DIYbanter - View Single Post - OT : TV licensing

said...
I really don't follow this. If I want a TV for watching DVDs and/or
playing games, and that's all I want to use it for, I can't for the
life of me understand why I should pay a license fee!

Because that is how the rules is writ. TBH they are too vague and
haven't caught up with the fact that most broadcast TV is so dire that
it's not worth watching but people have TVs for other purposes such
has home cinema.

Coming to this thread late... I have a television that is only
used for videos and DVDs and I do not have a television
licence. I checked with the licencing authority before
acquiring the TV, because I knew that I'd only be watching
films on it rather than broadcast programmes, and they said
that I'd be OK if the *internal* arial on the TV was disabled.
Thus, since the TV couldn't receive programmes if it tried (a
lump of solder works wonders), it doesn't count for licencing
purposes. I still have the external arial on the roof;
however the set itself is incapable of receiving anything
other than video/DVD and the arial cable enters the house and
sits there doing nothing except look silly.