The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that no discussions have taken place with the TV Licensing Agency regarding discounts or exemptions from the TV licence for Armed Forces personnel living in Service accommodation, according to a written parliamentary response.
The confirmation came from Al Carns, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence), in response to a question raised by Ian Roome, Liberal Democrat MP for North Devon.
In the response, Al Carns stated:
“The Ministry of Defence has neither held discussions, nor has any current plan to hold discussions, with the TV Licensing Agency regarding an Armed Forces discount to the TV Licence or an exemption for personnel living in Service accommodation.”
This clarification addresses potential concerns about whether special arrangements might be made for those serving in the Armed Forces, particularly given the unique circumstances of Service life.
When Do You Need a TV Licence?
The rules regarding TV licences are often misunderstood, particularly given the wide range of modern viewing options. Put simply, a TV licence is required if you ever watch a ‘live’ programme being broadcast on any channel, including channels broadcast from abroad, regardless of whether you’re watching on a TV, laptop, or mobile device.
A licence is also required if you record live programmes to watch later or use BBC iPlayer, even for on-demand or catch-up content. Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and All 4, however, do not require a licence unless you use their ‘Watch Live’ feature.
It is possible to watch TV without a licence and still remain within the law. If you only watch on-demand programmes through platforms like Netflix, All 4, Amazon Prime, or similar services and never watch live broadcasts, you do not need a licence. However, caution is required: accidentally clicking the ‘Watch Live’ button on any platform could result in a violation.
Similarly, using BBC iPlayer in any capacity requires a licence.
Despite the flurry of letters that TV Licensing sends—letters often designed, in my opinion, to intimidate—as long as you do not watch live TV or BBC iPlayer, you are under no obligation to pay for a licence or respond to these notices.
Coverage and Household Rules
For those who do require a licence, one licence covers the entire household, regardless of how many TVs, laptops, or other devices are used. The definition of a household can be tricky:
- If you live in shared accommodation with separate tenancy agreements, each tenant needs their own licence.
- If one tenancy agreement covers the entire property, only one licence is needed.
- Students living away from home may be covered by their family’s licence if they watch live TV on a device powered by its own batteries, rather than being plugged into the mains.
By understanding these rules, viewers—particularly Armed Forces personnel living in shared or temporary accommodation—can ensure they’re in compliance without unnecessary expense.
This is a strange non-story. Whether living in SFA (ie ‘married quarters’ in old money) or SLA (‘the block’ in old money), service personnel have always had to pay for their TV licence. Much as they have always had to pay for everything else that civilians pay for.
Eeeeehhhhhh in *theory* yes, in practice… I don’t think there are many SLA inhabitants who pay TV licensces. (More power to them frankly, TV licensces need to die).
Ah, no matter. They’re in a military barracks; TV licence people aren’t going to go in, demanding to be let in to see Private X and check his quarters because he hasn’t paid his TV licence!
What guard commander is going to allow them access to the camp? FO would have been my response😀
A TV license…such a relic from a bygone age….let’s get rid of it for everyone. We can then have less BBC propaganda…we also need to get rid of Channel 4 as well…utter low grade dross designed for left wing Muppets.
Isn’t Channel 4 private, though? Can’t really get rid of that.
I was shocked to discover last year that Ch4 is publically funded. I’m in my 60s & with all the advertising etc never knew or suspected it was.
Also I’m sick of funding BBCs perverse brainwashing agenda. Unbiased/onjective my foot!
You prefer your editorial policies to be set by foreign billionaires I assume?
So how are we going to fund the various radio stations national and local, orchestras, choirs, wildlife unit etc?
The UKs media industry is one of the biggest industries in the country and us utterly underpinned by the BBC. The reason we have so many world class media companies and individuals is the BBC. The reason we have a such a huge music industry is the BBC.
But I doubt you are bothered by that.
