Students leaving home for university for the first time, or those returning for their second year, should realise that there has been a change in the law regarding the TV license. Previously, only those who watched live television needed a license. There was no provision in the law to require users of on-demand services such as iPlayer to require a license, but as of 1st September, that will change.
By Dan Taylor from London, UK - Spangly new reception at Broadcasting House, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16583549
What is iPlayer?
iPlayer is the BBC’s on demand service. It allows viewers to watch BBC TV shows and listen to radio shows at their own leisure – not just at the time of broadcast. Part of the service is broadcast live, but most of its content is stored in a database to watch later. Whether streaming or downloading (BBC permits downloading beyond the typical 30 day period they leave their shows in iPlayer) you will now need a license.
iPlayer has been more popular amongst students than Netflix and YouTube, surprisingly. The BBC have been keen to close the loophole for many years and finally achieved that this spring following government consultation. This coincided with moving BBC3 to a web only service.
The Services To Which It Does Not Apply
Presently, this scheme applies only to BBC iPlayer, the platform used for the storage of BBC’s on demand services. My5 (Channel 5), 4OD (Channel 4) and ITV Hub are not yet covered. Like iPlayer, they broadcast shows at regular times and then store them on the web for later viewing at the user’s leisure.
It also does not apply to those services that do not broadcast shows live – Netflix and Amazon Prime for example. The disadvantage of these services is that they show programming that is (often but not always) several years old at the minimum. They also cost a fee roughly approximate to that of a TV license.
If any further change is likely, it will be to those programming services that broadcast on television, but not to web only services.
Potential Problems
Critics of this scheme say that it will not boost the sales of TV licenses, as viewers, particularly students on a low budget who are already unhappy at having to buy one TV license per room, will simply seek other entertainment methods. Illegal uploading of services is a large problem for the internet, but the BBC has an active team dedicated to finding and shutting down such illegal streams.
Others feel that this will be unenforceable as the BBC’s capacity to track down precisely who is watching on-demand services simply is not there. Either way, Pads For Students recommend that all students wishing to watch television, comply with the law and purchase a TV license to avoid a substantial fine.