While the BBC is known throughout the globe, it is of course a National Treasure across the pond in the UK. While a lot of that is down to nostalgia, as well as the excellent coverage that the BBC puts together for key events such as the Olympics, General Elections and extensive news coverage, the Beeb has become a formidable force in the 21st Century, too. With excellent news apps and of course, the iPlayer, the BBC has become not just a familiar face in many people’s living rooms, but also in their smartphone and tablets. The iPlayer, however, is essentially a different method of broadcasting the same shows that are propped by that pesky TV License Brits have to pay, and recently users of the iPlayer were required to have a TV License, regardless of whether or not they use Freeview or any other services.
Of course, as Brits will tell you, the idea of enforcing unpaid TV License payments is something people laugh at, because the authorities themselves don’t even take it that seriously, often preferring to warn someone over and over again, than take any real action. In the case of the iPlayer, things are changing once again, and starting from next year, users will be forced to sign up for a BBC account and log in with it, as well as provide their postcode if they want to keep using the service. While it’s said that this data will be primarily used “to make more informed decisions about future programming and services” as well as “give audiences a better experience” it’s understood that other departments within the BBC will have access to this information, which of course could lead to licensing enforcement at some point down the line.
Given that the majority of UK residents that enjoy the iPlayer also have some sort of TV service, which inevitably has to be paid for, this news shouldn’t affect too many people however, the BBC have said that since the rule that users enjoying the iPlayer would also have to have a TV license came into effect, there has been a spike in the amount of people paying for a license. All-in-all, this appears to be little more than an evolution of that previous rule change, and if nothing else appears to be a decent way for the Beeb to ensure their content is still paid for, no matter how indirectly.