New UK TV licencing laws will come into effect on the 1st September 2016, closing the so called “BBC iPlayer loophole”.
Current UK TV licencing laws require you to have a UK TV Licence to watch any live TV channels on any device within the UK.
But these law did not apply to catch up Tv services such as BBC iPlayer.
So people could not pay a UK TV Licence but still watch UK TV via iPlayer on catch up perfectly legally, and for free.
A new UK TV Licence deal will close the “catch-up loophole” and BBC to take over the cost of over 75s “free Licence”
Responding to a question about the so-called “iPlayer loophole”, which allows viewers to watch TV programmes without a licence, the Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said that Government had agreed that catch-up TV would in the future be treated the same way as viewing live TV in legislation. Full details about how this would be implemented remain to be seen.
It has been suggested that a digital licence could be introduced for those who only want to watch catch-up TV.
There was no implication that current licence fee holders would be forced to pay twice – it is thought they would simply be given a code letting them access the service.
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