TV Licensing
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- / Do I need a TV Licence to watch or stream programmes online?
Do I need a TV Licence to watch or ‘stream’ programmes online?
Watching online
You need to be covered by a TV Licence to watch live on streaming services - such as ITVX, Channel 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now, Sky Go, YouTube, Netflix and Freely.
You don't need a TV Licence if you never watch live on any channel, pay TV service or streaming service, or use BBC iPlayer*.
This includes recording and downloading. On any device.
Watching YouTube
You don’t need a TV Licence to watch videos or clips on demand on YouTube.
But you DO need a TV Licence if you watch TV live on YouTube. An example of this would be watching Sky News live. But it isn’t just live news or sport which needs a licence – it’s any programme which is part of a TV channel, shown or transmitted for everyone to watch at the same time.
What is streaming?
Streaming is watching TV using the internet instead of downloading a file to your device and watching it later.
Or let us know you don't need a TV Licence.
Other helpful information
*A licence is not needed to watch S4C programmes on demand.