If you start streaming it just after it has ended, you don’t need a licence.Īs mentioned above, it doesn’t matter what kind of device you use to watch live television, or how you collect and process the signal. You can’t get out of paying for a licence by recording programmes and watching them later.īriefly, if you start streaming a TV programme just before it ends, you need a licence. Indeed, recording, capturing and storing live TV also counts as watching live television. The definition of “live” is flexible because there can be delays in transmission, and many set-top boxes and PVRs let you pause or save TV programmes. You still have to buy a licence if you only watch live streams from Mongolia’s Eagle TV channel.

It doesn’t matter which television stations you watch, or how you watch them. The basic rule is that you must have a TV licence if you watch, record or otherwise consume live television.

If you use the BBC iPlayer app on any device for any reason, you need a TV licence.

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