sky access without a TV licence

[pepe21]

So many of us are disillusioned with the TV licence after not only the sigificant costs to the elderly and most vulnerable now having to pay to keep the BBC funded but also at their lack of accountability. As such i am considering deleting my licence. 

The idea is mush like a parental control that enables a user to watch or record only on +1 hr channels there by avoiding any risk of being in contravention of the draconian TV licensing rules.  

In addition we would need a solution for non free to air channels like Sky sport whinc dont have a +1 hr but it is unclear if since this is not freely available if it is covered by the licencing laws

[Annie+UK]

You cannot cheat the system by using the +1 channels as they are treated like live broadcasts and not catch up

You would only be able to download from non-BBC content, everything else requires a Licence

[TimmyBGood · Accepted solution]

@pepe21 

As @Annie+UK indicates, anything coming over the satellite link is 'live' broadcasting and so viewing (or recording for later viewing) from a satellite tuner is a licenceable activity.

The law says you need to be covered by a TV Licence to:

• watch or record programmes as they’re being shown on TV, on any channel
• watch or stream programmes live on an online TV service (such as ITV Hub, All 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now TV, Sky Go, etc.)
• download or watch any BBC programmes on BBC iPlayer.

This applies to any device you use, including a TV, desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone, tablet, games console, digital box or DVD/VHS recorder.

To be able to claim non-licenceable use based on hardware alone you'd need an internet device which is on-demand only, cannot access streaming content which is also being broadcast, and is not iPlayer-capable at all.