To TV license or not to TV license

samo

my brother in law genuinley didnt have a TV the last 2 years after previously having one and got untold knocks on the door and letters from the tv licensing people and was advised that they can be liable for harrassment if they continue to inundate you with queries re the license.

He 'says' he got a solicitors letter stating the above and didnt hear from them again (having said that he's a bit of a spoofer!) so there you go, you could turn the tables round!

elivsvonchiaing

Hagar wrote:

Is there a provisional TV Licence? Is the test very hard? I saw a test card once but I'm not sure what it was about.
I was thinking of taking up TV watching. Maybe just start off with something small say a 14" portable ( low insurance I hope). I already have a baseball cap with "Sony" on the front so as I get more confident I might try a Sony flat screen They look quite good. Any advice on modding etc?

Yup there is! You just need to know when not to answer the door, the quickest route to your nearest post-office, and are prepared to pay the losers fee bottom 2%-25% (dunno)? Technically the fine

Okay so not strictly a licence - but provisional is valid here!

Sony good choice! You can find lots of websites to disable VHF on your set and make it look like a UK model. If think this will help though you should discard your provisional and get the full licence. Unlike the driving test you can "bribe" yer one in the post office - get the full licence - in the full knowledge with what you found on the internet you are most likely to crash your TV

logic1

Apparently even if you don't have a TV they can hit you for a radio license,which is covered by the TV licence!
Was told one time if you get onto An Post,tell em you lost your licence,give your parents address and have the new licence sent there,there is no charge for the licence as parents presumably have one already?You just show this new licence to the inspector saying you just moved in and were at the address shown on the licence.
Does any of that make sense?

tuco

quick question on the whole 'apparatus' issue. Any pc with a fast connection can receive and show a large number of internet tv channels - some full time broadcasts, others just highlights, but tv either way. Does this mean that technically anyone connected to the internet now needs a licence?

Bogger77

It's related to the ability to recieve radio signals containing TV, so that's Sat tuners, TV's, Digi Boxes, Video players, Tv tuners for PC's. Basicaly, you have a device capable of reception of tv signals, you should have a licence.
A device which is manufactured without the ability to recieve transmissions is expempt, a tunerless TV, a pc without a tv tuner etc.

There is no Radio only license, and from what I remember, it's only the UK that ever had one in recent history. Your walkman doesn't need a license but your mini 1.5inch casio tv does. There was talk of a "tax" on radio products, but that was dropped.

GreeBo

samo wrote:

Had my head wrecked about this as have about 3 TV's and wanted me to spend €456 on 3 licenses!

You only need for licence for each household.

Mocking Burd

I suspect the TV licence people have some sort of deal going on with estate agents. I bought my house at end of August and the day before I moved in I got a card through my door saying they had called.

Maybe it was genuine coincidence (but I don't believe it was ) but I have to say I was a bit peeved. Not only was the telly out of sight, cable hadn't even been connected and because I had brought the tv home from England it couldn't even pick up RTE - just a very bad version of TV3. So I ended up having the licence before I even had any way of watching channels.

Victor

Mocking Burd wrote:

I suspect the TV licence people have some sort of deal going on with estate agents. I bought my house at end of August and the day before I moved in I got a card through my door saying they had called.

It's possible the previous owner had the address on their licence changed or asked for permanent mail diversion.

The Brigadier

Estate Agents will advise all utilitys etc that you have moved in and take meter readings etc...

elivsvonchiaing

Mocking Burd wrote:

I suspect the TV licence people have some sort of deal going on with estate agents. I bought my house at end of August and the day before I moved in I got a card through my door saying they had called.

Maybe it was genuine coincidence (but I don't believe it was ) but I have to say I was a bit peeved. Not only was the telly out of sight, cable hadn't even been connected and because I had brought the tv home from England it couldn't even pick up RTE - just a very bad version of TV3. So I ended up having the licence before I even had any way of watching channels.

Most likely explanation imho - the previous occupant was on final warning...

Bought a gizmo from Peats for £80 Irish - to deal with this - still had ropey reception. Later bought a VCR for €70 which meant I had a "legit" VHF tuner and the quality was far better (bypassing the converter gizmo).

shoegirl

Eye wrote:

can you buy a tv that cannot pickup reception? lol

Technically its the set that is licensed, not your aerial, and it isn't even anything to do with if you can actually receive terrestrial signals. (I can't as I live on the Ballinacurra side of Midleton and the reception is too poor to watch).

Technically if your monitor had the appropriate tuning mechanism it would be liable to a license under the law, but its unlikely that An Post would at present be sophisticated enough to identify it as a TV device.

Of course there is something happening which will make it harder to evade the license: there is a plan to allow the license collector access to cable and satellite subscriber list.

Of course I'm always bemused at the people who think 150 is an outrageous price for a tv license and then pay anything from 25 euro to 62 per month for cable/satellite tv. How hypocritical can you get. Basically crap as RTEs service is, its better than nothing at all. Shame though that RTE is decades behind the UK in terms of DAB radio and digital TV and so much of evening broadcasting is 2nd rate American crap. Having lived in the UK their terrestrial broadcating is vastly superior in content and production. I am particularly sick of bad reality tv starring "celebrities" I've never heard of.

