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I've often wondered about bothering to replace mine when it dies (probably quite soon!). Isn't it about £140 for a TV licence now?
 
Well, I get a real lack of channels anyway, only a small selection of Freeview, so likewise, I hardly bother, I just use the TV for watching DVDs.
 
You can get most stuff on catch-up TV nowadays anyway, which for some reason you don't need a TV license to watch. You do, however, need a license to watch live TV on the internet. Solution: tap into someone else's wifi. I would hate living without a TV. When I was in Birmingham I did't have access to one so I had to watch everything on my laptop.
 
The Jackson trial/verdict. Fucking hysterical watching the jury trying to answer:
"Did you answer no to question two?"...
"Yes"...
confusion in the court
:D
 
I just saw Metallica: Through the Never.

The "plot" is pointless, but the sound, performance, and visuals are absolutely stunning. It's a really cool experience if you are, or were, a Metallica fan, as there is virtually no new material in the film. Especially in IMAX 3D, it was like having an awesome concert shoved in your face. Very neat.
 
Just started watching American Horror Story. Only 3 episodes in and I'm loving it so far! Wasn't too sure about it at first but I started hearing a lot of good things about it and finally decided to check it out. Not sure what took me so long.
 
I just started watching Breaking Bad after all the hype that has surrounded it since it ended..Currently on episode 2 and loving it so far!
 
bearfan said:
WTF is a TV license?
Click to expand...
In the UK the TV licence funds the BBC. Some of the money also goes towards the other terrestrial channels with the agreement that they provide news coverage to certain criteria e.g. Channel 4 also gets a small part of the funding. But the majority of the fee goes to paying for the BBC's massive output. It's a bit of an anachronism --you have to have a licence if you own a television; even if you don't watch any BBC content. (How can anyone prove the case either way?) And they hound people who live at an address with no licence associated with it. The send you letters threatening you & shit.
 
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Yeah. As much as I like some of the services the BBC provides, I find something not quite right about a compulsory subscription if you want to own a TV. It can land you in court if you don't get a licence, too. They're always hassling us at work because we have computers but they refuse to accept we never watch live broadcasts.
 
If you read stuff online (from consumer rights organisations, etc) you actually realise they have no legal powers at all. Their very, very last sanction they can take against you is to acquire a warrant to enter your house to see if you have a TV. As far as I'm aware they literally never do this, instead preferring to send threatening letters & occasionally sending TV "inspectors" to your door i.e. cold calling. Consumer advice is that you should ignore all communication requests (as this only puts you on their radar) & refuse them entry to your property. Amusingly enough, they refuse to reveal what technology they actually use to detect online watching --namely because, in the current era of streaming online, they apparently don't have any technology that can prove you were actually accessing "live" online services. The only prosecution, apparently, that has ever taken place for this offence was someone caught physically watching a BBC programme (I assume a BBC programme) live on their phone; presumably in public somewhere. If you do this in your house, & you don't let them access your house --then this cannot be proved. Of course, you can (as BW mentioned) watch TV using playback services. They openly inform you that this is legal for you to to do. Fun & games...
 
I don't think they can do a whole lot about watching online, no, but I've seen a load of court listings for non-payment of TV licences, presumably people who did have a TV. That carries a criminal record. Just to be sure, our workplace has a ban on watching any live broadcasts online, it's a sackable offence.
 
I've got a TV but I've used it maybe 5 times this year...no joke. I watch all my series/movies on the computer, if I want to watch the news, the big television channels also have 24/7 web stream...Only when I got friends over and we wanna watch a movie or whatever do I actually use my television.
 
Indeed, Brigantium. I actually just meant (poorly put across above) that if you're quite legal you should just ignore all the rubbish they send you. They send all this crap out to people all the time, even when you have a licence; particularly if you live in a residential flat where they have problems identifying individual premises across one postcode. I used to get them all the time & I was forever having to phone them to say: I've got a fucking licence; stop sending me all these threatening letters. There was a lot of: enforcement officers have now been instructed to visit your flat (letters). I'm like, okay, visit away...
 
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