BBC iPlayer now requires a TV Licence to watch your favorite shows online

Whether you watch online, on your Windows 10 Mobile phone or on your Xbox One, from today you need a TV Licence to watch content on the BBC iPlayer.

Until now there has been a loophole in the regulations that kept the online leg of BBCs broadcasting outside the need for a TV Licence, the mandatory payment for watching television that funds the BBC. That loophole said that only live TV delivered through iPlayer was subject to the rules and not on-demand content. This has now been locked down by the Beeb and the Government and if you watch, you pay.

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Find out more about TV Licensing and the BBC iPlayer

Richard Devine is the Managing Editor at Windows Central, where he combines a deep love for the open-source community with expert-level technical coverage. Whether he’s hunting for the next big project on GitHub, fine-tuning a WSL workflow, or breaking down the latest meta in Call of Duty, Forza, and The Division 2, Richard focuses on making complex tech accessible to every kind of user. If it’s happening in the world of Windows or PC gaming, he’s probably already knee-deep in the code (or the lobbies). Follow him on X and Mastodon.