Sean, On Sat, 2006-09-23 at 19:33 +0100, Sean Hammond wrote:
> It seems pretty obvious that if you have a TV card and are using your > computer to watch TV you need a license. What's not clear is whether > in the absence of a TV card software capable of showing you streaming > video over broadband accounts. For example: > > * Does a default install of Ubuntu, plus broadband connection, require > a TV license because of Totem Movie Player? (note that you can't watch > BBC stuff online with Totem because you need Real of Windows media > format) > * What if I install Realplayer, so I can watch the BBCs videos online? > * Does installing MPlayer, Xine, VLC etc., or additional codecs (e.g. > w32codecs etc.) from Restricted Formats, make a difference? > > Does anyone have any experience of this? I wrote to the TV about this during the World Cup, as I figured lots of people at work would be watching matches on their PCs. It was quite clear that if you watch a TV programme that is being broadcast, no matter how it is received, either by aerial or broadband, then you need a TV license in order to watch it. The exception to this is that portable TVs do not need a license, so if you watch on a laptop that is not plugged into the mains, then you do not need a license! You don't need a license to watch material that is not currently being broadcast, i.e., TV clips of past programmes etc. I didn't ask your specific question, but there was no suggestion that just because you have the software to receive broadcast material you need a license. It's only if you actually watch something. The real problem is can your watching of broadcast material over broadband be detected? I don't know if a TV detector van can detect such activity on a computer monitor. They could spot your IP address accessing the servers, I guess, but then if you watch the multicast version, they don't have that information either. I'm not advocating watching stuff without a license, I just think the rules are not enforcable with today's technolies Regards, Tony. -- Tony Arnold, IT Security Coordinator, University of Manchester, IT Services Division, Kilburn Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. T: +44 (0)161 275 6093, F: +44 (0)870 136 1004, M: +44 (0)773 330 0039 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED], H: http://www.man.ac.uk/Tony.Arnold -- ubuntu-uk mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
