Before I say anything else, this web page is not here to advocate in any way that the law of this land be broken, it is purely here to bring attention to how a great many people that I have come across, are paying for a service that they never use and so are not obliged to pay for. Though, through a lack of readily available information, the general perception is that there is no option.

My attention was drawn to this when I first signed up to take an Open University course. A large part of the course material was video based and so required a television and video player.

The problem was, that I had neither of these and so had to go out to buy them. They are as cheap as chips second hand, which was more than adequate for my needs. However, I did not see the justice in having to pay a further £116 per year on top of my course fees to be able to study, especially as this was only to cover a service that I neither use nor wanted to use. The only option I could see at the time was to get a video player and monitor without the TV receiver. But, this meant using CCTV equipment or something similar which is a good deal more expensive than even a high specification television and video.

After asking a fair few people what they know about it, the answer always came back ‘If you have a television, you will need a license, I think’. So I wrote to TV Licensing in Bristol to get their side of the story. It took a long while to get the answer and they seemed a bit less that interested when I called by telephone. But eventually the answer came back.

I have put their answer on the next page in its entirety including their own reference number and contact details minus only the writers name for the sake of their privacy. So if you have a similar problem to me, you can write or call and get your own first hand confirmation of your situation. Just click on 'Next page'.

I hope this helps.

Have fun

Me