur would have to go all the way up to Marble Arch before being able to turn off Park Lane when he's taking me home to Mayfair after an afternoon shopping in Knightsbridge. That would have been unbearable.

      2. xio
        FAIL

        Re: Employed by the public services?

        Really, you could do a lot worse than lose that chip off your shoulder.

      3. elaar

        Re: Employed by the public services?

        "For the rest of us that live up North" - Why do people keep saying this? What about the people down south such as Londoners who also have no tickets, paid more than their share for this event to happen through council tax and have to endure the total travel chaos surrounding the Olympics?

        I think Northerners have very little to complain about!

      4. Dr Paul Taylor
        Flame

        Disenfrachised

        You feel disenfrachised up North, do you? Maybe you would like to swap places with the people of my part of East London, who have missile batteries on a residential tower block on one side of the park and a massive police encampment in a marquee on the other.

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
          Happy

          Re: Disenfrachised

          "my part of East London, who have missile batteries on a residential tower block on one side of the park and a massive police encampment in a marquee on the other."

          Ah, you must be feeling very safe then. Just like the old days when it normal to not even bother closing your front door, never mind locking it and there was a cheery Bobbie on every street corner.

    2. LarsG
      Trollface

      Anyone notice how most of the comments on El Reg

      Are put on here during working hours?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Anyone notice how most of the comments on El Reg

        > Are put on here during working hours?

        Of course they are - makes sense to post here and to popbitch at the same time.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Anyone notice how most of the comments on El Reg

        Err, It has just enough IT news to get it past our Internet blocks and I actually managed to persude my boss that is needed for me to keep up with breaking IT news etc....

        Luckily that day there were no stories about cockfighting, bulgerian airbag, etc....

        1. LinkOfHyrule
          Thumb Up

          That should be their new slogan...

          The Register - just enough IT news to get it past YOUR Internet blocks! Now with added Paris and 50% extra free Foxconn re-branding! Because your IT department is worth it!

      3. Brangdon
        Happy

        Re: Anyone notice how most of the comments on El Reg

        I'm compiling.

        1. TeeCee Gold badge

          Re: Anyone notice how most of the comments on El Reg

          http://xkcd.com/303/

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Anyone notice how most of the comments on El Reg

        In others' defence, I suspect we're not all in your time zone

  2. g e
    Stop

    Or maybe

    Just book annual leave if you have to watch it and stop wasting company time.

    Why people think they have some kind of right to watch sport at work is beyond me. Do your damned job.

    1. TrishaD
      Joke

      "Why people think they have some kind of right to watch sport at work is beyond me"

      Posting on The Register is of course an entirely different matter ......

      1. Miek
        Linux

        for me, at least, The Register has more to do with work than sport and telly does

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @TrishaD

        It certainly is: I managed to get it written into my personal objectives at my last company.

        Well, sort of, what I got past my boss was that "I must keep up with IT news and developments in the industry." there was also some cock about "discussing developments within my industry with others within the industry", this was part of my job - I was working in infrastructure projects as a senior technical lead, so it was important for me to keep up to date. However I suggested it really so that if anyone objected to me using the various IT news sites, I could say that I was required to as part of my objectives/personal development plan.

      3. Alpha Tony

        @Posting on The Register is of course an entirely different matter

        At least until trolling is recognised as an Olympic sport...

      4. LinkOfHyrule
        Coat

        The thing about this site is that, all those little news stories about Apple and the goventards destroying our freedoms, they're like little morish rich tea biscuits - laced with crack - you're boss aint guna mind you having a brew and a nibble now and then, it increases productivity - but because of the highly addictive crack ingredient, you start living a double life of minimised firefox windows, refreshing the homepage and active forums every 15 minuets, checking to see if today's lame jokes taking the piss out of Linux fanbois choice of alcoholic beverage has gained any downvotes or not - no not this time, they aint as vindictive as the apple guys, they are proud of their real ale habbit!.........

        You get the idea... Therapy starts next week, its the 42 steps program, involves a mixture of the ten steps, the band Steps, and that Hitchcok film.

        Blimey I think I have now lost it.

        Mines the straight jacket!

        1. squilookle
          Pint

          @LinkOfHyrule

          "they're like little morish rich tea biscuits - laced with crack"

          True and I claim a new keyboard for that one.

