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Do You Need TV Licence To Watch Netflix? Let’s Find Out…

Is a TV licence required to watch Netflix? It’s a murky area of the law, so let’s find out once and for all…


If you live in the UK and you own a TV, for better or worse, you are legally required to have a TV licence. The reason people in the UK have to have a TV licence is to pay for the BBC, its staff, and its output. Don’t watch or use BBC services? Doesn’t matter – you still have to pay for one.

If you live outside the UK, a TV licence is not required – it is very much a British issue. But what about streaming services like Netflix? How do these types of content platforms fit into the UK’s TV licencing laws? As you’d expect, it’s not quite as simple as it might initially seem. Here’s everything you need to know…

Do You Need A TV Licence For Netflix?

If you’re in the UK and you ONLY watch Netflix, you DO NOT need a TV licence. This applies to any on-demand or online streaming platform. But if you do like to watch BBC iPlayer, you will, of course, need a TV licence. On top of this, if you watch ANY live TV or record live TV via Sky, Virgin, Freeview, or Freesat you will need a TV licence.

Similarly, the most commonly used streaming applications – ITV Hub, All 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now, Sky Go, and BBC iPlayer – will also require that you have an active and paid-for TV licence to watch them legally in the UK. And this is the law, so if you get caught using any of these services without an active TV licence you will get fined.

Basically, if you live in the UK and you do the following things, you need a TV licence:

  • watch or record TV on any channel via any TV service (e.g. Sky, Virgin, Freeview, Freesat)
  • watch live on streaming services (e.g. ITV Hub, All 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now, Sky Go)
  • You use BBC iPlayer

And all of the above applies not only to actual TVs, but also computers, laptops, phones, tablets, games consoles and digital boxes.

How Do They Check You Have A TV Licence?

Do You Need TV Licence To Watch NetflixPin

Plenty of people think they can get away with not having a TV licence, and in some cases, they’re correct. But like most illegal things, people can and do get away with it, sometimes for years, before eventually getting caught out. And the longer you’ve been without a TV licence, the higher your fine will be.

As for how the UK authorities check for active TV licences, there’s a variety of ways this is done, including huge, sprawling databases, agents prowling the streets in vans kitted out with “detection equipment”, and random checks on houses.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the main ways UK authorities check houses for TV licences, according to the UK’s regulatory body:

  • National database – a huge UK database of approximately 31 million licensed and unlicensed addresses. Agents use this as a starting point to start finding homes with a TV licence.
  • Visiting officers – If your home is listed on the database, your details could be passed over to an officer who will call around to your home to investigate whether you have a TV licence or not.
  • Detector vans – There is also a fleet of detector vans that can detect the illegal use of TVs. Again, if these catch you, an agent will call at your door and likely issue you a pretty hefty fine.

How likely is it that you’ll be caught? In my thirty-plus years of existence, I have never once encountered these “agents” but they do operate round the clock in the UK, so it is always worth having an active licence just in case.

TV Licence Fines – How Bad Are They?

If you’re caught watching TV – or any of the above-mentioned services – without a TV licence, you can get a maximum fine of £1000 plus any legal costs and/or compensation you may be ordered to pay. When you factor in the cost of a yearly TV licence, just £159, it probably isn’t worth NOT having one just in case you get caught out.

Richard Goodwin

Richard Goodwin has been working as a tech journalist for over 10 years. He has written for Den of Geek, Fortean Times, IT PRO, PC Pro, ALPHR, and many other technology sites. He is the editor and owner of KnowYourMobile.

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