TV Licence, does it cover radio?

irishtwincam

Hi,

Im living in rented accomodation and am having trouble organising the hefty tax (aka licence fee) from my housemates. Some insist they DONT watch TV (arguable at the least), but all have wireless radios.

Can someone point me to a legal document online (wireless telegraphy act?) that states the licence covers radios?

It would save me a hell of a lot of arguments.

Thanks in advance,
Irishtwincam

Mossy Monk

move the tv to your bedroom and tell them to piss off

Macy

Mossy Monk wrote:

move the tv to your bedroom and tell them to piss off

Or pin protect all the channels if your TV allows. Leave it sat there when you're not there....

Elmo

Can someone point me to a legal document online (wireless telegraphy act?) that states the licence covers radios?

If you have a radio you don't need a licence, even though RTE fund their radio stations with the Licence fee.

watty

Radio licences used to be rquired and were abolished in 60s in UK and Ireland. A TV licence in Ireland and UK are not quite the same:

IRL:
Any apparatus capable of use to receive TV broadcasts (On Cable, Satellite, MMDS or aerial) must have a licence.

Holiday homes require their own licence. A whole household needs only one licence for any number of sets. Bedsits in a house with their own cooking need their own separate licence.

Hotels / Guesthouses etc need a different licence.


UK:
Roughly as IRL, but if you can prove that you can't receive or never receive UK originated broadcasts then you don't have to pay the licence (i.e. You only watch Arab channels on a 2m dish pointed at Arabsat, or you live in isolated Scotish valley with no TV reception and no Sky28.2 reception).


Ultimately if you have a TV and want to watch it you need to buy the licence. I do feel the other lads might have chipped in, but there is no onus on them to do so, and perhaps they don't watch TV.

irishtwincam

They watch TV but decided they MIGHT be movin out and therefore dont want to pay for it. Land lady is what you would defo call a CNUT so workin somethin out there is a definite nono.
Dont even have cable in the house because suddenly no one wants to share the bill, after unanimously agreeing to share the week before.

Hypothetically:
If I was dumb enough to give my real name to the inspector, how do I go about telling them that Im pi$$ing off to another county to live and am not going to be responsible for the Tv licence?

I feel like an ad for the Samaritans because of this hassle


ps Sorry for the double post in the other forum.

Elmo

Some insist they DONT watch TV (arguable at the least), but all have wireless radios.

Do you have cable and do they share the cost?

Mike 1972

Watty is basically right about the differences between the UK and Irish licence but theres more

With a UK licence if you have a second home you dont need a licence for it PROVIDED noone is watching TV in both places at the same time

Also If you move house you can take your licence with you

If you leave the country/decide you can live without TV/move back to your parents you get a refund on the unused months on your licence

You can pay monthly by direct debit.

I emailed TV licencing onetime to enquire if I needed a licence to watch non-UK satellite channels and they confirmed I didnt so I then asked If I needed a licence to watch non-UK TERRESTRIAL channels (e.g. RTE, TV3 TG4) and strangely they didnt reply !

In the Republic if you have a TV in your CAR youre supposed to have a second licence for it. The legal status of having a TV outdoors (those little handheld TV's) is unclear in fact as the law in Ireland is based on possesion Its unclear if youre even allowed to transport a TV that youve just bought home in your car.

Interestingly the law in Ireland exempting radio only covers "apparatus designed SOLELY for recieving sound (but not visual images) from a broadcasting station" which suggests that its illegal to posses apparatus also designed to do other things like play CD's! And does an RDS display count as a "visual image" ?

Meanwhile in Northern Ireland the Emergency powers act outlaws possesion of a "scanning reciever" but the law is so badly worded that it technically outlaws any radio or TV set with seek tuning (standard on virtually all TV sets and most digitally tuned radios sold nowadays).

Elmo

(those little handheld TV's)

I thought the licence had to do with screen size???

i.e. Hand helds are excempt.

Mike 1972

Unless theres been a recent change in the law no.

Heres more licencing anomolies

In the UK if you have a black and white TV and a video youre supposed to have a colour licence.

In Ireland you now have to have a colour licence if you have a B&W TV because the post office dont sell monochrome licences anymore

Oh and Watty the Irish radio licence wasnt abolished until 1972

BrianD

Who actually owns the TV set itself? Is it yours or did it come with the house? I had this lark in a former household. Every now and then I found that the non-tv watching members would suddenly lapse into watching TV. Tell them its a part of the household deal and pay up.

Elmo

Who actually owns the TV set itself? Is it yours or did it come with the house?

I don't think it matters who owns the house, unless the landlord lives in the house and even then the landlord will ask you to pay part of the TV licence and cable/sat costs.

The landlord is not responsible for the payment of the TV licence, that is the responsiblity of the tenants.

Zapho

Elmo wrote:

The landlord is not responsible for the payment of the TV licence, that is the responsiblity of the tenants.

Very true, its got nothing to do with the landlord, I had a similar problem recently. It also doesn't matter if the landlord owns the TV or not, but sometimes, if the landlord is sound enough to supply the tv, they'll most likely pay the licence too.

Capt'n Midnight

watty wrote:

IRL:
Any apparatus capable of use to receive TV broadcasts (On Cable, Satellite, MMDS or aerial) must have a licence.

Simple, you rig up a self destruct switch on the TV so when the license inspector calls, you press the big red button marked DO NOT PRESS and all the electronics get fried. ( While you could break the tube this has extrememly toxic phosphors in it and there is the risk of flying glass and the noise is a dead giveaway. )

Actually a licence would probably be cheaper and safer ...

About the only way to avoid it legally is to make it an issue for the next election.