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Television licensing in the United Kingdom

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In the United Kingdom and the Crown dependencies, a television licence is required to receive any publicly broadcast television service, from any source. This includes the commercial channels, and cable and satellite transmissions. The money from the licence fee is used to provide radio, television and Internet content for the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Welsh-language television programmes for S4C.

Operation of the licensing system

The licence fee is set annually by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport by the use of Statutory Instruments.

The BBC is authorised by the Communications Act 2003 to collect the licence fees. The monies received are first paid into the Government's Consolidated Fund. They are subsequently including in the 'vote' for the Department of Culture Media and Sport in that year's Appropriation Act, and passed on to the BBC for the running of the BBC's own services (free from commercial advertisments), and for the BBC to produce programming for S4C.

The licence fee is classified as a tax, and non-payment is an offence under criminal law. Since 1990, the collection and enforcement of the licence fee in the UK has been the responsibility of TV Licensing (an autonomous arm of the BBC). Much of this work is contracted to Capita which specialises in outsourcing for government projects.

The licence fee can be paid annually, monthly or quarterly by Direct Debit, or monthly or weekly with the Monthly Cash Plan or Cash Easy Entry cards, which were introduced in the mid-1990s for those with limited means or no bank account. The Monthly Cash Plan works on the same basis as the Cash Easy Entry scheme and has been designed so as not to discriminate against those that don't receive benefits.

In the UK, the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Isle of Man, free television licences are available for households with a member aged over 75. These are funded by the Department of Work and Pensions in the UK, and in the Crown dependencies by the respective governments. The States of Jersey did not opt to extend this concession to their island.[1]

On the Isle of Man, pensioners under 75 who receive income support are also eligible for free licences. The funding is provided by the Manx Department of Health and Social Security.

Licences are available at a 50% reduced rate for the blind.

Those aged over 60 and in a residential care home (including nursing homes, public-sector sheltered housing and almshouses) can obtain an Accommodation for Residential Care (ARC) licence for £7.50 per year.

History

Main article: Television licensing in the United Kingdom (historical)

When first introduced on 1 June 1946, the licence covering the monochrome-only single-channel BBC television service cost £2, the equivalent of £57 in 2006. On 1 January 1968, a 'colour supplement' of £5 was added to the existing £5 monochrome licence fee; the combined colour licence fee was therefore £10, the equivalent of £120 in 2006. The current cost is £135.50 (as of 2007 – about €200 or US$270) for colour TV and £45.50 for monochrome TV, per household.

A similar licence, mandated by the 1904 Wireless Telegraphy Act, used to exist for radios, but was abolished in 1971. These licences were originally issued by the General Post Office (GPO), which was then the regulator of public communications within the UK. For a more detailed historical explanation see British Broadcasting Company.

Licence fee expenditure

The BBC[2] gives the following figures for expenditure of licence fee income:

  • 50% - BBC One and BBC Two
  • 15% - local TV and radio
  • 12% - network radio
  • 10% - digital (BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC News 24, BBC Parliament, CBBC, CBeebies)
  • 10% - transmission costs and licence fee collection
  • 3% - BBC Online, Ceefax, and Interactive Content (including bbc.co.uk and BBCi)

The BBC World Service on radio is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and not the licence fee.

BBC World and the BBC's other international television channels are operated commercially and do not receive licence fee money. As they include advertisements, they cannot be promoted in the UK.

Public opinion

The television licence is often the subject of controversy. The licence fee comes under particular criticism from The Times[3] and The Sun newspapers, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation which also has a large share of British Sky Broadcasting, one of the BBC's main commercial rivals. The TalkSPORT radio broadcasters James Whale, George Galloway, Charlie Wolf, and Mike Dickin are also famous opponents of the TV licence. TalkSPORT often has to compete with BBC Radio Five Live for rights to broadcast sporting events.

In 2005, the government conducted extensive research into public opinion of the licensing system.[4] Criticisms concerning the TV licence include cost, value for money, whether or not the BBC should be publicly funded, and licence collection methods.

Supporters of the licence fee claim that it helps maintain a higher quality of programming on the BBC compared to its commercial rivals, and allows the production of programmes that would otherwise not be commercially viable. Some claim that it also leads to better programmes (and a reduced quantity and frequency of advertisements) on the commercial channels, as they seek to draw viewers/listeners away from the BBC's output. Also, in general, the commercial television companies favour the licence fee, since it means the BBC will not compete with them for advertising or subscriptions.[citation needed]

Some critics claim that the licensing system interferes with the freedom to receive information, and contend that this is a contravention of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to Freedom of Expression). It should however be noted that the Convention allows for qualifications and restrictions on the Freedom of Expression, and many European countries have licence systems that are very similar to the UK's.[citation needed]

The licence fee has been criticised for being a regressive tax, in that the very poorest are those least likely to have a licence, and least able to pay the fine for not having a licence.[5] With compulsory payments the poorest in society are sometimes given help to pay, this is not the case with the UK licence fee. Indeed many other countries implementing TV licencing systems do have discounts for the poorest members of society.

