Can you get away without paying £174.50 a year to watch your telly?
The price of a TV license will increase by £5, from £169.50 to £174.50, starting April 2025. The government stated that the 2.96% rise in the license fee, which primarily funds the BBC, aims to provide it with a “stable financial footing.”
Additionally, the price of a black and white TV license will also increase by £1.50, going from £57 to £58.50 annually.
With this rise in the cost of your TV licence, we look at whether you actually need one.
In the United Kingdom, it’s against the law to watch any live television without a valid TV license. Consequently, watching a live event on Netflix constitutes a violation of the law.
According to TV Licensing, viewers don’t need a TV license to watch on-demand programs on Netflix, and this rule applies to most streaming platforms, such as Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video. However, as soon as any live content is broadcast, viewers must have a valid TV license in place to avoid potential hefty fines.
A standard TV license now costs £169.50 annually, a £10 increase from April 1st 2024. You can choose to pay this fee in one annual payment or opt for monthly instalments. However, failing to pay your TV licensing bill and being caught by TV Licensing enforcement officers watching live TV without a license could result in a £1,000 fine and prosecution.
A licence is needed by anyone intending to watch or record TV programmes while they are being broadcast, so basically live tv.
Live TV means any programme you watch or record as it’s being shown on TV or live on any online TV service. It’s not just live events like sport, news and music. It covers all programmes on any channel, including soaps, series, documentaries and even movies.
It also applies if you're watching or streaming shows live on services such as ITV Hub, All 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now TV, Sky Go, and more.
In addition, the rules apply even if you don't watch the shows on an actual TV - for example, if you watch programmes live on a PC, laptop, tablet or phone.
You also need a licence if you watch any BBC programmes or download them on-demand, including on BBC iPlayer.
Netflix currently has 171.1 million UK subscribers, many of whom might not have a television license. This is because they primarily watch streamable content and may be unaware of the rule regarding live content.
Doing any of the above without paying for either a licence is a criminal offence.
If you're caught without one you need to pay in full as soon as possible or risk prosecution, plus a fine of up to £1,000 (or £2,000 in Guernsey) and any legal costs/compensation.
While you can’t be imprisoned for TV license evasion, you can be jailed for non-payment of a fine imposed by the court. It’s illegal to refuse to pay for a TV license if you’re using services that require one. However, there’s a fine line between refusing to pay and being unable to pay. If you’re struggling to afford to pay your TV license, contact TV Licensing.
They can arrange a payment plan based on your salary or benefit payments or move you to a TV Licensing payment card. This card offers flexibility to pay weekly, fortnightly, or monthly from about £6. You can also pay online, at any PayPoint, by phone, or by text.
The following services are still openly (and legally) available to you – as long as you aren’t using them to watch or stream live TV, without needing a tv licence
On demand TV – such as catch-up TV and on demand previews, which are available through services including ITV Player, All 4, My5, BT Vision/BT TV, Virgin Media, Sky Go, Now TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku and Amazon Fire TV. You can't watch or download programmes on BBC iPlayer without a TV licence.
On demand movies - from services such as Sky, Virgin Media, BT Vision, Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. Recorded films and programmes - either via DVD or Blu-ray, or downloaded from the internet.
YouTube - Video clips that aren't live through services such as YouTube.
Can I legally watch TV without a TV licence?
Fortunately, there are legal ways to watch your favourite shows without paying the license fee.
Numerous catch-up TV services allow you to stream or download programs after they’ve aired on their respective channels.
If you only watch these services, you won’t need to pay the license fee if you don’t watch any BBC content. For instance, you can watch an ITV program like Emmerdale on catchup, but you can’t watch a BBC program like Eastenders in the same way.
If you’re certain you no longer require a TV license, you can formally inform TV Licensing.
Although there’s no legal obligation to do so, it will reduce the number of letters you receive.
The initial step in this process is to cancel your payments.
If you pay by direct debit, you can cancel it by filling out TV Licensing’s contact form, confirming that you no longer watch TV and providing your current address. Additionally, you’ll need to cancel your direct debit with your bank.
If you pay using a TV Licensing payment card, you’ll need to contact them at 0300 555 0286.
Everyone who no longer requires a TV licence should then fill out a "No Licence Needed" declaration form.
Make sure you keep the confirmation email from TV Licensing as proof.
You may also be eligible for a refund if you won’t need your licence again before it expires, and you have at least one complete month left on it. Just fill in the request a refund form.
TV Licensing may visit your property to verify the accuracy of your information and identify any errors. Approximately 900 households receive visits each day, resulting in the discovery that they do not require a license.
A TV Licensing spokesperson stated that fewer than two percent of households do not need a license, and the number of licenses in force has reached an unprecedented high of 25.8 million.
However, you will still need a TV license if you record ‘live TV’ content during its broadcast using a digital recorder such as Sky+, Tivo, or a traditional VHS recorder. This is because you are capturing the content as it is being transmitted on a television channel. The time of viewing and the method of recording do not matter; you still require a license.
Furthermore, TV Licensing has conducted interviews with over 20,000 young people aged 18 to 25 in the past year. These individuals were found to have been watching live TV or BBC iPlayer without a valid license. Even if you only watch BBC TV on your mobile phone, you are still required to have a license.