          "you start living a double life of minimised firefox windows"

          Mine's Chrome with the Decreased Productivity extension.

          You'll see an upvote on your post when you check in 15 minutes.

          Happy Friday.

      5. Dave Bell

        I don't know what our local Vicar is going to do about the Tour de France.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. Fihart

      Re: Or maybe

      Why people watch sport is beyond me

      1. John A Blackley

        Re: Or maybe

        Poor you.

        1. LinkOfHyrule
          Happy

          Re: Or maybe

          I managed to go half a day without checking my upvotes - thanks to my trusty elastic-band worn on the wrist aversion therapy! As used by people giving up smoking and released into the community convicted sex offenders! On the other hand being forced to listen to steps for a whole afternoon made me want to vomit - I'm dubious about this 42 steps program but the Nigerian bloke who emailed me details says to stick with it and keep sending of the cheques (well wire transfers)!!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Large UPS

    Take one UPS, fully charge, plug in laptop charger, unplug from mains*. Simple!

    * (optionally disable beeper)

    1. James Micallef Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: Large UPS

      Why bother? there isn't any way for anyone not physically standing at your desk to know whether your laptop is plugged in or not. If you say it wasn't plugged in, who's going to prove otherwise?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Large UPS

        'cos it's the law, dammit!

        You wouldn't steal a handbag? A car?

        Watching live sport on the intertubes while plugged in to the mains is stealing, errr electrons out of the wire ... or something. I dunno.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Large UPS

      I think the batteries have to be internal.

      1. DJV Silver badge
        Alert

        "I think the batteries have to be internal."

        You have EAT the batteries now? Jeez!

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

        2. TeeCee Gold badge
          Coat

          Re: "I think the batteries have to be internal."

          Isn't that also illegal?

          You could be charged.......

      2. Oliver Mayes

        Re: Large UPS

        "I think the batteries have to be internal."

        Nope, the device just can't be connected to the mains. If you plug it into the wall socket it's considered to be a permanent fixture and so the building requires a license. So as long as you're wireless it's fine. Not sure how they'd react to a network cable though, I suspect that most of the people charged with enforcing this would have a hard time differentiating between a power cable and a cat6 cable.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Large UPS

          Does that mean if your building is off the grid at that point you'd be ok?

          The other day our whole office was running on generators for some reason or other - the only way we know is it seems to blow about half the strip lights out.

          I think there's plans from the bosses to force us to watch the olympics on the plasmas usually used to display team stats (we unfortunately have a TV license in our building).

          I think I might work from home.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Alternatively alternatively

    "Alternatively one could just watch the games on non-live iPlayer or another suitable catch-up service. "

    Or you could just ignore the whole, sorry, corporate whore-fest altogether - this is the strategy I intend to pursue.

    Flames, because Sebastian Coe and his cronies deserve to burn in hell.

    1. philbo

      Re: Alternatively alternatively

      >Flames, because Sebastian Coe and his cronies deserve to burn in hell.

      I turned on the news to hear someone talking about a trial and the "co-accused". Took me a while to realize Lord Seb wasn't on trial. Shame :(

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Alternatively alternatively

      Ignoring it, by reading and posting on articles related to it. Well done.

      I am, however reminded every time I hear or see Lord Coe, of the Day to Day, where Chris Morris indignantly shouts "But I HATE Sebastian Coe."

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Alternatively alternatively

      "whore-fest" sounds good to me. I'll bring the bag of grubby, used £20 notes...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Imagine watching telly at work

    Imagine paying to watch telly.

    But worst of all, imagine wanting to watch the olympics!!

    1. My Alter Ego
      Thumb Down

      Re: Imagine watching telly at work

      We run an office full of self employed people, so as much as I'd prefer them not to watch the Olympics (because of the annoyance of people watching the same thing staggered by 2s), we can't stop them. I'm still unsure of the rules because of the fact they're not employees, but I'm guessing they have to do the battery bullshit.

      I've told people that if they see a Cat ^H^H^H TV detector van from the Ministry of Housinge, they should immediately unplug their laptops.

      As far as I'm concerned, everyone *is* paying to watch telly - they already all have a TV license, what difference does it make if they're not at home. I'd much prefer that to watch BBC's iPlayer, you have to enter your TV license number, that way they know you're paying up and then there are none of these ridiculous rules.