An Post has apparently expressed interest in no longer being the collector for TV licenses as it costs them more than they get for it. Of course if some private company pick up the bill it will probably end up like clamping - it will become much more agressive in its means and ends.

My only caveat with the license is that it is slightly regressive in that a wealthy household of maybe 3 or 4 with a household income of maybe 70k a year or more pays the same as a welfare recipient or single parent. 150 quid is more than a weeks benefit for a single person on disability or the dole. And apparently they are overrepresented in court summonses (though I would guess this is also partly because they are more likely to be at home when the inspector calls).

shoegirl

Bogger77 wrote:

UK is very similar laws, in fact, last time I was in B'ham and tried to buy a pc tv tuner they refused to sell it to me without me giving an address and a postcode. I gave them my sis's details,and they even sent a letter to me at that address wondering where my license was!

Actually there is something in the law requiring this. I noticed it whilst working in IT support for the POS systems in Sainsburys. There was a field in the database for "requires a TV license". It wasn't switched on though. I suppose it makes it easier for those who collect it, saves them having to make a personal call.

blorg

As others have said, you don't have to let them in and can just say to them "I don't have a TV". They won't push it any further than that, (e.g. they won't even _ask_ to be let in to have a look) but in some cases may want you to sign something confirming your lack of a TV (you don't have to do this.) I have not heard of them getting search warrants; I think there would be a bit of an outcry if they did. You should be able to get away with not paying the licence indefinitely if you don't want to pay it - just deny you have a TV.

In any case, they will *never* fine you immediately, after a 'knock on the door', they will always give you a more than reasonable chance to get the licence. If they knock on the door and you admit to having a TV, it would probably be advisable to get a licence at that point (or get rid of the TV :-)

SteM

I'm in the middle of moving from one apartment to another at the moment. Last night when I was up in the old place tidying up a bit there was a licence inspector buzzing each apartment one by one, asking for the occupant's name etc. When he rang mine I didn't answer, I do have a licence but it's buried in a box somewhere and I'll have to get the address changed on it anyway. From what I could hear him say he seemed to be getting a bit shirty with people over the intercoms.

jesus_thats_gre

shoegirl wrote:

Of course I'm always bemused at the people who think 150 is an outrageous price for a tv license and then pay anything from 25 euro to 62 per month for cable/satellite tv. How hypocritical can you get. Basically crap as RTEs service is, its better than nothing at all.

You seriously cannot appreciate the difference between 200 channels for 30 odd euro a month compared to 150 euro a year for 3....

Eurorunner

Surely if you have a pc sat card thats not capable of picking up tv3/rte1/net2/tng (and this is not possible without a sky sub) , then you shouldnt have to pay a tax on something your not getting!

The above, with the assumption that theres no TV in the house...

the_syco

The owner of the house must have a TV license, me thinks. Do u own it?

Victor

the_syco wrote:

The owner of the house must have a TV license, me thinks. Do u own it?

No, it's the (or any) occupier, not the owner.

Bogger77

Eurorunner wrote:

Surely if you have a pc sat card thats not capable of picking up tv3/rte1/net2/tng (and this is not possible without a sky sub) , then you shouldnt have to pay a tax on something your not getting!

The above, with the assumption that theres no TV in the house...

if you have a pc sat card that's capable of picking up any signals, be they broadcast from ireland (via the sat) or orginating in germany, then you are required legally to have a license.

Eurorunner

Ok, so it seems that legally, I would be screwed.

However, will inspectors ask about this sort of thing if you tell them you dont have a TV??

Have there been any examples of people being prosecuted for non-payment under these circumstances?

Victor

Eurorunner wrote:

However, will inspectors ask about this sort of thing if you tell them you dont have a TV??

The blue flicker through your window at night might be a give away.

jimmycrackcorm

Bogger77 wrote:

if you have a pc sat card that's capable of picking up any signals, be they broadcast from ireland (via the sat) or orginating in germany, then you are required legally to have a license.

from: http://www.oasis.gov.ie/public_utilities/telecommunications/tv_licences.html

Every household, business or institution in Ireland with a television or equipment capable of receiving a television signal (i.e., an aerial, satellite dish, etc.,) must have a television licence

Capt'n Midnight

Mocking Burd wrote:

I suspect the TV licence people have some sort of deal going on with estate agents. I bought my house at end of August and the day before I moved in I got a card through my door saying they had called

An Post do the licences, and if you have ever had mail sent to that address chances are your name is on thier database. So if living in rented accomodation you could try getting mail delivered elsewhere eg: work - but that brings it's own set of problems..

compared to the UK we have cheaper licences
and as for 300 channels on SKY - I count discovery as a single channel since there is so little new on it. unless you are a sports nut or like wall to wall music videos there is at most twice or three times as many interesting programs on sky as on terresterial TV.