Web TV viewers must have licence

UK residents who watch TV programmes streamed over the internet will have to pay a licence fee for the privilege, while people living abroad can do it for free.

The TV Licensing Authority (TVLA), the government agency responsible for collecting TV licence fees, is clamping down on people who watch programmes on their PCs without paying.

Ben Ruse, a TVLA spokesman, said: "If your PC is TV-enabled and you watch TV on it, then you need a TV licence. That is the situation in Britain. Foreign countries have different rules and we can't interfere with those."

Currently, the TV licence, which stands at £104 for colour TVs and £34.50 for black and white, has to be paid by anyone watching TV, according to the 1949 Wireless and Telegraphy Act.

Up until now, though, it was presumed that the Act referred only to television sets, but the TVLA says that because the act doesn't define what a TV set is, it actually refers to any equipment used to watch television.

The practical upshot is that if you are in the habit of watching TV programmes via streaming media you will need a TV licence if you haven't already got one.

That said, there is no hi-tech equipment in use to catch people watching television on their PCs without a licence, so how the TVLA plans to enforce this is unclear.

In addition, while retailers selling TV capable equipment, even TV tuner cards, are required to give customers' names and addresses to the TVLA by law, which then checks the details against its database, this is not the case with PCs.

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