Shropshire Star

Should people face prosecution for not paying the BBC licence fee? This is what you told us

We asked our readers if people should face prosecution for not paying the BBC licence fee.

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The TV licence is the BBC's main funding source, providing around £3.7 billion of its £5 billion annual income.

The rules are as follows - if you watch or record live TV programmes on any channel, you must pay for a TV licence.

Those who don't cough up the £169.50-a -year-fee could face prosecution, with a maximum £1,000 fine plus any legal costs or compensation.

In our comments section, it was clear that the rules confused some about whether or not they had to pay.

"They've set the rules that covers parts of internet and streaming services making it more difficult to prove you don't use it," wrote Meirion Woolf.

Meirion isn't wrong - you'll need one if you use BBC iPlayer, even if it isn't live TV. But you don't need one if you're watching catch-up using streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, ITVX, All 4 or My5 - unless you're using those services to watch live TV.