TV Licence changes could split the system based on council tax (Image: Getty)
It’s the household bill payable by pretty much everyone who watches TV and in April the TV licence is increasing by another £5 to £174.50 per year. But with discussion swirling around the future of the TV licence, the ’s chairman has proposed a controversial ‘two tier’ solution which would see wealthier people made to pay more to watch TV.
Right now, a TV license is a legal requirement for anyone who watches live TV (TV shows as they are broadcast, whether through an aerial, satellite or streaming), or anyone who watches iPlayer whether live or catch-up. But the £174.50 fee is payable by all households, whether they have a high income or a low income – the one exception being a free TV Licence for those aged over 75 and on Pension Credit.
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Speaking to The Sunday Times, chairman Dr Samir Shah proposed a new TV licence fee system based on a property’s value, a bit like council tax, which is charged based on the house’s estimated value when the bands were assessed.
He said: “Why should people who are poor pay the same as people in wealthy households?”
He suggested that a ‘household levy’ could be collected within council tax, which would also get rid of the ‘enforcement issue’, which saw TV Licensing send a reported 41 million letters to British households between 2023 and 2024 warning them to pay their TV licence.
If such a system were put in place, it could see council tax bands F, G and H being hit with higher TV licence bills.
Council tax bands split between A to H based on property value. Band A properties are the lowest value homes, while Band D is average and Band H is the most expensive bracket.
What you don’t need a TV Licence for:
- Watching DVDs or Blurays (yes, they still exist and to go back to building their own collections)
- Watching , Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV as long as it’s NOT live content. E.g. you can watch Drive To Survive, Stranger Things, Ted Lasso or Clarkson’s Farm without a TV Licence, totally legally. But if you stray over to watching a live game on that same Amazon Prime sub, you’ll need a Licence.
- As the TV Licensing says: “You need to be covered by a TV Licence to watch programmes live on any online TV service – such as ITVX, Channel 4, Amazon Prime Video, Now or Sky Go. You don’t need a TV Licence if you only ever watch on-demand programmes on any TV service apart from iPlayer.”
- LIVE is not just live as in a live match, but if you watch as it’s being broadcast ‘live’, you need a TV Licence. However, if you watch an ITV or Channel 4 show on catch-up later, you don’t need a licence for that.