Italian neighbour receiving threatening letters over licence.

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Channel Hopper

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My elderly neighbour has just received this from the usual suspects. It has echoes of the same rubbish I have had to go through with Russian reception for the family.

This neighbour is italian, with permanent leave to remain (or whatever they call it these days), lives on her own and has just a moderate sized TV with internal satellite tuner.
This is connected to a 60cm dish which I installed years ago and pointing to Hotbird. There is no aerial to her apartment, the dish is on a south west parapet wall with just enough clearance to receive 19 East at a push but no further as the property next door gets in the way.

She has received other letters going back around three years, coinciding with her purchasing the TV, filling in the ownership card and other at the department store to validate the guarantees. Since there is no signal into the property apart from the dish she has never thought they might put her 'under investigation'.

This is the first time however there is mention of the Communications Act of 2003, specifically the breach of it by watch/recording live TV programmes on any channel or device. The other side of the letter mentions 'how to stop the Enforcement Visit, but none apply to her , save the option of buying a licence at £6 per week on a payment card, along with a 0300 number that never gets answered. :-doh

What is the legal aspect should somebody come knocking at her door when the only stuff she watches is from Italy via satellite ? Is the TV tuner the legal angle they use to screw people over ?

All advice welcome since she is now worried to watch programmes from her home country on New Year's Eve/Day.

I have offered to fit a small receiver plus computer monitor if this is the way forward, a bit of a waste of a good television though and would be fruitless if they have all bases covered.
 

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ozumo

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£6 a week, £312 a year :-ohmy

A dish connected a receiver & monitor is no different to it being connected directly to the TV in the eyes of the enforcers.
 

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The law is "reception of live TV whatever the country of origin and whatever the means of reception"
 

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The law is "reception of live TV whatever the country of origin and whatever the means of reception"

I think I'll look at the legislation tomorrow.

( satellite signals have an appreciable delay before being received of course, a minimum of a quarter second on a single hop)
 

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It’s £13.37 per month by DD.
 

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The legislation is clear that any TV receiving TV as-live is covered by a TV Licence. That includes online streaming, satellite, terrestrial, etc irrespective of the country. I think it's ridiculous but it's the case and she would lose the case if it went to court.
In practical terms, she just needs to make sure that she NEVER, EVER lets them in. The onus is on them to prove that she is watching TV, not for her to prove that she isn't.
If she doesn't let them in or let them see her watching TV, she's fine. Even if they see her satellite dish, that's not proof. They'd have to see that it was connected to her TV and she was using it.
 

rodscha

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same story in france...when you buy a TV set,you must pay the licence,it s a "tax" ,like a tax on beer or cars!

The point is,the money goes to making tv programs on public tv,
just like car tax or speeding fines'money go to improving roads etc...
So,everyone pays little money (less than you do it seems) & we get 7 good public channels for the price!
If you could choose to pay or not to pay,then we would only get trash on private channels(see USA ) and expensive SKY-like packages
and,yes,some "netflixes" that would cost double (again like in the US) !
Now the "netflixes"(amazon disney...) are cheap because they do not improve much what we already get.
Our local fascists plus a few "conservative" ,in fact "Trumpians" wish our tv tax to go...132 euros a year ,maybe 110£ merely 10£ a month...
not even 2 pints at the pub....
Think again,tv licences are NOT expensive,full stop!
 

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It’s £13.37 per month by DD.

Not if you are Italian it seems. I will pass by later with the bad news and take imagery of the amount she has been 'asked' to pay.
 

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so,it's 2 pints AND a half of bitter...every month...right?

or,a bag of crisps?
 

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Here is the pertinent stuff on the back page, a demand for £6 (minimum) per week to cover the cost of buying a screen to watch foreign television.

Surely if her name and address is on the database they could have put a direct debit / standing order form inside earlier correspondence, or am I missing something ?
 

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Here is the pertinent stuff on the back page, a demand for £6 (minimum) per week to cover the cost of buying a screen to watch foreign television.

