In reading up a bit on TV licensing in Britain, the phrase "streaming media" came up a couple of times.
For example, this site: http://www.taith.org.uk/tv/index.html seems to be a good site for advice on the TV license. And on there, this page: http://www.taith.org.uk/tv/quickguide.htm mentions "streaming media", but seems to be referring to hardware (i.e. a TV card) as opposed to software applications. From the same site, this page: http://www.taith.org.uk/tv/faq.htm says "if you receive or record any television broadcasts (e.g. any ITV channels, Channel 4, Sky, cable, streaming media), you will need a TV licence" and further down "A 'television receiver' as defined includes ... TV-enabled PC ... streaming media, broadband, etc." although "If you do not use these for receiving broadcast TV signals, you do not need a licence." And lastly on this page: http://www.taith.org.uk/tv/safeguard.htm as part of their advice on what to do if an Enforcement Officer is coming round they suggest you delete any software from your PC that receives streaming media. It seems pretty obvious that if you have a TV card and are using your computer to watch TV you need a license. What's not clear is whether in the absence of a TV card software capable of showing you streaming video over broadband accounts. For example: * Does a default install of Ubuntu, plus broadband connection, require a TV license because of Totem Movie Player? (note that you can't watch BBC stuff online with Totem because you need Real of Windows media format) * What if I install Realplayer, so I can watch the BBCs videos online? * Does installing MPlayer, Xine, VLC etc., or additional codecs (e.g. w32codecs etc.) from Restricted Formats, make a difference? Does anyone have any experience of this? Other good sites of TV licensing info seem to be: http://www.marmalade.net/lime/ http://www.tvlicensing.biz/leaflets/pdf/tv_licence_guide.pdf -- https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SeanHammond -- ubuntu-uk mailing list ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk