TV Licence

TV Licence exemption: www.tvlicensing.co.uk/contact-us/answers/ provides confirmation of exemption for the need to purchase a TV licence with certain conditions. The following answer was given for category 'Business or organisation TV licence', topic 'Clubs and communities' on the question of the royal wedding:

Do I need a TV Licence to watch the Royal Wedding at a community event?

Information about the licensing requirement for local events to mark the Royal Wedding

The BBC has decided to offer local communities a special, one-off dispensation to mark the Royal Wedding on 29 April 2011. This allows communities organising celebratory events and parties in premises such as town halls, community centres and streets across Britain, where TV is not usually watched, to screen the Royal Wedding live without needing to purchase an additional licence to do so.

The dispensation

By law, and in normal circumstance, if live television is viewed on any premises, these premises must be covered by a valid TV Licence. It is the property, rather than the television, that is licensed, so a separate licence would be needed if people were to use their TV sets/ equipment to screen live TV at a different place to the licensed address.

However, in exceptional circumstances, the BBC can grant a dispensation for the temporary use of TV sets away from the licensed address, so long as the TV is being used for the sole purpose of screening an event that is judged by the BBC to be of national importance. As the Royal Wedding is the marriage of the future heir to the throne and the day has been declared a national holiday, the BBC considers that the Royal Wedding is such an event.

Circumstances in which you would be eligible:

In order to be eligible to screen the Royal Wedding live on unlicensed premises, all of the following criteria must apply:

The television equipment must be:

    • Used solely to screen the Royal Wedding on the 29 April 2011

    • Used for the purposes of a community event

    • Normally used on a property that is already covered by a TV Licence.

For further information on the dispensation, please call 0300 790 6131.

See also: Royal Wedding page on this website and equipment options and related issues