I'm in the news again

[ppppenguin]

It's debateable. If you connect a Freeview box to a monochrome TV then it may be correct to have a colour licence. It's actually a fair bit of work to watch in monochrome only. No mon osets have a SCART connector and very few have any kind of AV input. All are over 30 years old. Hence you need a Freeview box with a modulator. They aren't very common.

However all these delicately argued points are irrelevant. While I have no way of proving what I'm about to write, I strongly believe it's official policy not to pursue B&W licence holders. The lost revenue is about 4000 x (150-50) or about £400K per year. i know my numbers aren't accurate but it makes no difference to my conclusion. It just ain't worth working hard to recover under half a million quid from a total licence fee income of a few billion. Especially if you end up coming heavy on a few old eccentrics who genuinely are watching in B&W.

In past years when this subject has arisen I've actually talked directly to people from TV licencing. When I gently suggest what I've just written they gently change the subject. They couldn't possibly admit to it.

In a few years, if the licence fee continues to exist at all (let's not debate that subject here, it will all too easily get out of hand) they may abolish the B&W licence. Or if it isn't casuing too much trouble to keep it, then why bother. As an aside you can't buy or renew a B&W licence online: https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ236

All this reminds me that at some point I'll need a get a licence for the BECG. Don't need one yet as we aren't aren't operating any receivers on the premises yet. But we don't want to fall foul of the rules. I wonder if we'll get a nastygram from TV Licencing threatening us with a plague of lice (or whatever) for not having one.

[Diabolical Artificer]

Are all the kids supping ale in that pic? It looks a very boozy family, my folks never gave me beer when I was a kid whilst watching TV. The EDP used to be a brilliant paper with better reporting than the big national's with very well written articles.

[Pye Man]

Long ago when the BBC operated messageboards and I was active on one for radio there were a number of people who said they were TV-less but bought B&W licences as a means of contributing to radio services they enjoyed. They were pretty much exclusively Radio 3/Radio 4 listeners. This could well account for a number of B&W licences.

I have a portable B&W TV that was given to me by my late aunt. I did investigate a box with a modulator way back and found there were a few available but ten years on from DSO (in my area) I guess they are now the proverbial hen’s teeth.

[hamid_1]

As this topic comes up at least once a year, I thought I'll say something.

I genuinely had a black and white TV and licence in the last decade - there were about 25,000 of us then. I was aware of a couple of other genuine B&W viewers. Not everyone is a cheat.

TV Licensing warned me that there would be spot checks and if caught watching colour TV with a monochrome licence, the penalty would be more severe than having no licence at all, as it would be classed as deliberate fraud. However, I was disappointed that no-one came to visit me in a couple of years. I would have loved to show them my working digital-ready black and white TVs and to see the expression on their face. I suspect Jeffrey is right, they probably don't think it's worthwhile to check everyone, but of course they wouldn't admit to that. I have heard that if you downgrade a colour licence to black and white, you're more likely to get a visit, since almost no-one ever genuinely goes back.

Yes, you are allowed to use a digital set-top box with a black and white TV licence as long as it does not record TV. (Recording in colour requires a colour licence.) Freeview boxes are practically obsolete now, since all new TVs made in the last decade have Freeview built in. It's still possible to buy new DVB-T / DVB-T2 boxes if you look hard enough, but there are millions of unwanted old ones available from car boot sales, charity shops and ebay, for little money. A number of them have built-in modulators; the Goodmans GDR10 / GDR11 and Humax F2-Fox-T are good examples, easily obtained secondhand. I initially used a Sky Digital satellite box with my black and white TV, because Freeview was not available at all in my area until 2012, and even now only a small selection of channels can be received; the commercial Freeview multiplexes are not available and will never be. Consequently almost everyone here has satellite TV. Most Sky digiboxes have built in modulators. All you need is a satellite dish. In my case, the previous owners of my house had left behind a satellite dish, so all I had to do was plug in a Sky Digibox and connect its RF OUT to the aerial input of my black and white TV. Simple! You don't need a Sky subscription to watch the free channels.

The 1980s and later solid-state black and white TVs are incredibly reliable. I've picked up a number of 12" - 14" portables from car boot sales and all have worked straightaway when plugged in. I've also got a few portable B&W TVs made in the 2000s, with AV inputs. However, I was looking for a larger-size B&W TV. I came across a company in China still making them up to 17" size. The company was still active in 2010 but I think they've closed down now.
https://jinliputv.en.ec21.com/
The wholesale price for a 17 inch set was around $25 but either the minimum order quantity or shipping cost was too high so I never actually bought a new one. In the end I didn't need to. I was offered a couple of 1980s models including a 24" Pye (Philips E2 Chassis). Its previous owner had been using it with a black and white TV licence from 1986-2011 when the digital switchover occured in his area. In that time, it had only needed one "repair", the controls needed a squirt of switch cleaner. He admitted that he rarely watched TV. The set was still working and the tube was still good after all that time. I can believe that there are others who don't watch TV much, and who have an old but still working black and white TV and licence rather than no TV at all.

It's also quite likely that some of those B&W licence holders have no TV, as has been suggested. Many years ago I read a letter in the Radio Times from someone who had no TV but enjoyed the BBC radio programmes and wished to contribute to the cost of their production. The response was "buy a black and white TV licence - it also helps to fund BBC radio".

These days there are far more people with no TV licence at all, than with black and white. The non-licence payers are much more of a threat, especially since many people have discovered that you can legally watch non-BBC TV programmes online in colour without needing a licence, as long as you don't watch 'live'. There are plenty of online streaming services to choose from. You can even watch them on a real TV. Modern 'Smart' TVs have streaming clients built-in, such as Amazon, Netflix and Youtube. A well as streaming, you can also use your TV with a DVD player or game console without needing a licence. I'm sure this is why the Government have said they'll review the licence fee system in the next few years. That could be the end of the TV licence as we know it. After that, we'll never know how many black and white TVs could still be in use.

[Pye Man]

Thanks, Hamid, a really useful post.

I must give my little portable a run out. It would be great to have it going again.