All the things you mention should self-sustaining (if it is popular). Moreover, there are lots of billionaires funding the arts through charity or alternatively the national lottery. There is zero need for the BBC and Steve R is wrong in that we own Channel 4 (it gets some government funding through the backdoor as well). I would absolutely love to see the abolition of the BBC (selling it off as well) and selling off Channel 4. We can then pay down some of the debt that was left behind by Labour and the left wing liberal Tories. I’m happy for all new TV programmes to be funded via subscription services if you want them. This is the 21st Century and not the middle of the 20th Century. There is tons of high quality pay-for-view TV, or even freeview via ads….no need for either the BBC or Channel…they are really there as propaganda machines for left wing liberals and their woke ideas no one wants or needs. We should have a referendum on the selling off the BBC and Channel 4 and see how many people want their services…or whether they are forced to pay them like me…I don’t watch the BBC or Channel 4 as their programmes are left wing rubbish. The only reason why you get hot under the collar when someone states they want to abolish the BBC and Channel 4 is that your propaganda machine would go….
Ban the BBC from pumping out the news or have it farmed out to Sky (which is much better). Or let it have adverts. BBC world service can be public sector due to soft power. Good starting point?
OK Matthew and Matt. What I’m hearing is that you don’t like to hear alternative views in the media. If the the news doesn’t agree with your own world view then it should be cancelled.
As it happens I consider the news to be a minor part of the BBC output, don’t always agree with the opinions expressed and don’t consider it my main news source. But it is an important one and is one not under the editorial control of a rich oligarch or hedge fund in Dubai.
Yes there are great media companies in the UK. If you look at the majority of their writers, directors, actors, techies they started at the BBC. The BBC commissions programming that doesn’t have to be for profit, can appeal to a small audience and take risks. The BBC runs writing training where almost all TV and Radio writers in the UK get their start. Radio 3 runs the world’s largest music festival. The new talent promoted on all music radio stations underpins the UK music industry.
Destroy the BBC and you rip the heart out of our media and cultural landscape and you loose the source of most of the talent. It is not just about a bit of news you disagree with and what cancelled.
Here in Oz we used to have a TV licence system too, revenue was used to fund the ABC (our version of the BBC).
Fortunately the Government of the day abolished it back in 1974, just over 50 years ago!
JohnN which we would do the same as the Aussies did to ABC. Can’t wait for the BBC to be abolished….only four years to wait now until Reform get in and the BBC will be history and hopefully Channel 4 bites the dust as well…
I think Reform has a long way to go before they’re in any likely position to get voted into power.
Would you also be saying this about any TV station or programme that caters to your views? I doubt it. If you ban BBC for its left-wing agenda then the same should happen to the likes of GB News for their right-wing agenda.
Can’t have it just your way and ban TV stations that you disagree with politically.
Many people on the left feel the BBC is too right-leaning. Potentially, a way to see whether or not they are neutral is if both the left and right are moaning about them.
I am not suggesting it is banned. I’m suggesting we sell it off and get rid of the license. How is that banning it can still operate on a subscription based model but people like me don’t have to fund it. I don’t fund GB news and I don’t watch it either but it gets its revenue from adverts. You have created a strawman argument by saying I suggested banning when I did not.
You are missing the point. The licence fee is a tax on everyone even if someone does not agree with its bias.
John, so you still have ABC but their programmes are punctuated by ad breaks?…or do you pay a monthly subscription to view?
When we got notice of block inspections. They happened maybe twice a year at Cottesmore. (individuals TV licence had to be on display) Everyone’s TV’s disappeared into the boots of their cars. It was never something that anyone made a big deal of.
Ha! Same routine when I was at North Luffenham
Proving who watched what on individuals phones/tablets or laptops would be a digital nightmare IRL.
It is hard enough trying to nail someone doing something nefarious on a network when you have full admin privileges.
As most of them will be watching Netflix or other on demand streaming…..
On a personal note, the TV licence should be scrapped. I relation to the Armed Forces, they should not have to pay for a TV licence. I did my time many years ago. It’s a different world today, with the forces underpaid as it is.
