The background

I haven't watched TV at home for nearly 20 years. I haven't owned a TV for nearly 15 years. There was a time when we used to watch videos using a television, but, we have long since moved to using DVDs, and large computer monitors.

My house is situated in a location where it cannot receive a terrestial TV signal, and there is no line of sight southwards, so, satellite reception isn't possible. We are too far from the local telephone exchange to receive ADSL, and we are unlikely to get a fibre connection due to remoteness and population sparsity. As a consequence, our Internet connection isn't fast enough to support live streaming, and we don't have enough monthly data allowance for catch-up services like iPlayer.

In short, even if I wanted to watch television, which I don't, it wouldn't be possible without spending vast sums of money to overcome the problems listed above. I did, on several occasions, try explaining this to TV Licensing, but, to no avail. I was dealing with an automated system that assumes that everyone is watching TV, and therefore requires a licence. I decided to just ignore the TV Licence letters, as I didn't see the point in wasting my time to inform them, yet again, that my situation hadn't changed.

The intimidation

After I ignored the first couple of letters it didn't take long for TV Licensing to start their intimidation. The letter dated November 2014 threatened:

"You did not respond to our last letter within the 10 days we gave you. This means we have had no option but to start an investigation of your address."

I didn't respond to the November letter, nor any of the others in the following months.

Scans of the unique letters I have received, can be viewed in the gallery below. The pixelated sections on the scanned images are redacted address details and reference numbers.

The next month, December 2014, I received another letter, this time it stated:

"An Officer has been scheduled to visit [my postcode redacted] to find out if a TV is being watched or recorded illegally."

I never received any visits.

As regular as clockwork, or a computer program, I received another letter the next month, January 2015, which included the statement:

"Official warning: we have opened an investigation."

TV Licensing had already told me about the investigation starting in November 2014 so this letter is just in case I had forgotten about the previous intimidation. Another chance for them to try and collect the desired £145.50 BBC tax.

February 2015 and TV Licensing up the ante:

"You have not responded to our previous letters. We want to ensure you have the information you may need before a hearing is set at your local court."

The letter goes on to explain how I can "avoid a court summons". I didn't reply, and I never received a court summons.

The letter I received in March 2015 uses the same phrase as that used in December 2014:

"An Officer has been scheduled to visit [my postcode redacted] to find out if a TV is being watched or recorded illegally."

As usual the letter is signed by Gordon Smith, but, this time he is the Dundee Enforcement Manager, rather than Falkirk as in all the previous letters. Has Gordon had a promotion? Strangely, some future letters have a Darlington address on them, almost as if offices in Falkirk and Dundee don't exist. I don't live anywhere near Falkirk or Dundee, and I suspect neither does Gordon.

I felt really put out as I didn't hear from Gordon in April, May or June, and when I did get a letter in July 2015 it was back to the same old text about opening an investigation. However, I did notice that Gordon is now the Regional Enforcement Manager, so, maybe he was too busy to write, with the added responsibility of yet another promotion.

The conclusions

I suspect I will never receive a visit from an inspector, and nor will I ever receive a court summons. Visits by inspectors may happen in urban areas where they are more cost effective, but, not in rural areas. The letters are specifically designed to intimidate those who don't have a licence, to buy one. Everything about TV Licensing is designed to create an aura of authority, and instill fear in those "evading" the TV tax. In the 1970s and 80s TV Licensing used to make much of the Detector Vans, but a recent Freedom of Information request disclosed that detection evidence has never been used in court. Even the name TV Licensing sounds more official, plus, it allows the organisation behind it to protect the valuable BBC brand from being sullied by nasty tax collection.

I suspect I will continue to receive the intimadatory letters as they only cost around 21p each, and the potential return will be much greater. The BBC contracts-out the work of administering the TV Licensing system to Capita, a business which specialises in outsourced government projects.

The future

In George Osborne's latest budget (July 8th 2015) it was confirmed that a TV licence would be required for those watching television programmes via iPlayer, regardless of whether it was viewed live or afterwards (catch-up). I haven't seen a technical discussion of how the BBC could check if people using iPlayer have a TV licence. TV licences currently are for properties, and not individuals, but, the Internet is something people take with them everywhere.

The last Labour government, at Westminster, introduced their plans for a national ID card system, which was later scrapped by the following Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition, but could the BBC be introducing something similar by the back door? As well as licensing every TV at home, every laptop, tablet and smartphone would have to identify itself if accessing iPlayer. As a side effect the BBC and Capita would know what people are watching. It will be interesting to see how the BBC approach this difficult technical and ethical problem. I'm just glad I won't be part of it.

However, for the time being it would seem that there are no plans to introduce a system similar to that in Germany, where the broadcasters are funded through taxation, regardless of whether or not you use television.

I will update this blog should there be any further developments.

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