Some regard it unfair that licences are issued to households, so that a single-person household has to pay the same amount as a multi-person household. In contrast, single-person households get a 25% discount on their council tax. The defenders of the current system suggest it could be complicated to implement such a system for the TV licence, as the number of members in a household can vary often.[citation needed]

Some regard it an anomaly that a person can be forced to pay the licence fee while not using the services it pays for. However, the licence is for using a television receiver, regardless of which channels are watched, and the defenders of the licence fee argue that car taxes and other road charges, like the London congestion charge, are similarly used to fund public transport, although the payers of the taxes and charges may not use public transport.[citation needed]


Some also regard it as an anomaly that a person who owns a radio and no TV set can listen to BBC radio programmes (funded by the licence fee) without having to own a licence. Prior to 1971, there was a separate radio licence but with the proliferation of minaturised transistor radios and the very small number of households with no TV it was decided that such a licence was uneconomic and impractical to collect (although some other countries continued to do so).[citation needed]

Some critics regard it an ethical issue that blind people have to pay 50% of the TV licence, a higher amount than for the black-and-white licence, while supporters argue that this is a very fair rebate for those blind people who actually have a TV and thus obviously make use of it, especially as the BBC now is spending substantial amount of money to provide this small group of people with audio description.

Some critics point out that viewers in much of the Republic of Ireland, Northern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands also pick up terrestrial signals of the BBC, but do not pay a licence fee to watch BBC programmes. The counter-argument from the defenders of the system is that the same is true in reverse of viewers in most of Northern Ireland and parts of Wales, and also of viewers in the Channel Islands, who can watch Irish and French TV respectively without paying those countries' TV licence fees, and nowadays national broadcasters from many countries are on satellite.[citation needed]

More recently the rise of multi-channel digital television has led to criticisms that the licence fee is unjustifiable on the basis both that minority interest programming can now be broadcast on specialist commercial channels and that the licence fee is currently funding a number of digital-only channels which many licence holders cannot access (for example BBC Three and BBC Four)[2]. This situation, however, is comparable to the introduction of the 625-line only BBC2 in 1964, which operators of existing 405-line television sets were unable to receive without upgrading to a 625-line or dual-standard set.

Finally, the rise of other mediums for broadcasting television programmes, such as mobile phones or the Internet, has led to questions over whether a licence fee based on television ownership can continue to be justified when televisions are no longer the sole means for the BBC to distribute its content.[3]

In the Charter Renewal debate in 2004, a poll by the BBC's current affairs programme Panorama showed that 31% were in favour of the existing licence fee system, 36% said the BBC should be paid for by a subscription, and 31% wanted advertising to pay for the programmes. (Source[6] ICM/Panorama.)

Despite all these criticisms, however, support for the licence fee remains generally strong.[citation needed] Successive parliamentary committees, most recently the Peacock committee and the Davies committee, have recommended continuing the licence fee (with conditions), while a 2001 Ofcom report found that the vast majority of those it interviewed, including owners of digital television equipment, supported the principle of a licence fee funded public service broadcasting. The advantages of such funding listed by those interviewed included diversity, high quality, education, innovation, entertainment, information, original productions, pluralism, accessibility, inclusion of minorities and free access.[4] Another reason cited is that the licence fee allows the BBC to retain independence from both commercial and political pressures.[5]

Terminology of devices requiring a licence

According to the definition of TV receiving apparatus, a licence must be obtained for any device which is "installed or used"[7] for receiving television programme services.[8] This covers:

  • televisions
  • VCRs
  • set-top boxes
  • PC tuner cards capable of receiving broadcasts (and similar devices).

Exclusions not requiring a TV licence are:

  • televisions installed and used solely for some other purpose e.g. a closed-circuit monitor
  • televisions used solely as a video/DVD player
  • televisions used solely as a games console monitor
  • televisions used solely as a PC monitor

It used to be the case that televisions receiving a broadcast from outside the UK (e.g. Satellite from USA) did not need a licence, but this has now been changed in the Communications Act (2003), so that the reception of television from *anywhere* requires a TV licence.

Playing a DVD or video recorded from a previous broadcast does not require a licence.[9] Pre-recorded video, such as commercial VHS tapes and DVDs do not constitute a broadcast,[10] however the law defines television service as a "programme .. received at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is received by members of the public by virtue of its being broadcast or distributed as part of that service".[8] Although, programmes recorded may contravene copyright laws.

It should be noted that if business or household does not require a TV licence as one of the above concessions applies, the TV licencing authority will still require written confirmation of this, even though this is not a legal requirement. Upon receipt, they will dispatch an enforcement officer to the premises to verify.

