As sure as night follows day, TV Licensing fills the September newspapers with articles targeting students at the start of the university year.
We've written a fair bit on this previously (see here and here for deeper reading), but given TV Licensing's recent media offensive it's worth publishing this brief reminder for anyone heading to university for the first time.
A TV licence is required for any property where equipment is installed or used to receive TV programmes at the same time (or virtually the same time) as they are broadcast to the wider public. Additionally, from the 1st September 2016, a TV licence is required for any property where equipment is used to watch or download BBC on-demand programmes via the iPlayer.
However, a student is covered by the TV licence of their non-term time address if they only ever watch using an unplugged device powered by its own internal battery (e.g. an unplugged laptop or tablet connected wirelessly to the web). If they only ever watch programmes on unplugged devices then they do not need to purchase their own TV licence. We suggest that most students could adjust towards this form of viewing.
A student would require their own TV licence if they decided to install (e.g. plug in to the mains or an external aerial) a device to receive TV programmes (or BBC on-demand programmes) in their own rented room.
Students are reminded of the following facts when dealing with TV Licensing:
- Anyone who does not legally require a TV licence is under no obligation to communicate or co-operate with TV Licensing. They do not need to prove their non-TV status to TV Licensing, despite TV Licensing's regular pretence to the contrary.
- Under normal circumstances TV Licensing goons have no special legal rights to enter any property, but they will often seek the occupier's permission to enter. Unless TV Licensing has a warrant, which it almost certainly won't (a lot more in this post), then the occupier should refuse entry. TV Licensing goons cannot be trusted.
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