Is a television licence required for amateur TV reception?

[greg]

Hi all
Over on the RSGB Tutor's reflector group an interesting topic has arisen.
Does amateur television reception require a television licence?

My personal view is no as the amateur radio licence evolved and enveloped the old GPO Amateur TV Licence which gave licencees the right to transmit (and therefore receive) amateur television.

I tried asking TV licensing directly but their site crashed when I sent the message, and is still down as I type this post.

Has anyone taken the time to ask TV Licensing or have any thoughts?

Admin: Please feel free to move this post if it is in the wrong section. I looked and this seemed the most likely place.
I have done a search of the forum but nothing relevant appeared (57 for licence and 14 for licensing).

[g0mjw]

According to https://www.gov.uk/tv-licence

You must have a TV Licence if you:

watch or record programmes on a TV, computer or other device as they’re broadcast
download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer – live, catch up or on demand

Amateurs don't, or at least should not, broadcast, but repeaters do. I would therefore say yes on a strict interpretation of the statement if you receive a repeater live or via BATC streamer. However you probably need to look at the legislation to be sure. I would also suggest this is not necessarily a good question to raise with the authorities.

Meanwhile back to Austrian TV for the Belgian GP.

Mike

[G1LWX]

I can rememder the old Tv licence had a paragraph that stated
It was valid for reception of licenced amateur radio and amateur television stations.
Mind you I'm going back to the 70s

73s Mike G1LWX

[greg]

I managed to contact them, this time without the site crashing. I have now had a definitive response. In short, fill your boots

RE: [deleted] - Contact Us
1 message
TV LICENSING
Darlington
DL98 1TL
Tel: 0300 790 6087
Fax: 0300 790 6012
Email: enquiries@tvlicensing.co.uk
Our Ref: [deleted]
Dear Mr Fenton
Thank you for your email.
I can confirm in the circumstances provided in the previous email, a TV Licence would not be required.
The Communications Act 2003 states that a television receiver must not be installed or used unless the installation and use of the receiver is authorised by a TV Licence.
This is irrespective of whether the channels received are BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, satellite or cable programmes. The TV Licence fee is payable regardless of the
quality of the reception.
If you are using a television for any of the above reasons a TV Licence will be required.
Please be aware that the law has changed.
From 1 September 2016 you needed to be covered by a TV Licence to download or watch BBC programmes on demand, including catch up TV, on BBC iPlayer. For more
information, visit tvlicensing.co.uk/lawchange.
I hope this information has been helpful.
Yours sincerely
Donovan Baron
TV Licensing
If you have sight problems, you can get this information in Braille, large print or audio by calling 0300 790 6076.
If you are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired, we support the Next Generation Text (NGT) Service. For more information see tvlicensing.co.uk/accessibility.
Correspondence in Welsh?
We welcome your calls, emails and letters in Welsh, and will respond to you in Welsh. Response times are the same for Welsh and English. Visit tvlicensing.co.uk/cymraeg.
Need further help? Try our online help service, click here to access it: http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/info.
---------- Original Message ----------
Subject: Contact Us
Date: [deleted]
From:
To:
APPLICATION DETAILS
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TYPE OF APPLICATION: Contact Us
APPLICATION ID: [deleted]
APPLICATION DATE: [deleted]
CUSTOMER DETAILS
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TITLE: Mr
INITIALS: G
SURNAME: Fenton
LICENCE NUMBER:
LICENCE ADDRESS 1: [deleted]
LICENCE POSTCODE: [deleted]
TELEPHONE NUMBER:
EMAIL ADDRESS: [deleted]
CONTACT QUERY DETAILS
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CONTACT US CATEGORY: General Enquiry
CONTACT US TOPIC: General Enquiry
CONTACT US QUERY: Hello. I wish to enquire whether a television licence is required to send or receive amateur television signals.
For clarity, amateur television signals are transmitted from one amateur radio licensee to another and contain no commercial content.
A typical session would be two people discussing the weather, what their week has entailed or other matters of mutual interest.
A more layman explanation would be saying it is like a two way Skype call using radio transmission rather than the internet, rather like using a CB radio but with a video signal
instead of a simple audio signal.
I have an amateur radio licence from Ofcom which allows transmission of amateur TV on certain predefined frequencies.
Amateur TV does not have programmes (such as Coronation Street) and is solely intended for reception by one other person or a small group of people in an already
established net.
I would ask that your answer be definitive for this usage case rather than a standard template reply.
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