Surely if her name and address is on the database they could have put a direct debit / standing order form inside earlier correspondence, or am I missing something ?

Is that letter actually bony fido, or could it be a scam?
 

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This definitely looks like a scam
She needs to connect to TV license.co.uk and just do what normal citizens do!!
I would denounce that letter to authorities straght away
I get same sh... pretending to come from EDF or the gas people or the bank...comes by mail & it s called spam!
Of course,none of it is genuine.
Pure scam. Delete/throw it away
 

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The web address, tvl.co.uk, takes you to the correct website, or at least it looks like the website:
Code:
https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/

Equally when doing a google search the first telephone number matches up.

Didn't someone mention that the License Fee is now sought by a third party company, Capita?

If it were a scam I can't see how they make their money, if you're directed to the official website, unless they get something from the tv payment card.

Just fill in the form, on the licensing website, informing them that you don't watch live television, just internet channels, which contain far better programming, than the BBC, are more trustworthy, and honest.
 

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The legislation is clear that any TV receiving TV as-live is covered by a TV Licence. That includes online streaming, satellite, terrestrial, etc irrespective of the country. I think it's ridiculous but it's the case and she would lose the case if it went to court.
In practical terms, she just needs to make sure that she NEVER, EVER lets them in. The onus is on them to prove that she is watching TV, not for her to prove that she isn't.
If she doesn't let them in or let them see her watching TV, she's fine. Even if they see her satellite dish, that's not proof. They'd have to see that it was connected to her TV and she was using it.
surely thats "snooping" :) - i wonder if they're allowed to ask her ISP for logs of what she's watching....dodgy ground methinks.
 

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That one seems genuine to me
It's got the Crown,simple as that!
Happy new year!
 

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The £6 per week thing seems to be a weekly payment, but paid over 26 weeks instead of 52 which gets you up to the same amount as the one off/direct debit cost, very confusing!

I generally support it in principle though, as I find that a fair bit of (not all) the criticism comes from those who wouldn't be happy with the BBC unless the news content consisted almost entirely of Laura Kuenssberg in a pink kimono, singing the praises of dear leader and his cronies...

I don't know if there's a paid licence in Italy, but I suppose if there is you could see it as paying the equivalent here as she would if she were watching Italian TV over there.
 

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The £6 per week thing seems to be a weekly payment, but paid over 26 weeks instead of 52 which gets you up to the same amount as the one off/direct debit cost, very confusing!

I generally support it in principle though, as I find that a fair bit of (not all) the criticism comes from those who wouldn't be happy with the BBC unless the news content consisted almost entirely of Laura Kuenssberg in a pink kimono, singing the praises of dear leader and his cronies...

I don't know if there's a paid licence in Italy, but I suppose if there is you could see it as paying the equivalent here as she would if she were watching Italian TV over there.
The Italian version of the TV tax is just over half that of the UK one according to Wikipedia, taken from the leccy bill so difficult to evade.


As for Laura in a kimono, you've almost put me off my devilled kidneys.

Cummings received the Basic Instinct treatment earlier this year. :eek: , no wonder he was so quick to answer.
 

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rodscha

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and here in France it s on the tax bill,
you may however declare you do not own a TV set and not pay for it.... or be over 75 i think...varies all the time;
if you re really out of money you may ask for an exemption.
 

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This reads like pure Trumpism...no more license no more bbc welcome to TV USA...
Trash on all channels,pay 5x more to get "quality"
I agree ,presently the BBC seems to be ,well, in a deeply starved up situation,a wartime kind of TV!
Isn t the Boris team gradually killing it?
I d like to know WHY they keep repeating shows & not producing much,the reason for this is the main point,
NOT saving 11£ and 50p a month
One could save much more cooking at home,cycling,walking etc...
That s a wrong target, methinks
The Germans, and us french are happy with public channels ,only our local fascists want public tv out...
 
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