Which is great if you're trying to detect whether I'm watching Freeview. What if I'm watching Sky? Do you know how many dishes and LNBs you'd need to receive and decode 600 channels? Let me put it this way: the detector van is going to be really, really unsubtle. Also, would probably take off in a high wind.
To catch the edge case of having a satellite link but never switching to an also-on-freeview channel during the capture period, offline comparison would be an ideal solution. Or look for the satellite dish that must be externally mounted and visible from the south in order of the system to function.
All that proves is the property had Sky/Freesat at some point. That'd be a bit like saying 'I can see an aerial on your roof, therefore you must be watching TV'. Though iirc sky [and VM] boxes require some form of internet connection to work now so you'd probably be be better off asking Sky/VM 'is there an active box at this address?'.
Seems a massive waste of time having "detector vans" if they still have to come into your house with a warrant and prove your watching broadcast tv. Your going to get prior warning they are going to get a warrant and it would take a few minutes to unplug everything if someone did turn up and you left them outside the front door. Also from what I've scene "enforcers" hate being filmed and instantly walk away as soon as you make them aware.
A van would only be needed to request a warrant if the more basic tactics of "stand outside the property and see if a TV is visible through the window" and "knock at the door and see if a TV is visible/audible when the door is opened" have already failed to work.
Except that visibility of a TV - even one which is switched on and currently displaying AV - is not proof that you need a TV Licence. I could have a room filled with the biggest darn TVs in history, all on 24/7, and if they ain't showing live broadcasts (or BBC on-demand stuff) then I'm golden without a licence.
Except looking in and seeing BBC1 (and having a programme guide on hand to make sure it's a live show) is a bit of a dead giveaway. Yes, as in this case the warrant is for a 'we suspect based on X, we need to confirm'.
Yes...? "Look in the window, see if a live terrestrial channel is playing" is going to be the source for the majority of warrants simply because it is so trivial to do. Van not required unless that doesn't work (e.g. TV not visible from exterior window or from outside front doorway).
That's not what you said, though. You said, and I once again quote directly, "see if a TV is visible through the window" - you didn't say anything about it showing a live terrestrial channel. I merely pointed out that "seeing if a TV is visible through the window" is not an indicator that a TV Licence is required, as it's perfectly legal to own a TV but not have a TV Licence.
For someone who spends a lot of time posting about technicalities on this 'ere forum, I'm surprised you'd make such an assumption. Remember that it's entirely possible someone can find a post without reading the whole thread, and "seeing a TV through the window" as evidence of needing a TV Licence is extremely misleading - hence my correction.
It's no woollier than TV Licensing's official guidance on who does and doesn't need a license, to be fair
I had my new Licence through t'other day, and I was actually quite impressed with the "Do I actually need one" section on the back. Seemed fairly clear, and definitely didn't mislead with the "owning a device capable of receiving broadcast TV" nonsense that used to be (still is? I haven't looked) on the website.
I find it clear on first review, but looking a bit further into it ambiguities creep in - for instance what constitutes a "TV Service", where's the magic line where "time delay" turns into "catch-up TV". In the context of traditional broadcast TV and iPlayer it's simple, but then when considering the multitude different ways one can consume video content these days, especially on social media platforms, much less so.
What kinda bug me is the price, compared to the other services you can get for £150 a year the bbc is a bad deal.
