[speedwell68]

user/password system including your tv license number just like netflix. Its not a hard thing to do.

But there are devices out there that were there is no facility to input such data.

Also there are a lot of legal problems too. The current TV licensing regulations make watching live without a license a criminal offence. If they charge for the iPlayer as a separate entity it becomes a subscription service and therefore not paying would be a civil matter. Also there is the problem of content. Currently there is content on the BBC that isn't shown online at all. I have no means of receiving a broadcast signal, other than online, so why should I be expected to pay the same fee as someone that can receive a traditional broadcast signal, as I won't get all of the content. A B&W license was always cheaper than a colour one. A total change in legislation is required, that isn't going happen any time soon.

[speedwell68]

Apparently watching the iPlayer becomes licensed in September. My guess is that it'll be a simple click to agree warning like it currently is with live content on the iPlayer website.

[User 182116]

What will happen is that people will start to use VPN's more to bypass having to pay the licence fee.

Nobody can really complain about having to pay if you use the service.

As for ad blockers being banned, this won;t happen.

Advertising has become so invasive and pervasive that advertisers are their own worst enemies and have created the problem in the first place.

[DarrenHill]

Presumably also why the BBC have been blocking many of the larger commercial VPN sites for a while now.

It's a whack-a-mole game, but they seem to be doing a fairly strong job of stopping a number of VPN users from iPlayer.

[speedwell68]

Presumably also why the BBC have been blocking many of the larger commercial VPN sites for a while now.

It's a whack-a-mole game, but they seem to be doing a fairly strong job of stopping a number of VPN users from iPlayer.

The iPlayer is basically going to become a subscription service so I don't see why they shouldn't be allowing international subscribers.

[Hitcher]

Presumably also why the BBC have been blocking many of the larger commercial VPN sites for a while now.

It's a whack-a-mole game, but they seem to be doing a fairly strong job of stopping a number of VPN users from iPlayer.

The iPlayer is basically going to become a subscription service so I don't see why they shouldn't be allowing international subscribers.

Same reason you don't get the same stuff on other streaming services the world over - licencing issues.

[stuCONNERS]

All live TV in the UK is a subscription service anyway. It what annoys me about the Freeview adverts. Subscription free TV. B*llsh*t you still need a TV licence. So what they mean is £12 a month licence fee applies, amazes me how ASA in the UK allow it to pass.

[speedwell68]

This made me chuckle...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/...net-users/

[Grand Total]

This made me chuckle...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/...net-users/

I'm not sure how well that would stand up in court.

[Milhouse]

This made me chuckle...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/...net-users/

I'm not sure how well that would stand up in court.

Thankfully the Telgraph report sounds like complete BS (edit: indeed the BBC have denied the entire article), although even if it were possible to detect iPlayer usage over WiFi those watching over a Cat5 cable would presumably be free & clear to carry on licence-free which likely means a lot of desktop computer and set-top box users have nothing to worry about.

Not to mention it would only require someone to produce an alternative source of "iPlayer-like packets" and the BBCs justification for bringing a case to court would be fatally undermined if they cannot prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the viewers were actually watching iPlayer content - "BBC lawyer: Well your Honour, they looked like iPlayer packets, but I can't say with 100% certainty that they were. Judge: CASE DISMISSED." (edit: IANAL )

It wouldn't even need an internet based service, just set up a local service/daemon to stream iPlayer-like junk packets over a home WiFi network and see how long it is before the courts demand the BBC stop abusing the court system by bringing bogus iPlayer/licence cases to court. Too easy to turn this into a complete farce for the BBC/Capita.

I suspect articles such as that in the Telegraph are scaremongering for the not very technical (edit: which apparently includes Telegraph journalists).

[Caesium]

How will the iPlayer changes due in September (the requirement to have a TV License for TV catch-up) affect this add-on?
I have a TV License, just curious if the add-on will continue to work.

Or is this unknown at the moment?

Thought you might be interested in a small update to this today - source: http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/201...online/#p3

Updated August 31: From September 1, viewers watching or downloading BBC programmes on demand—be it via the iPlayer service or catch up TV—will be required to have a television licence.

But, at this stage, the BBC has said it won't be enforcing the new law. Instead, it plans to write to unlicensed households in the UK to tell them about the changes.

A verification system for checking that iPlayer users have paid their TV licence fee, meanwhile, has seemingly been kicked into the long grass. The BBC said it was continuing to consider whether such a system was required, but pursuing such a scheme appears to be largely futile. It comes after the home office confirmed to the Times that the BBC would "not have the power to acquire Internet connection records" under the new law.

