Buy now – avoid a fine later

Did you know that your business could run the risk of incurring a £1000 fine in the next few months?

It’s all due to a campaign being carried out by TV Licensing, the industry watchdog, who will be visiting unlicensed business addresses in the next few months while there is sport on daytime television.

And your firm could be one of those caught out – even if you don’t have a television set on your premises!

It’s all due to the BBC’s online coverage of events such as Wimbledon, the Open golf and the Olympics.  Live pictures from all the events will be broadcast from the BBC website, and therefore can be watched from a workplace as long as there is a PC with a broadband connection available.

Many business owners will allow employees to watch BBC sports coverage on their PC’s at lunchtime, during breaks or maybe at the end of the day, but at the same time they may be unwittingly breaking the law.

Watching a television programme on a computer at work is no different to watching on a television set at home – if you’re watching programmes as they’re broadcast, you need to be covered by a valid licence.

What’s more, businesses can be held liable if someone is caught watching TV on unlicensed premises, even if they are unaware that their employee is doing so.

It means the onus is very much on the employer to ensure that they are covered in the event of a visit from TV Licensing, and paying £139.50 for a television licence will stop any possibility of a fine being incurred later on. 

For more information, visit www.tvlicensing.co.uk.  Television licences for business premises can be bought online at www.tvlicensing.co.uk/business.