england-and-wales consumer-protection spam
What (kind of body) is TV Licensing, and how do they select people to send their scary mailings to?
<p>Is the body a governmental department? Is it established or commissioned by any legislation in particular? What is its mandated function and mode of function? How does it select what addresses to send its lovely nonsense to, what addresses to skip over?</p>

<p>I worked for TV Licensing for 9 years. They have two databases: The Post Office Address File (PAF, which they subscribe to for a fee) and their own database of licenced (UK spelling) addresses. They run a periodic compare, and write to the ones that are on the PAF but not the TVL. At the time, there were 27 million households on the PAF, and 24 million on the TVL. Data from elsewhere showed that 97% of UK households had TVs, so there was a gap to be closed (around 3 million) which represented extra revenue for the BBC, and they got some of that kicked back as an incentive. The IT infrastructure was ancient (they still had a DEC VAX) and there were anomalies, e.g. letters were sent to places like &quot;Water Tank&quot; and &quot;Railway Signal Box&quot;, plus houses were demolished, new ones built, etc.</p>
<p>Also, TV dealers were obliged by law to notify TVL of the names and addresses of people buying or renting TVs, VCRs, etc, but no legal obligation on the buyer to provide their correct address, or any at all.</p>
<p>It is no more illegal to send letters to addresses asking if a TV licence is needed, than it is to send them asking if a credit card is wanted, or begging for a donation to a charity. The letters were carefully worded to avoid any accusation of wrongdoing.</p>
<p>It may be useful to remember that the funding model for the BBC was established nearly 100 years ago, in 1923, when a 'Radio Licence' was required to operate a broadcast radio receiver. These were expensive items, and usually bought from retailers, who could be obliged to notify the licensing authority of purchasers' names and addresses. By the time that licence was abolished, in 1971, radio sets were so cheap and ubiquitous that the scheme was unworkable. The same thing is happening with TVs. Where I live, not a rich suburb, people routinely give away 5 to 7 year old smart or non-smart TVs for nothing, or put them out for trash collection. I can get a USB TV tuner stick for around the equivalent of $15 that would turn my tablet, PC, or Raspberry Pi into a fully functioning TV.</p>
<p>The UK parliament is examining a number of alternative funding models, some of which involve transferring the burden to general taxation.</p>
<p><a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/23091/documents/169130/default/#:%7E:text=The%20BBC%27s%20main%20source%20of,other%2C%20non-public%20means." rel="nofollow noreferrer">HOUSE OF LORDS Communications and Digital Committee 1st Report of Session 2022–23 Licence to change: BBC future funding</a></p>
<p>Note for international readers: in the UK, 'licence' is the noun, and 'license' the verb.</p>

<p>Much of this is answered at <a href="https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/foi-legal-framework-AB16" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/foi-legal-framework-AB16</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A TV Licence is a legal permission to install or use television
receiving equipment to watch live on any channel, TV service or
streaming service, and to use BBC iPlayer*. On any device. This
applies regardless of which television channels a person receives or
how those channels are received. The licence fee is not a payment for
BBC services (or any other television service), although licence fee
revenue is used to fund the BBC.</p>
<p>The requirement to hold a TV Licence and to pay a fee for it is
mandated by law under the Communications Act 2003 and the
Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004 (as amended).
It is an offence under section 363 of the Communications Act 2003 to
watch live on any channel, TV service or streaming service, or use BBC
iPlayer* on any device, without a valid TV Licence.</p>
<p>Section 365 of that Act requires a person to whom a TV Licence is
issued must pay a fee to the BBC. The amount of this fee and the ways
it can be paid (as a lump sum or in instalments) is set out in the
Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004 (as amended).</p>
<p>Since 1991, the BBC, in its role as the relevant licensing authority,
has been responsible for collecting and enforcing the TV Licence fee.
The BBC contracts companies to do this work under the BBC trade mark
‘TV Licensing’. The BBC (and contractors acting on its behalf) must
comply with the law in collecting and enforcing the licence fee. The
BBC Charter further requires the BBC Board to ensure that these
arrangements are appropriate, proportionate and efficient.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So to your questions:</p>
<p><em>Is the body a governmental department?</em></p>
<p>No, it consists of private companies or individuals who are under contract to the BBC.</p>
<p><em>Is it established or commissioned by any legislation in particular?</em></p>
<p>Not per se, but the legislation mentioned above empowers the BBC to collect the fee, and the BBC delegates this function to the TV Licensing contractors.</p>
<p><em>What is its mandated function and mode of function?</em></p>
<p>To collect legally mandated television license fees.  It does so by various means, some of which are explained <a href="https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/our-roles-and-responsibilities-AB3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Typically we'll send a number of letters to remind occupants of the importance of being properly licensed. Then we’ll try to contact them by phone. If there’s still no response, we may send a visiting officer to see if there's any TV receiving equipment on the premises. Visits can result in evaders being caught. On average over 1,000 evaders are caught daily.</p>
<p>Detection equipment will only be used if other less intrusive and more cost effective routes have been exhausted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>How does it select what addresses to send its [letters] to, what addresses to skip over?</em></p>
<p>This does not appear to be prescribed by law, so presumably it is up to the discretion and internal policies of TV Licensing and/or the BBC.  That makes it beyond the scope of this site.</p>
<p>However, a reasonable guess would be that they send letters to all households that have neither paid a license fee nor been established as not needing one.  The letter you posted on your other question states that you can go to <a href="https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/noTV" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/noTV</a> to declare that you don't need a license.  I would assume that if your declaration is accepted, they will stop sending letters.</p>
