You can legally cancel your BBC TV licence and cut your bill to £0 if you fit the circumstances.
TV licence: A look at reforms made to fee in 2022
TV Licences now cost £180 a year having increased again in April before new Prime Minister Andy Burnham took over. But Mr Burnham’s government has committed to the current system until at least the end of the Charter period in 2027, and as such, there are still various loopholes, discounts and allowances open to allow people to get a free or cheap TV Licence under his watch.
Services like Netflix, ITVX, YouTube, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video have shifted the TV content landscape away from sitting down to watch a scheduled programme to simply hitting the button whenever you’re ready to watch something.
From April 1, 2026, the TV licence, which is used to fund BBC TV services as well as some other public service functions like Welsh channel S4C, has been set at £180 per year, or about £15 a month on Direct Debit.
If you watch Match of the Day or Strictly Come Dancing, then you’re out of luck – but there are many other scenarios where you can legally do away with it, and it’s not just applicable to students.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has already confirmed that the TV Licence and its current set of concessions will be kept as is under Andy Burnham until at least the end of 2027.
Responding to a petition on the issue, it said:”There are a number of TV licence concessions available, including for over-75s in receipt of pension credit. There is no BBC concession to provide free TV licences for all pensioners at this time.
“TV Licence concessions are set out in legislation and are currently available to people who are registered blind or severely sight impaired, as well as to over-75s in receipt of pension credit, and people living in qualifying residential care who are disabled or over 60 years old.
“The Government is committed to the current licence fee and its available concessions for the remainder of this Charter period, until the end of 2027.”
What can I legally watch without a TV licence?
Even if you don’t qualify for a reduced cost TV Licence due to Pension Credit, a common misconception is that TV licences are only needed to watch BBC content. Many will comment saying things like ‘oh well I don’t watch anything on the BBC so I don’t need to pay’. This is a myth, and the rules on streaming platforms were changed some years ago. But there are lots of ways you can watch TV without a TV licence.
A TV licence is a legal requirement if you do any of these:
- watch or record TV on any channel via any TV service (such as Sky, Virgin, Freeview, Freesat)
- watch live content on streaming services (e.g. ITVX, Channel 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now, Sky Go)
- use BBC iPlayer at all
TV licences are per house, not per person, though.
This means if you live in a house with multiple people, you don’t all need a TV licence unless your rooms are counted as separate addresses. Put simply, one shared address equals one licence, so a group of students all living under one roof can split the cost, but if you live in a separate flat with its own front door, even within a single house that’s been split into flats, you need your own licence.
A TV licence is not needed for some platforms (Image: PA)
What you don’t need a TV licence for:
- Watching DVDs or Blu-rays (yes, they still exist, and according to recent reports, sales are up as people ditch expensive streamers to go back to building their own collections)
- Watching Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV as long as it’s NOT live content. E.g. you can watch Drive To Survive, Stranger Things, Ted Lasso or Clarkson’s Farm without a TV licence, totally legally. But if you stray over to watching a live Premier League game on that same Amazon Prime sub, you’ll need a licence.
- As the TV Licensing says: “You need to be covered by a TV Licence to watch programmes live on any online TV service – such as ITVX, Channel 4, Amazon Prime Video, Now or Sky Go. You don’t need a TV licence if you only ever watch on-demand programmes on any TV service apart from BBC iPlayer.”
- LIVE is not just live as in a live match, but if you watch Coronation Street as it’s being broadcast ‘live’, you need a TV licence. However, if you watch an ITV or Channel 4 show on catch-up later, you don’t need a licence for that.
List of those who get a Free or discounted TV Licence:
- State pensioners can apply for a free TV licence if they are aged 74 or over and receive Pension Credit. Any household with a state pensioner receiving Pension Credit can get a free TV licence for the entire household.
- Blind people can get a discounted TV licence. If you are legally blind, you can get a cut-price TV licence at 50% off, which is £90.
- Black and white TV licences still exist. If you have a very old TV only in black and white, you can still get a black and white TV licence for £60.50
- Otherwise, it’s just those who DON’T EVER watch any live TV, or BBC iPlayer either live or on catch-up, including streaming live TV (such as live football or live boxing).