  6. Steve James 1

    Now that iPlayer allows you to watch a program whilst it's still broadcasting then surely you could watch it a few seconds behind real time, then you're not watching live and won't have to wait till the programme is over and the results are in before having to view it

    1. daveeff
      Headmaster

      It is a few seconds behind!

      Or is that just because I'm watching on a WfW x386 machine?

  7. Benny

    BBC phone app

    If you must watch it, try not to distract others around you and use the app (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18810308) - 24 live streams apparently - no mention of licence needed

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: BBC phone app

      If there are indeed any others around you to distract. Most of them won't have made it into work, because of transport chaos caused by the Olympics.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Perhaps we should just scrap the license fee and accept the BBC can run ads... like everyone else.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The licence fee actually makes Sky look cheap - it's about £12/month for the BBC yet you get a lot more Sky channels, a recording Sky+ box and free (basic) broadband / calls etc. for about £17/month.

      The BBC do make some good content but why can't they be commercial and stand on their own feet rather than bullying everyone into paying for a TV license - you can't even opt out and 'not' watch BBC channels - they want their pound of flesh even if you only watched 'live' non-BBC channels.

      1. Miek
        Linux

        You still need to pay the BBC License fee to watch Sky.

      2. upnorth
        Mushroom

        BBC pay Sky to broardcast the BBC channels

        Sky actually get a free subsidy from the license payer. Under a deal done when sky started, the BBC actually pay sky for broadcasting the BBC channels (which seems to be all that is worth watching on sky anyway). If this subsidy was removed, and sky made to pay a commercial rate for the BBC channels like all the other stuff they broadcast then possibly the license fee would be able to be reduced, and sky would not be able to outbid all other suppliers for major sports events.

        Nuke, cos thats what should happen to Sky

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        However sky don't keep sending me letters saying they want to search my house for televisual apparatus. Next thing we'll have to register typewriters with the police.

        1. Miek
          Linux

          For me, ignoring the letters made them go away.

  9. Steve Renouf
    Boffin

    Realtime?

    Wot? You think IU want to get bored to F*ck by all the borong bits in between the real action?

    "but then who wants to watch the BMX finals or the Greco-Roman Wrestling (or whatever it is these days) long after everyone else knows how it all ends? ®"

    Yes please. It then doesn't take anywhere near as long to watch as you can FFWD past all the boring bits!

    1. Steve Renouf
      Facepalm

      Re: Realtime?

      Hmmm... No idea where that extra U came from. It's Friday! Must be Fat Finger Day!

  10. DapaBlue

    How many individual office / shops / workplaces are there in the UK where you could watch a TV? Let's say 10m. How many enforcement teams do TV Licensing (Capita Business Services) have? Would 250 be the upper assumption? How many reception areas could they possibly get to, within working hours, inside two weeks? My basic maths suggests that in the worst case, if you watch a TV in a workplace without a licence, if you're not tipped off by reception, there's around a 1 in 1,000 chance they'd catch you. Buy a lottery ticket and cancel out the odds.

    I know it costs Capita very little to send out a press release, getting nervy office managers in fear of their mortgage payments to stump up for a TV licence they are unlikely to require for the rest of the year. But at least consider the relative risk.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Or...

    How about just ignoring the huge yawn-fest waste of money...

    It would be nice if I could... Only problem is I live/work in the South-East and I'm surrounded by roads displaying the sign "Be prepared for Olympic congestion". No hint about how I'm supposed to prepare though. Maybe buy enough food for a month and stay indoors? Or maybe when travelling take a blanket, snow shovel, flash of tea and some chocolate?

    Actually, I lie. I know what I'm gonna do... Bring the bike (motor variety) out again. Still no idea where I stand on "Olympic lanes"... If I pass someone by nipping into the "Olympic lane", will I get a fine? I can use bus lanes with the taxis after all... Except taxis can't use the Olympic lanes... Oh gawd... This has been well thought out hasn't it.

    I think I'd just get a tent, find a hill with a view, and sit back and just watch the slow motion train wreck from my safe vantage point.

    1. Patrick Moody

      Re: Or...