Every and any little ‘bit’ that can be done to make serving personnel’s life easier, it a yes from me.
absolutely Tom let’s get rid of the BBC (and sell it off) and hopefully sell Channel 4 as well. In the age of media where there are hundreds of channels both subscription and freeview the BBC and Channel 4 are an anachronism…. They only exist because left wing luvvies want to brain wash us all in their woke mind virus… Use the money from the sales to give the armed services a pay rise or pay off some of the national debt left by the Labour party and left wing Tories…
It’s true. There’s a big temple where we all meet, the ‘Wokeodrome’. In it the holy texts of the Gay, Green and leftist Agendas are set out on great pillars of tofu. The high priests of Woke, the Wokerati preach harmony and kindness while sipping soy lattes and eating smashed avocados. Meanwhile in their secret underground labs the most woke scientists are forever perfecting the “WMV” or “Woke Mind Virus”, new versions broadcast via the BBC and put into the drinking water.
we don’t have state owned coal mines anymore, so why do we have a state owned broadcaster? The BBC used to be good; Lord Clarke Civilisation, Bronowski Ascent of man, but that was 40+ years ago. Now it is all woke rubbish. They have ruined Dr Who. Scrap the licence fee in 2027. Have a HD 4k BBC on paid streaming + a freeview standard def paid by advertising.
Does nobody understand that the other media companies in the UK in the main don’t train, create and nurture the talent themselves? The majority of TV and radio companies in the UK rely on the supply of personnel from the BBC, destroy it and you are wrecking the entire media industry in the UK. It would be like shutting down universities and expecting the engineering and Science industry to flourish. Absolutely reform it, but trashing it would ironically destroy all the other channels and outlets too in the long run.
Agreed. People don’t appreciate what they have got until it’s gone. The BBC is a national treasure. It’s not perfect. But BBC News is far less biased compared to Fox news or CCN and the like. The left moan it’s right wing. The right moan its to left wing. So it probably is about in the middle. The BBC can still bring a level of quality to our TV screens others cannot match.
They would destroy a £100 billion industry because they think a shape shifting alien time traveller in a kids show being a woman or black is somehow the end of civilisation or that making programmes in general that aren’t aimed solely at them and their own world view is “woke”. Quite sad really.
BBC a national treasure….best joke I have heard in years…
I know hating, denegrating and destroying the fabric and institutions of the UK has been SOP of the right for the last few years. The rest of us actually quite like this country and really don’t want all of it sold off to the highest foreign bidder. But I guess we’ll have to just disagree.
I agree.
I too have issues with the bias that I perceive ( correctly or not ) on the BBC news and on Channel 4.
But my beef is with the news side, not the BBC as a whole, a great British institution with many non news programs my wife and I
enjoy.
Only jobsworths RQs and QMs ever enforced it anyway and got snookered by just hiding the tv with the George Foreman come inspection times as what’s the point of paying for one if you go on a 6 month tour.
The decline into trendy left wing dogma has destroyed the credibility of the BBC to anyone outside Hampstead, Islington & Camden. It is now just the broadcasting arm of the Guardian newspaper. See how many would pay to watch it if it moved to streaming. Not many is my guess by looking at the poor showing of the new woke Dr Who on Disney +.
John the TV tax (can you imagine in the 21st century of free mass media it’s bonkers) is an anachronism…lefties just like us to pay for their propaganda that is all. However, after reading the messages from the lefty supporters of the Beeb…they are convincing me I should get rid of my TV…then I don’t need to pay the TV tax. Can you imagine these lefties (all warm and generous) but they are happy to jail women and the elderly if they don’t pay the TV tax…. They bleat on about “soft” power whatever the hell that means (I think it means mugs) and also claiming erroneously that someone the Beeb supports all the arts and farts in the country…again tosh. Let’s get rid of the TV tax and join the 21st Century of mass free media….once it is done we’ll all wonder why the hell we paid for the crap that comes out of the Beeb…I genuinely I have not watched the Beeb in 20 years…but still have the pay the TV tax.
Yes but almost everything else you have watched was written, designed and produced by BBC trained people. They are the main source for media talent in the country. Destroy the BBC the other channels wither and die as well, starved of trained bodies. The BBC, like universities in engineering and Science, underpins the media and cultural industry in the UK, an industry worth £100billion. The reason the UK is a world leader in this area is because of the BBC. I’m afraid there is no getting away from that.
So other countries have no tv & films as they do not have the BBC?
