Do I need a TV licence and what does it pay for? Published duration 10 July

image copyright BBC Pictures image caption Episodes of Normal People have been streamed 54 million times

Most over-75s will now be required to pay the TV licence fee.

But what exactly is the licence fee - and who is required to have one?

How much is the licence fee and what is it for?

Money raised from the licence fee pays for BBC shows and services - including TV, radio, the BBC website, podcasts, iPlayer and apps. Almost £3.7bn was raised by the licence fee in 2019, accounting for about 76% of the BBC's total income of £4.9bn.

The remaining 25% (or £1.2bn) came from commercial and other activities (such as grants, royalties and rental income), according to the House of Commons Library.

Which over-75s need to pay?

From 1 August, the BBC will only fund a free licence for any household where someone aged over 75 receives pension credit. This could include more than 1.5 million households.

Up to 3.7 million people will lose their free licences.

Until the end of May, everyone aged over 75 could receive a free TV licence - which they had to apply for - paid for by the UK government.

The BBC had planned to require most over-75s to take on the cost at this time, but delayed the change because of coronavirus.

This cost the BBC an estimated £70m. Continuing to fund free TV licences for all over-75s would have resulted in "unprecedented closures".

Do I have to pay for a TV licence?

The law says that you must have a TV licence if you:

watch or record live TV programmes on any channel, even if it's not on the BBC

watch or stream programmes live on an online TV service such as ITV Hub, All 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now TV and Sky Go

download or watch any BBC programmes on iPlayer

The rules apply to any device on which a programme is viewed, including a TV, desktop or laptop computer, mobile phone, tablet or set-top box.

So, for example, someone watching a live football match on a non-BBC channel via a laptop, would still need a TV licence.

But a licence fee is not needed to view BBC programmes on other streaming services, like Netflix.

So, downloading Gavin & Stacey on Netflix would not require a TV licence, whereas downloading the same episode on iPlayer would.

It is also fine to watch non-BBC programmes on online catch-up services without a TV licence, as well as viewing clips on sites like YouTube, according to the government website

What happens if people don't pay the licence fee?

Watching live programmes without a TV licence fee is against the law

In 2018, more than 121,000 people were convicted for evasion. The average fine was £176, but the maximum penalty is £1,000, plus legal costs and/or compensation.

TV licence evasion itself is not an imprisonable offence. However, the government says non-payment of the fine, following a criminal conviction, could lead to a risk of imprisonment . This would be "a last resort", after other methods of enforcement have failed.

The government is now considering decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee by 2022. Announcing the consultation, Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan said it was time to think about keeping the fee "relevant" in a "changing media landscape".

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Lord Hall, who is stepping down as the BBC's director general , defended the charge, saying the corporation's success lies in it "being paid for and owned by the British public".