Well its that same old question that comes up every now and again of “how to cancel your BBC TV licence”.
Below are various ways to legally cancel the illegal tax of the British Bias Corporation known as the BBC. Let’s be clear that most people do not even need a licence to watch the TV but over the years the BBC and with the help from the government have very cleverly tricked us into thinking we automatically need a BBC licence when in fact we DONT if all you watch is Catch-up TV.
What is a live broadcast, and am I receiving it?
A broadcast is a signal which is transmitted and received by a
device that can then translate that signal into audio and/or an image. An example of this would be a radio or a TV, when a radio station sends out a signal the radio would receive that signal and translate the audio giving us music and so on.
Now when someone mentions live broadcast, the exact same thing is occurring except this means the broadcast is in real time, give or take a few seconds. For example all channels BBC, UTV, SKY etc. are all being broadcasted live, some of the programs on that channel may have been pre-recorded but the broadcast station is transmitting that
program live to your TV. There is a service known as ‘catch up’ which is not a live broadcast, as catch up gives you the ability to watch previously aired programs; catch up is essentially a service that records programs received from a live broadcast which then allows you to re-watch those programs. An example of a catch up service would be BBC
iPlayer.
How do I cancel my TV License?
Your payment method is very important at this point, if your method of payment is a payment card then you must cancel by phone or letter for any other method you can cancel by phone, letter or online.
My TV Licence is up for renewal, how do I cancel?
If you’re not planning on renewing your licence then the simplest way to cancel would be to let it run out. If you don’t renew your licence then it will automatically cancel
(excludes payment cards); after your renewal date, simply return future letters unopened with “Return to sender, no longer resides” written on it, this will trigger the legal occupier and then all you have to do is bin the letters that are addressed to the legal occupier.
Why are payment cards different than every other payment method?
Agreeing to the payment card gives
TV Licensing more power to use against you e.g. Debt Collector; this is because a payment card is a loan, with this card TV Licensing claim to have paid in full for your licence and upon agreeing to pay by payment card you are also agreeing to back this loan, which means you owe them the total amount of the fee. You must pay for the first 6 months before cancelling otherwise this will turn into debt and you will be powerless against TV Licensing in this matter, the payment card will automatically renew until you cancel it, so it’s important that you do this and receive confirmation, after 6 months any money you pay will be seen as advanced payments which means when cancelling you would be
owed money paid after the 6 month period, although receiving a full refund is different story.
Where do I send my letter?
Send your letter by recorded delivery to the following address:
Customer Relations
TV Licensing
Darlington
DL98 1TL
Why should I send it by recorded delivery?
I always recommend sending letters by recorded delivery in fact I always advise everyone to send a letter to TV Licensing instead of using the other methods, also keeping a copy of
the letter you sent is always good practice.
The reason for this is evidence, if you send them a letter by recorded delivery they cannot ignore it, you will have their signature proving they received it, this means when cancelling you will have proof they received your letter plus you will have a copy of the letter you sent. This is by far the best method when speaking to them as they have the tendency to ignore the phone and online method.
Here’s a couple of template letters to use:
Active Licence – Cancellation & Declaration:
To whom it may concern,
As of today’s date [Enter Date] I wish to cancel my television licence Enter Licence Number.
I do not require a television licence, as I do not receive or record live television broadcasts. Please send confirmation that you have updated my address in your database and that you acknowledge my cancellation.
Yours Sincerely
Enter your Address here
Harassment & Declaration; Legal Occupier:
To whom it may concern,
As I am suffering the harassment of companies trying to sell me your service I feel strongly that I must ask you to remove ‘Enter your address’ from your database of persons requiring a licence.
Although I am not lawfully obliged to inform you of anything, I will take this opportunity to do so respectfully. I do not require a television licence, as I do not receive or record live television broadcasts.
Furthermore I ask that you send confirmation in writing that you have updated your database accordingly for the address mentioned above.
Yours sincerely
The Legal Occupier
Edit: Please note, this info may be out of date and we will update the blog post soon.