TV broadcasts over the internet are also a grey area, according to Ofcom,[11] which in future might make fees based on television ownership redundant. A Green Paper from the Department for Culture, Media and Sports included suggestions of "either a compulsory levy on all households or even on ownership of PCs as well as TVs".[12] TV Licensing have stated that any device (such as a mobile phone) receiving broadcasts at the same time as they appear on TV requires a licence.[13]

Only one licence is required per household, regardless of the number of licensed devices or the number of members of the household. However in shared accommodation licences may be required on a per-tenant basis, depending on the tenancy agreement.[14]

Portable units powered solely by batteries are exempt from requiring a separate television license, where the user already has a licence at their 'permanent' home address.[15] This rule is intended for those who live in mobile homes or who drive lorries, where the television being portable means it does not have a fixed address to license.

Rental properties with a multiple occupancy agreement

Rental properties that are in multiple occupacy sometimes require a separate licence for each part of the property that contains an occupant. Houses in multiple occupation include shared houses where each occupant has a single tenancy for a private bedroom and shared communal areas. Five tenants in a property with individual tenancy agreements may require up to six television licences if each private room contains a television receiver and a communal area also contains a television receiver. For a house containing five occupants under a joint tenancy agreement, only one television licence may be required for the property.[16]

Licence fee enforcement

Despite the prevalence of 'detector vans' in TV licensing advertising and literature, the main method of detecting evaders is by a database system known as 'LASSY', which contains a list of all addresses in the UK. Letters and agents from Capita, referred to as 'enforcement officers' or 'enquiry officers', are sent to any address that is listed in the database as not having a TV licence.

Capita agents have an automatic implied right of access to knock on your door (like any member of the public). You are not obliged to inform TV licensing or any of its agents as to whether you require a licence.[17] If an agent has reason to believe that a television receiver is being used to receive broadcasts without a licence, he may apply to a magistrate for a search warrant, although in order to obtain one, he must have "reasonable grounds", as per UK law. Simply suspecting that the occupier of the premises possesses an unlicensed TV is not reasonable grounds.

The law allows a fine of up to £1,000 be imposed on those successfully prosecuted. This figure is used in TV Licensing advertising campaigns to maximise the impact. In reality, the fine is usually slighty more than the cost of a licence. In 2001, the average fine including costs was £140.83.[18] However, in addition to the fine, the guilty party still has to purchase a licence at the usual cost.

Capita's approach of paying its officers commission for catching evaders has caused problems in recent years. In 2005, a TV licensing officer was found guilty of forging the confessions of four people to obtain commission payments.[19]

BBC figures[20] indicate that the evasion level in the UK is estimated at a record low of 4.7%.

Notes

The Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004[8] gives the following definition:

  • "television receiver" means any apparatus installed or used for the purpose of receiving (whether by means of wireless telegraphy or otherwise) any television programme service, whether or not it is installed or used for any other purpose.
  • any reference to receiving a television programme service includes a reference to receiving by any means any programme included in that service, where that programme is received at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is received by members of the public by virtue of its being broadcast or distributed as part of that service.

See also

References

  1. ^ TV Licensing. "Aged over 74 - What if I live in the Channel Islands or Isle of Man?". Retrieved 2006-06-18.
  2. ^ BBC News (2005-03-02). "BBC governors set to be scrapped". Retrieved 2006-06-18.
  3. ^ Raymond Snoddy (2004-02-17). "BBC 'anti-competitive'". The Times. Retrieved 2007-01-23.
  4. ^ Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (2005). "Review of the BBC's Royal Charter (Green Paper)" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-06-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Institute for Public Policy Research (2003-12-27). "BBC Review should consider licence fee concessions". Retrieved 2007-06-16. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  6. ^ BBC News (2004-03-06). "Majority 'want change to TV fee'". Retrieved 2006-06-18.
  7. ^ "Communication Act 2003, Section 363(1)". HMSO. Retrieved 2006-06-18.
  8. ^ a b c "The Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004, Regulation 9". HMSO. Retrieved 2006-06-18.
  9. ^ http://www.jifvik.org/tv/
  10. ^ http://www.taith.org.uk/tv/timeshift.htm
  11. ^ The Digital TV Group (2005-02-28). "BBC 'to lose in internet TV loophole'". Retrieved 2006-06-18.
  12. ^ The Times (2005-03-05). "Computer tax set to replace TV licence fee". Retrieved 2006-06-18.
  13. ^ BBC News (2006-02-13). "Fine warning over TV on mobiles". Retrieved 2006-06-18.
  14. ^ TV Licensing. "Students - Do I need my own licence if I live in shared accommodation?". Retrieved 2006-06-18.
  15. ^ http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_world/communications/television_licences.htm#students
  16. ^ http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/students.jsp#link4
  17. ^ Confirmed by Shaun Woodward (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Culture, Media and Sport) in response to a request for clarification from a constituent [1]
  18. ^ National Audit Office (2002-05-15). "The BBC: Collecting the television licence fee" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-06-18.
  19. ^ icWales (2005-24-09). "TV licence worker guilty of pay scam". {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ BBC (2005). "Delivering Public Value, Supporting Information" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-06-16. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
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