Full list of people who don't have to pay for BBC TV licence as price rises to £180

TV licence costs will rise by another £5.50 per year from today, April 1, taking the BBC bill for live TV to £180 per year.

But many people don't realise, especially in the wake of the streaming revolution, that there are several legal ways to avoid paying for a TV licence, which can save you the entire charge.

Services like Netflix, ITVX, YouTube, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video have shifted the TV content landscape away from sitting down to watch a scheduled programme to simply hitting the button whenever you're ready to watch something.

From April 1, 2026, the TV licence, which is used to fund BBC TV services as well as some other public service functions like Welsh channel S4C, is set at £180 per year, or about £15 a month on Direct Debit, the Government has announced.

If you watch Match of the Day or Strictly Come Dancing, then you're out of luck - but there are many other scenarios where you can legally do away with it, and it's not just applicable to students.

What can I legally watch without a TV licence?

A common misconception is that TV licences are only needed to watch BBC content. Many will comment saying things like 'oh well I don't watch anything on the BBC so I don't need to pay'. This is a myth, and the rules on streaming platforms were changed some years ago. But there are lots of ways you can watch TV without a TV licence.

A TV licence is a legal requirement if you do any of these:

• watch or record TV on any channel via any TV service (such as Sky, Virgin, Freeview, Freesat)
• watch live content on streaming services (e.g. ITVX, Channel 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now, Sky Go)
• use BBC iPlayer at all

TV licences are per house, not per person, though.

This means if you live in a house with multiple people, you don't all need a TV licence unless your rooms are counted as separate addresses. Put simply, one shared address equals one licence, so a group of students all living under one roof can split the cost, but if you live in a separate flat with its own front door, even within a single house that's been split into flats, you need your own licence.

What you don't need a TV licence for:

• Watching DVDs or Blu-rays (yes, they still exist, and according to recent reports, sales are up as people ditch expensive streamers to go back to building their own collections)
• Watching Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV as long as it's NOT live content. E.g. you can watch Drive To Survive, Stranger Things, Ted Lasso or Clarkson's Farm without a TV licence, totally legally. But if you stray over to watching a live Premier League game on that same Amazon Prime sub, you'll need a licence.
• As the TV Licensing says: "You need to be covered by a TV Licence to watch programmes live on any online TV service - such as ITVX, Channel 4, Amazon Prime Video, Now or Sky Go. You don’t need a TV licence if you only ever watch on-demand programmes on any TV service apart from BBC iPlayer."
• LIVE is not just live as in a live match, but if you watch Coronation Street as it's being broadcast 'live', you need a TV licence. However, if you watch an ITV or Channel 4 show on catch-up later, you don't need a licence for that.

List of those who get a Free or discounted TV Licence:

• State pensioners can apply for a free TV licence if they are aged 74 or over and receive Pension Credit. Any household with a state pensioner receiving Pension Credit can get a free TV licence for the entire household.
• Blind people can get a discounted TV licence. If you are legally blind, you can get a cut-price TV licence at 50% off, which is £84.75.
• Black and white TV licences still exist. If you have a very old TV only in black and white, you can still get a black and white TV licence for £60.50
• Otherwise, it's just those who DON'T EVER watch any live TV, or BBC iPlayer either live or on catch-up, including streaming live TV (such as live football or live boxing).