No. But other countries the size of the UK don’t have the same size media industry. Germany, a larger country, has a significantly smaller one compared to the UK. I don’t think you realise quite how big and globally influential our media and culture industry is. Why do so many films get made here? Why do so many production companies, studios etc have a significant footprint here? Because we have a massive industry built on the foundation of the BBC. It’s globally respected and the people it trains at all levels are sought after.
The tax breaks help & the studios like Pinewood are not owned by the BBC.
The TV studios at Pinewood are BBC. They are moving out of them next year. But it’s been the home of BBC light entertainment for years. So a great example of the reach and role of the BBC. Next useful example?
But you really aren’t getting it. The jet engine was not invented at Oxbridge. But the fact the UK has a massive university sector that is state funded means that it was far more likely the jet engine would be invented here and that to this day we have a world beating aero engine industry. Rolls Royce is a private company, but its success is underpinned by a huge state funded university sector.
Big successful private industries in the UK where we have a world lead are always underpinned by state funded organisations. In culture we have the BBC, RSC, ROH, National Gallery, NHM, British Museum, Science Museum, English Heritage etc etc…all huge organisations that support a huge profitable £100billion industry that also safeguards the nations history, culture and art. The private companies that work in the sector would not thrive without this.
The BBC is an essential part of the UK’s soft power – it reaches places we’ve never heard of across the world with what amounts to “our narrative”.
That said, perhaps its time the Gov did more directly to ensure it’s survival. Whatever the case, Pvt Bloggs in the block shouldn’t bear the burden.
I remember my SSgt going around the block pressuring people with a TV to have a license. It’s only now that I realise how poor that actually was on his part. An authority figure who was meant to have our backs… what a miserable jobsworth.
The BBC is not soft power….I don’t even recognize that term soft power….all tosh…The only power a country has is it’s laws, its police (if they actually police) and the armed services…everything else is a mirage in the minds of left wingers…Unfortunately is a mirage that people like me have to pay for…However, you are making the case for me to get rid of my TV…
So the influence of culture, music, art on world history and affairs is all made up? International sport has no impact what so ever? Religion has no power? I don’t think you remotely understand the term you are dismissing. If art and culture have no power why do regimes destroy and ban so much of it when they come to power? Why do dictators fear freedom of art and expression?
Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Byron, Oscar Wilde, all seemed to manage without the BBC.
Well firstly they are great examples of things in the UKs soft power armoury, which was what I was replying to there. But as it happens the BBC is one of the key organisations that has helped transmit things like this globally over the last 100 years. If you have ever lived and worked abroad you would see that BBC period dramas (for instance) are held in very high regard and are well loved. That is exactly how soft power in this sense works. You need the material and a means of delivery…
Though I would add that Wilde was Irish.
Did the Bond or Carry On films need the BBC? No they did not.
You’re missing the point I keep making. Where do you think many of the writers, engineers, editors etc trained? Writer of the last Bond film?
When Oscar Wilde was being praised for his plays on the London Stage, Southern Ireland was still part of Great Britain. I don’t think Ian Fleming had anything to do with the BBC. The last Bond film was woke rubbish that managed to kill off Bond. Not the best idea for a long running, profitable IP.
You do understand that Ireland was never part of Great Britain? The 1801 Act of Union created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The fact you referred to it as ‘Southern Ireland’ a term obsolete after 1922 speaks volumes.
As for Bond. Oh dear. I assume Roger Moore during Bonds Carry On years is more your martini? NTTD was a stunning film. And they will just reboot, it’s really not difficult, though currently Broccoli is guarding the franchise from very silly expanded world ideas, so no new film fir a while yet.
But you really aren’t getting it. The jet engine was not invented at Oxbridge. But the fact the UK has a massive university sector that is state funded means that it was far more likely the jet engine would be invented here and that to this day we have a world beating aero engine industry. Rolls Royce is a private company, but its success is underpinned by a huge state funded university sector.
Big successful private industries in the UK where we have a world lead are always underpinned by state funded organisations. In culture we have the BBC, RSC, ROH, National Gallery, NHM, British Museum, Science Museum, English Heritage etc etc…all huge organisations that support a huge profitable £100billion industry that also safeguards the nations history, culture and art. The private companies that work in the sector would not thrive without this.