The TV licensing authority stepped up its media activities recently to ensure that all television viewers on boats have the correct license.

The nature of the TV licence has, out of necessity, changed in recent years to take account of the fact that the way we watch television is changing. But this has introduce confusion over when licenses are required as previously it was the nature of the device used that governed whether one was required or not.

Portable tellies

Television viewers who had licenses to cover their TVs at home used to be able to watch TV outside their home, typically in a boat or caravan, as long as the television was portable and powered by batteries.

There is still a distinction between watching on a device plugged into the mains or powered by battery but whether or not you need a licence now tends to depend on whether a boat is being used as a primary residence.

Extent of licence

The TV licence applies to anyone watching or recording live television in the UK whether it's on a television, computer, tablet, phone or any other device.

A recent change was to extend the licence's remit to cover catchup TV on BBC iPlayer. So now you'll need a licence unless the only use for a device is to watch catch-up TV on services but excluding iPlayer.

Boat use

A recent press campaign by TV Licensing humorously advised boat owners: "We don’t want anyone to be caught out of their depth if they are found watching live TV, or BBC programmes on iPlayer, on board without a valid licence."

TV Licensing outsources its administration to a private company, Capita Business Services, so that company has to make a profit. Licence enforcement is largely down to checking addresses against TV licence records and as many boats don't have addresses it's hard for them to be checked.

Freedom of Information Request

After the recent press activity a Mr Andrew Denny made a Freedom of Information Request of the BBC to enquire as to how many people "have been prosecuted and convicted each year since 2010 for TV licence evasion". This would suggest that there are some in the boating community who aren't happy with the situation.

The BBC refused the request on the grounds that the licensing database doesn't distinguish between boats and other addresses so they would have to go through the database manually to extract them. Organisation have a right to refuse FoI requests if they are too difficult to reasonably comply with.

Make sure you're compliant

If you are watching TV on a boat which is a primary residence it makes sense to get a licence as fines can go up to £1,000. This is required whether the boat is cruising or moored.

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