TV Licence hiked for THIRD year in a row – adding £4 to bills from April 1
The Government has announced that the cost of an annual TV Licence will go up from £150.50
TELLY fans face paying £4 a year for their TV Licence after the BBC confirmed price rise for a third year in a row.
Bill payers now have to fork out £154.50 annually - up by £4 from £150.50 the year before.
In 2014, the Government announced that it would push up the cost of the annual fee - which funds BBC programming - for households to rise in line with inflation which was at 2.68 in the 12 months to September 2018.
In 2017, they increased fees for the first time since 2010, adding another £1.50 to household bills.
Since then they've increased prices every year, meaning Brits now pay £9.50 more annually than they did three years ago.
Now, viewers face another two more years of price rises.
Has the BBC hiked the TV Licence fee before?
BETWEEN 2010 and 2016, the TV Licence remained the same at £145.50 a year.
But int 2016, the Government announced that it would hike prices for telly fans to rise in line with inflation over the following five years, starting from April 2017.
This is how much it has gone up by so far:
- April 2017 - £147 (up £1.50)
- April 2018 - £150.50 (up £3.50)
- April 2019 - £154.50 (up £4)
Those buying or renewing a licence after April 1 2019 will have to pay the higher rate, while those who are on a monthly or weekly plan take out before then will continue to pay the old fee until the licence is up for renewal.
The cost of an annual black and white TV licence will also go up from £50.50 a year to £52.
Almost 3.5million Brits cancelled their TV licence fee between 2014 and 2018 — a rate of almost one million a year.
The figures showed that many are snubbing the BBC in favour of streaming sites such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and NowTV.
The BBC is already threatening to take away free licences for millions of pensioners as it considers increasing the age threshold for eligibility.
One report even warned that scrapping the fee could push 50,000 elderly bills payers into poverty.
The TV licence is going up by another £4 this year
Some telly addicts have taken to Twitter to slam the decision with one calling for the fee to be "abolished".
Elizabeth Bowes wrote: "I don't understand why people have to pay for a TV licence when we all pay enough for Vigin, Sky, Netflix and others. It's shocking."
Another claimed that the publicly funded service was "getting worse each year".
Telly fans used to be able to watch their favourite shows on BBC iPlayer for free but since 2016 the Government closed the loophole.
Now, you have to pay the annual fee whether you're watching live TV or the catch up service on any device.
The BBC pointed out that the licence fee funded award-winning shows like Killing Eve, Strictly Come Dancing and Match of the Day.
How to watch TV legally without paying for a licence
IN the UK, any household watching or recording live television must hold a TV licence.
In recent years, this has been extended to include BBC programmes on iPlayer, whether they are live, catch up or on demand. But does everyone really need a licence? Here’s the lowdown on how to avoid paying – legally.
On demand TV – like catch-up TV and on demand previews – which are available through services like ITV Player , All4 , My5 , BT Vision/BT TV , Virgin Media , Sky Go , Now TV, Apple TV, Chromecast , Roku and Amazon Fire TV
On demand movies - from services like Sky, Virgin Media, BT Vision, Netflix and Amazon Instant Video
Recorded films and programmes - either via DVD or Blu-ray, or downloaded from the internet
YouTube - On demand video clips through services like YouTube
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