[primaeval]

How will the iPlayer changes due in September (the requirement to have a TV License for TV catch-up) affect this add-on?
I have a TV License, just curious if the add-on will continue to work.

Or is this unknown at the moment?

Thought you might be interested in a small update to this today - source: http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/201...online/#p3

Updated August 31: From September 1, viewers watching or downloading BBC programmes on demand—be it via the iPlayer service or catch up TV—will be required to have a television licence.

But, at this stage, the BBC has said it won't be enforcing the new law. Instead, it plans to write to unlicensed households in the UK to tell them about the changes.

A verification system for checking that iPlayer users have paid their TV licence fee, meanwhile, has seemingly been kicked into the long grass. The BBC said it was continuing to consider whether such a system was required, but pursuing such a scheme appears to be largely futile. It comes after the home office confirmed to the Times that the BBC would "not have the power to acquire Internet connection records" under the new law.

Thanks for that. That should make keeping this addon going a bit easier.

The technical challenge for them of entering a TV licence number in every single device in the country including smart TVs and kids tablets would be pretty difficult and the support calls to the BBC would be endless.

It would be so much simpler if they took the money straight out of general taxation and kept to public service broadcasting instead of chasing ratings to keep the costs reasonable. Then they wouldn't have this patchy income situation. Doesn't Canada do it that way?

[stammie]

Unless the next royal charter changes the rules and the BBC are given the right to limit the amount of devices a TV licence payer can link to their licence I cannot see how having to enter its details into Iplayer would work.
At the moment you have to declare you have a licence when you first use a mobile or online device for live TV which everyone does whether they have a licence or not and I assume from tomorrow this will be for everything on Iplayer, but as the rules stand one licence covers every computer, phone and tablet you own, in theory if it was introduced that you needed to enter your licence details to use Iplayer I could give my details to anyone on this forum who asked for them without fear for me or them.

What I find more alarming is that anyone who genuinely doesn't use broadcast TV or Iplayer but does visit bbc.co.uk might be put into an invidious position of having to prove to an inspector that they don't use the service when the Iplayer link is so visible on the BBC homepage.
From tomorrow when the law changes the BBC should be forced to have a different website for Iplayer (but that'll never happen)

[mentat]

Unless the next royal charter changes the rules and the BBC are given the right to limit the amount of devices a TV licence payer can link to their licence I cannot see how having to enter its details into Iplayer would work.
At the moment you have to declare you have a licence when you first use a mobile or online device for live TV which everyone does whether they have a licence or not and I assume from tomorrow this will be for everything on Iplayer, but as the rules stand one licence covers every computer, phone and tablet you own, in theory if it was introduced that you needed to enter your licence details to use Iplayer I could give my details to anyone on this forum who asked for them without fear for me or them.

What I find more alarming is that anyone who genuinely doesn't use broadcast TV or Iplayer but does visit bbc.co.uk might be put into an invidious position of having to prove to an inspector that they don't use the service when the Iplayer link is so visible on the BBC homepage.
From tomorrow when the law changes the BBC should be forced to have a different website for Iplayer (but that'll never happen)

Felicitations stammie,

Your post forced me look up the word in·vid·i·ous and I appreciate that.

Thanks.

[primaeval]

Unless the next royal charter changes the rules and the BBC are given the right to limit the amount of devices a TV licence payer can link to their licence I cannot see how having to enter its details into Iplayer would work.
At the moment you have to declare you have a licence when you first use a mobile or online device for live TV which everyone does whether they have a licence or not and I assume from tomorrow this will be for everything on Iplayer, but as the rules stand one licence covers every computer, phone and tablet you own, in theory if it was introduced that you needed to enter your licence details to use Iplayer I could give my details to anyone on this forum who asked for them without fear for me or them.

What I find more alarming is that anyone who genuinely doesn't use broadcast TV or Iplayer but does visit bbc.co.uk might be put into an invidious position of having to prove to an inspector that they don't use the service when the Iplayer link is so visible on the BBC homepage.
From tomorrow when the law changes the BBC should be forced to have a different website for Iplayer (but that'll never happen)

I never quite worked out the logic of who has to pay.

If you are a student living in a room in a shared house do you have to pay your own or share the license for the house? I heard that you had to pay for your own. So if you are living in your parents house you can share the license but not if you live with 2 strangers?

The sick thing is they will be chasing down everyone now including the people on the Living Poor Wage that genuinely find the license fee a huge amount of money.