The distinction is historical; most TVs were plugged into the mains but there were battery-operated portable versions, often in caravans. They seem to have maintained that thought...

Roll on Big Brother/Stasi type rhetoric and how they will actually 'enforce' such a 'law' to 'police' 'illegal' use of the Iplayer service. Have we got a new 'Dangerous Dogs Act'?

I am not surprised you did not receive a timely reply. TV Licensing are as far as I am aware a private company paid by the BBC for revenue protection and prosecution; their main gambit is to scare people into purchasing a licence or should I say pay another Tax.

I have first hand experience of a TV Licensing Detector Van which was marked up and driven around targeted areas. The sole occupant was a driver and there was no usable technical equipment in the van.

About time the TV Licence was abolished in any case, I am unable to fathom why citizen's have to pay a tax to watch live broadcasts of any sort/or use Iplayer.

Should as the Tories have done and are doing to everything else...put profit first and thereby fully privatise the BBC and be done with it, given the BBC makes millions by flogging it's programming overseas anyhow conversely lower the disgraceful salaries paid to their 'stars' and top Execs and put some money into decent scripts/new pilots etc. The majority of programming offered is often dire in any case.

I've said this many times, and it may have changed in recent years, but...

The BBC collects the licence fee on behalf of the government. It does *not* collect it for itself. The BBC is funded by a government grant negotiated on a three-yearly basis which is negotiated *before* the licence fee is collected.

Historically, this is because parliament considers the BBC (and Channel 4) a public good and has decided to fund it in this manner; it is designed to ensure that the BBC cannot be influenced unduly by a party in political power in the short term, nor by advertisers.

Each and every one of us has the choice not to use broadcast TV, but irrespective of what you think about the programmes the BBC makes (which are by any measure superior to the crap that is vomited up by most of the channels available) you need a licence to receive broadcast TV - wherever it comes from.

There is no reason why any 'citizen' should pay a licence, tax, or other fee for using any public goods. The way to avoid this is to set up a political party espousing the complete absence of taxes for anything. Of course, you might have a small issue paying for pensions, the health service, the roads, power, gas, and water infrastructure, canals, rails, the military, and so on. But hey, taxes are just demanding money with menaces, right?

Detector vans certainly *were* capable of identifying both channel and whether colour of monochrome equipment was in use, but since the change to digital broadcasting this has become a much more difficult issue; it may well be that vans are driven around which do nothing more than make themselves visible.

But what do I know? I was only a BBC engineer for over thirty years...

Sorry to hijack an old(ish) thread

You do need a tv licence to watch live tv content even on a portable device. Although I object to having a tv licence that is required to watch all content including the non BT programmed content.

Either way, I don't need a licence. Have told the to licencing agency I do not need one and have implied their implied right of access to visits to my property, the lisencing issue is an act and not a law, therefore even if someone does turn up they have no right to enter your property, even if a policeman is present. It's not common law. Not to mention the collection agents (goons) are employed by capita..

The vans simply cannot tell if a signal is being received, an aerial is a receiver not s transmitter, even more the case when my building has a communal aerial for 9 properties.

Also with the post above saying that they are politically neutral... they in your own words get a government grant.. therefore it's in their interest to go with the tories. Did you not think the bbc's stance on brexit was hardly neutral???

Same as vaping, it's scientifically proven to be cheaper and healthier than smoking, yet the EU decided (under the tobacco product directive, despite containing zero tobacco) to change rules making it harder to give up cigarettes in the future, if you think the government are not given handouts by big corporations including big Tabbaco and therefore influenced you are deluded.