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Seems that the free licences for pensioners WILL end next June, except for those receiving pension credit.

It would be much fairer to limit the free licence to people born before 1945, that way the free licence wouldn't be taken off anybody but any new 75+ year olds will have to pay.

I find it difficult to believe that the BBC have sole choice in this matter?

Google 'bbc tv licence' for full details.

I find it difficult to believe that the BBC can justify astronomical salaries but find it easy to end the free licences . We don't have to pay a BBC licence fee , so I understand . Apparently if we just watch programmes on iPlayer, we don't need a license fee. OK for those of us with a laptop etc. but many pensioners who might be just a couple of £'s above the pension credit limit, in many cases probably don't have the facility of internet .
They've also probably experienced the same as most of us with a hike in council tax and energy costs.

We'll all be voting for euthanasia next. What's the point of trying to keep going when all the odds are stacked against the basics .

These days you need to register and sign in to watch Iplayer. They ask if you have a license but don't ask for license number............. yet!

Not any longer,

You also need a licence to watch any live program from any broadcaster.

You need a licence to watch any BBC programs whether live or not on iplayer.

You can watch non-BBC, non-live programs without a licence.

It is unclear whether you need a licence to watch a non-live BBC program that is not through iplayer, eg on youtube

Thanks, I'm pleased you've cleared that up.

I know of a couple of people (not personally) who said that's what they do, so maybe they have got away with it so far,... don't know.

Its not that long ago that they introduced the requirement to have a licence for BBC catchup (Iplayer). Before then all catchups didn't require a licence.

Need a comma there or it looks like BBC programs on Netflix/Youtube need a licence.

You have changed my statement but kept it as a quote. Which is misleading.

No, the comma shouldn’t be there, that makes it vague, it is an absolute statement without but the sentence would be better if re-arranged.

I can now correct my other statement and say watching catch-up BBC from anything other than iPlayer does not need a licence, this would appear to be a bizarre arrangement. I can only presume the BBC can claim that anything from iplayer is being broadcast live as a repeat by themselves.

I didn't think the licence was anything to do with the BBC. It is actually a licence to own television receiving apparatus. and you need it to watch television from ANY provider, not just the BBC.

Personally, I'm quite pleased they've introduced it. I can afford to pay it and it is just another nail in the tories' coffin at the next election. They truly are a very nasty party indeed. Selfish, stupid and incompetent.

The licence is not about "owning a TV" its about "using" a TV or such devices to watch broadcasts. The 9 years worth of licence reminder letters at the back of my filing cabinet remind me of that. I think the BBC are losing revenue because the numbers of non licence payers is on the increase. The licence inspectors say they visit unlicensed home every 6 seconds (use to be 5 seconds...slacking!). Not had a licence for 40 years and so disappointed they have not called.

It turns out the Government used to pay the BBC for the free TV licenses but now don't under a deal made in 2015.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33414693

I don't think the BBC should be applying means tests to its viewers.

The government should be paying for those entitled for free licences, not the Beeb, and they, the government, should run the scheme. They are simply evading their responsibility.

We really do need to get shot of this lot! Even by Conservative party standards, they are rubbish!

We should not forget that BBC received funding and has done for a number of years from the EU. They seem to be able to take money from all sides and use it for high wages. They certainly don't do much in the way of programmes other than foreign documentaries of air flight over the Sahara desert.. for example. !
Oh and NEWS, political programmes every which way , with high salaried presenters telling us how it should be through they eyes of the BBC, that has always sided with the EU..

Was the EU gaining control of our media ? I believe there is a very definite YES we only have to see how much news is NOT reported on the BBC in relation to what they don't want us to know. Where do the guidelines come from ?

BBC should be able to fund it themselves. When the EU fund something , that something loses control, as with farm subsidies where the EU have control of what is grown on that land... so indirectly it's their land. Same applies in many areas.