      There will be heavy fines for motorcyclists, cyclists, pedestrians, horses, cats, dogs, mice, rats, flies or anything else spotted on the stolen tarmac (Olympic Lanes). You'll need to be extra careful you don't have a wheel stray over the line while you're filtering along past all the other motorists stuck in the inevitable gridlock. The rules on bus lanes are a different issue. Even there it's inconsistent. Motorbikes are allowed on red route bus lanes (managed by TFL) but it's up to the local borough councils whether or not you're allowed in on the bus lanes in their patches.

      Assuming you manage to get where you're going without being fined into bankruptcy, do you think you'll still be able to find somewhere to park?

      As a fellow biker, this stuff irritates me too.

      1. Patrick Moody

        Re: Or...

        I should have said, none of that is gospel. It's just my understanding of the situation.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Or...

        Ahh, "Filtering" spoken like a true biker.

        Or as everyone who doesn't have a motorbike knows it: "Dangerously erratic weaving through the traffic."

        Yes, I do cycle and drive in London, I see this behavior a lot and it's dangerous.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Or...

          At least motorcycles don't go crying about everyone else being dangerous after running through a red light and getting squashed. Unlike pedal pushers, they stop at red lights and would get a fine and points if they didn't.

          The filtering I referred to is getting yourself up to the front of a line of stationary traffic so when the lights change you just zoom away clear of everyone.

          I believe the "filtering" you refer to would be the couriers mobile chicane technique. That scares the crap outta me too!

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Or...

            Actually, the rules of the road are pretty clear. Whether you are on a motorbike or a bicycle you are supposed to leave sufficient space around you as if you are a car. Motorcyclists and bicyclists who dangerously ride drive me up the wall. "Filtering" past traffic is a serious danger to vehicles going in either direction, and also an even more serious danger to pedestrians.

            Personally, I've covered well in excess of 20 thousand miles on my bicycle (ignoring daily commute type riding, and just looking at long distance rides). Throughout my time on my bike, to the best of my knowledge, I have never intentionally broken traffic rules. I queue in traffic unless there is an explicit bike lane, I wait at red lights, I don't go the wrong way down a 1-way street, etc. In fact my desire to do things correctly is the reason I no longer cycle, since a few years ago I had to move to New York, and that is the least bicycle (or car or any other form of transport) friendly city I've ever come across.

            1. McToo
              Facepalm

              @AC 12:50

              "Filtering".... see Highway code rule 88... it answers all your questions.

  12. xyz Silver badge
    Devil

    I still don't get this...

    ....you can watch it under your own licence if you run off the battery, but the electricity purchaser must have one if you run off the mains. So, if you're on a train watching it with your phone and that's plugged into the train's current, does the rail company have to pay for a licence or what? This has got sod all to do with employers and employees, battery and mains and everything to do with blagging a few more quid using "home made" rules.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: I still don't get this...

      I think it's more to do with the fact that it's a hang-over from the radio license days and they haven't thought of a good enough way of re-writing the rules clearly yet,

  13. JeeBee
    FAIL

    You'd be unlucky to get caught...

    Like they'll ever find out if you put the Olympics (BBC streams) on the 50" office plasma. I pay for the TV license at home and for most of the week I'm not even home to take advantage of it, so let me watch the damned Olympics at work without threatening employers.

    Does Eurosport have a web stream?

    Oh, wait, I don't care about the Olympics.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Do you need a licence to watch the streams from the Olympics website rather than from the BBC?

  15. This post has been deleted by its author

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Or get a job with a broadcast/distribution company

    And work in the operations centre with all 14 channels on the video wall at the same time. No sound but you get all the action. Until someone says BabyTV is down and they switch the screen with the 100m final til it's fixed.

  17. SMabille
    Thumb Down

    TiVo / Sky Pause?

    So if the company got a Skybox or a TiVo and pause the signal for 5 seconds, it's technically not live any more and then completely legal?

    Such a shame I can't just fast forward a few weeks, get over it and back to normal life without Boris scenic road buses, G4S "management" fees, brand police and just have to pay for it for the next 20 years.....

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: TiVo / Sky Pause?

      You might not be watching it live, but you are still receiving it live. See the rules on video recording.

      1. Nish
        Stop

        Re: TiVo / Sky Pause?

        There goes my offices viewing. Drat.

    2. Reue

      Re: TiVo / Sky Pause?

      The law specifically states "Live or near-live". A 5 second delay would almost certainly be considered as near-live.

