A dad has won a court battle with TV Licensing after he cancelled it to watch streaming platforms on his PlayStation.
Right now, a TV licence costs £174.50 per year, and grants you the ability to legally watch BBC content as well as live programming on any other channel, like ITV and Channel 4, either via an aerial or streamed. But what many don’t realise when they start receiving threatening letters about their TV licence is that you don’t actually need a TV licence in many circumstances and can legally pay £0 if you stick within the rules – as dad Lee Stuart, from Kirkby, has now proven in court.
Last year, Mr Stuart was visited by a TV Licensing inspector, wherein he explained that he didn’t watch live TV, or even have an aerial installed.
Mr Stuart said: “I told him I just watch Netflix and Amazon Prime through the PlayStation, and he asked me if I used BBC iPlayer and I said, ‘no’.”
The officer then read back the declarations Mr Stuart had made, and asked him to sign a document before leaving.
But Mr Stuart then received a Single Justice Procedure Notice in the post, a type of notice of prosecution in court. Mr Stuart chose to contest the notice and represented himself in court, and argued that the Licensing officer had put in the forms that Mr Stuart had watched the news, and had refused him entry.
Sefton Magistrates Court dismissed the case due to insufficient evidence. A TV Licensing spokesperson said: “This was reviewed by TV Licensing following the court hearing in April 2025 as is standard practice, and no failings were highlighted.”
Mr Stuart was indeed in the right, according to TV Licensing’s own rules.
On the basis of its own rules, 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