For me, ignoring the letters made them go away.
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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Friday 20th July 2012 09:02 GMT Steve Renouf
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!
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Friday 20th July 2012 09:10 GMT 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.
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Friday 20th July 2012 09:28 GMT 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.
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Friday 20th July 2012 09:50 GMT 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.
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Friday 20th July 2012 11:33 GMT 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!
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Friday 20th July 2012 12:50 GMT 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.
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Friday 20th July 2012 09:33 GMT xyz
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.
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Friday 20th July 2012 09:33 GMT JeeBee
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.
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Friday 20th July 2012 09:47 GMT SMabille
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.....
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Friday 20th July 2012 10:06 GMT TRT
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.
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Friday 20th July 2012 12:01 GMT 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.
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Friday 20th July 2012 11:00 GMT 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.
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Friday 20th July 2012 12:04 GMT 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.
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Friday 20th July 2012 12:47 GMT jason 7
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.
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Friday 20th July 2012 21:31 GMT Version 1.0
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...
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Sunday 22nd July 2012 13:52 GMT 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.
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Saturday 21st July 2012 11:04 GMT 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.
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Saturday 21st July 2012 12:34 GMT Nuke
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.
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Saturday 21st July 2012 21:47 GMT 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.
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Sunday 22nd July 2012 13:51 GMT 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!
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