  18. TRT Silver badge

    But what about...

    all them foreigners what come over here? Even with a battery powered device, they won't be covered because they don't have a home license, and a hotel license doesn't cover portables. I've tried asking the licensing authorities about it, but they won't give me a clear reply; they just keep saying "Oh, your iPad will be covered on your home license", and I say, "But what if I'm a foreigner without a home license?" and they say exactly the same thing again. Pointless.

  19. Johnny Canuck

    Do you still have to pay the tax if you watch some other country's feed over the internet - not the BBC's?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Going by LOCOG's usual response, that's probably illegal because you're not using the official broadcaster.

      According to Lord Coe, you'll only "probably" be ok to wear Nike trainers, "probably won't" be ok to wear a Pepsi T-shirt.

      Presumbaly that means you'll be spending the rest of the 'lympics in chokey if you happen to open a can of generic fizzy drink while watching it on TV.

      - The best bit was that LOCOG "were not asked" to put in the ORN, so that means they deliberately chose to trash London.

  20. Rabbit80

    Erm...

    What if I have my laptop connected to a large monitor? Obviously the monitor will be plugged in, but the laptop which is receiving the broadcast will be running off batteries. This way, I could turn the screen off on the laptop and make the battery last longer.

    1. jonathanb Silver badge

      Re: Erm...

      The monitor is receiving a TV signal from the laptop, so go directly to jail.

  21. Purlieu

    Re: Anyone notice how most of the comments on El Reg

    These days we are allowed things called "breaks"

  22. Purlieu

    The Zil lanes

    will be full of diplomatically immune "digintaries" and those "special people" who have no legal plates/tax/insurance/etc so you have no chance of getting into one by accident anyway

  23. Senior Ugli
    Unhappy

    what about if you are watching the olympics and are drinking a pepsi?

    Sky drones are monitoring your every movement.

    gotta keep the sponsors happy

  24. Rabbit80

    What exactly is the difference between using batteries I charged using my works electricity and using that same electricity directly from the mains? Aren't we supposed to be becoming greener? Charging the battery is at best only going to give around 90% efficiency so 10% power wastage for no justifiable reason.

    1. Reue

      The law is the difference.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    is it portable if connected to a LAN cable?

    there I said it

    1. Reue

      Re: is it portable if connected to a LAN cable?

      IIRC the law makes no mention of portability, only that the device be poweres solely by its own internal battery.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    VPN

    Virtually Pay Nothing

  27. Pete the not so great
    Go

    Aren't laptops battery powered, regardless of being plugged in to the mains

    It's just keeping the battery topped up.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Aren't laptops battery powered, regardless of being plugged in to the mains

      No, if you remove the battery it will still work when you plug it into the mains, so it must be going directly from the mains to the laptop and not via the battery or it would not get there...... or somefing like that.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh, and there was me thinking

    That companies who don't provide a recreation room with a telly are the exception, not the rule.

  29. Jim Carter

    In the words of me, my family and friends...

    Bugger the Olympics. It was bad enough with the country going nuts for the Jubilee. This is even more tiresome.

  30. itzman
    Childcatcher

    The best feature about going to work..

    ..is to escape having to watch the Olympics, surely?

  31. jason 7
    Facepalm

    Instead of worrying about the legal issues...

    ..why not just do some work like you are bloody paid to do?

    I was amazed listening to the radio in the car the other day some person was babbling on R4 about how employers might cope with allowing staff time off to see the Olympics.

    I thought that was already dealt with by actual annual holiday entitlement and minimum staffing levels.

    Essentially -

    "Sorry Bob but Dan and Julie already have those two weeks booked off, they got their request in early, so you can have the next two weeks, no problem. Sorry chap!"

    Quite why it needs a whole new special holiday strategy I don't know.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The world is not enough

    So a typical office has 30 people, every single one of whom has their own TV licence, and they are not watching at home.

    And the government wants to screw yet another licence out of them, because owning 30 isn't enough.

  33. The Mighty Spang

    i'd be looking for new employees

    if their idea of excitement is two weeks of people running round in circles, jumping a bit, throwing stuff, synchronized drowning avoidance etc they are hardly the type of people i'd like to have for company.

  34. Richard Cartledge

    You can only get fined for this if you agree to it by signing their papers entering into joinder with Capita PLC.

  35. Version 1.0 Silver badge
    Happy

    I assume the BBC has a license then?

    'cos otherwise they wouldn't be able to watch at work then eh?

    So what's "TV" in UK-land? A television receiver I can understand, but you're making it sound like watching a video stream is "TV" ? But only if it's "live"? So run it through a proxy with a slight delay and you're OK?

    Frankly with rules like that I wonder why you guys don't go on the rampage more than us yanks...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I assume the BBC has a license then?

      That's an interesting point. My understanding is any UK broadcast TV signal that is also available as a live stream you must have a UK TV license to watch. That does not apply to live broadcast TV from other countries (I don't think).

      Another poster mentioned the recording rules - so by running it thorugh a proxy, you're essentially going from live to recording and playback in which case you then face a whole other load of copyright issues.

      But I agree, our TV license scheme is archaic. Currently a resident at an address being licensed (essentially a property is licensed) - and that is what I think this stupid battery powered non-sense comes from - if it's running on batteries and "lives" at home, then it's a home device and covered by the home license, if it's plugged into the work mains, it's being used "at work" and work must have a license.

      Personally I think they should lower the fee and do it on an individual basis. That way those who want live TV can watch it anywhere and aren't paying for those like me who haven't got the slightest interest - and we're not paying for something we don't want either.

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Unnecessary

    Among the limited number of activities I can think of that make working positively attractive by comparison, the Olympics ranks pretty high. Bosses might even pay for a TV license so they can encourage their minions to watch the synchronised elephant polo or the football. It could result in an unprecedented burst of productivity.

  37. Nuke
    Mushroom

    TV Licensing RSoles

    Those guys need shooting.

    I moved out of a house leaving it empty for 8 months, but calling weekly to collect mail. A week after I moved out the TV licence there expired.

    Over that 8 months there were 20-30 threatening letters from them about renewing my license. I did not respond, as I did not see why I should have to pay for a stamp or phone call to humour their paranoia.

    I saw their position as that of a shopkeeper with a display on the pavement. Easy to steal from maybe, and even though I don't, the grocer comes running after me demanding that I prove that I did not steal anything.

    F#'k off! grocer/TVlicensing. If you think you have a case against me, pursue it through legal channels, then I will get costs from you afterwards.

    Funny thing is, their letters went in a cycle, getting increasingly hysterical and threatening for about 4-6 weeks, then silence for two weeks, then starting over again. Kept threatening to visit, but I don't think they ever did as surely they would have put some kind of note through the door, if only to show their threats were not entirely empty?

    If only they had enclosed a pre-paid envelope (at much less cost than their posts to me) I would have replied. They said I could use their web site, and I tried it. It was lousy and after about 15 minutes of following dead-end links, I got to a page that said if the house became unoccupied then I should phone them anyway.

    1. Richard 126

      Re: TV Licensing RSoles

      They have been doing this to me for 8 years now. They demand I take prompt action. I promptly put their letter in the bin. They have only visited once, I opened the door wearing nothing but a condom and told him that he had just pulled me out of my girlfriend and that it had better be important. The look on his face was priceless. No inspector has ever been back but they continue with the hysterical and threatening letters. As I have no TV I see no point in wasting my time with this crap.

      1. Rabbit80

        Re: TV Licensing RSoles

        Nice story.

        Someone I know who doesn't have a TV and lives on a farm once had a TV inspector turn up. He had to walk over 1/2 mile along a very muddy farm track in the pouring rain to discover this guy had no TV. The inspector had the gall to ask for a lift back to his car - he was told to get f**ked!

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Buffering, please bend the rules while waiting...

    Umm the iPlayer live streams are buffered... technically, that's not live*, but a replay of when the buffering started.

    * Make sure you have plenty of scafolding before using this excuse in court.

    1. Rabbit80

      Re: Buffering, please bend the rules while waiting...

      The law covers nearly live, so pausing for a few seconds or buffering is not excusable.

  39. Stifler

    no telly license needed in USA, etc

    Yeah, I remember that license BS when I lived in the UK. Don't miss all those UK taxes.

  40. Jeffrey Nonken
    Coat

    Probably already been mentioned, but...

    ...long extension cord for your car charger. Less convenient than the aforementioned UPS but probably cheaper. :)

    The US is SO much better. All we have to do is wade through 55 minutes of commercials for an hour show, and those 5 minutes of actual programming are free! Go us.

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