The BBC and its role as TV licensing authority
Who is the controller of your personal data?
How do we protect your personal data?
Where we store your personal data
How we use Cookies and similar technologies
The British Broadcasting Corporation (the “BBC”, “we”, “us”, “our”), is committed to protecting your personal data.
As well as being the UK’s principal public service broadcaster, the BBC also has responsibility for collecting the television Licence fee and enforcing the legal requirement to hold a TV Licence. 'TV Licensing' (“TVL”) is a trademark of the BBC and is used by the BBC, and companies contracted by the BBC, to administer the television licensing system.
This Privacy Policy explains how your personal data will be collected, used and shared as part of the operation of the TV Licence and sets out your rights under applicable data protection law.
Personal data includes information about you or another person such as the name on the licence, contact details, financial details and internet protocol (IP) address of a device used to access our websites and apps.
For more information about how the BBC processes your personal data when you use our services and products, please see the BBC Privacy Policy and any additional privacy information that is provided as part of a specific BBC product or service.
When this Policy refers to a person who has a TV Licence, it includes the person who buys and pays for a TV Licence and anyone else covered by the TV Licence. This might be members of a household, visitors, and employees in a workplace.
The BBC is a public service broadcaster established by Royal Charter. Our Mission is to act in the public interest, serving audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services, which inform, educate and entertain.
More details about our functions, how we are funded and regulated are set out in statute, including the Communications Act 2003, the BBC’s Framework Agreement with the government and Ofcom’s Operating Framework and Operating Licence.
As well as being the UK’s main public service broadcaster, we’re also responsible for collecting the TV Licence fee, issuing licences, and enforcing the collection of fees in the UK, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Bailiwick of Jersey and the Isle of Man. This is explained in Part 4 of the Communications Act 2003.
As part of our role, we let households and organisations know when they need a TV Licence. They can then buy one or tell us they don’t need one.
We investigate the status of unlicensed addresses. Where the unlicensed use of a TV receiver is suspected or there is sufficient evidence that an offence has or is taking place and it is in the public interest, we will either prosecute or report our findings to the relevant authorities where we are unable to prosecute.
Under data protection law, the BBC is the controller of the personal data collected and used for the purposes set out in this Policy.
This means that we are responsible for deciding how and why your personal data is used and for keeping your data safe and secure. We are legally responsible for your personal data including where your personal data is used in connection with the day-to-day TV Licensing operations carried out by third-party contractors on our behalf.
You can contact us to:
If you have any questions about this Policy or how the BBC processes your personal data, please contact the BBC’s Data Protection Officer at:
Under data protection law we must have a valid reason for each purpose for which we process your personal data. This is known as a ‘lawful basis’.
Our lawful basis for processing your personal data is that it is necessary for the performance of our TV Licensing functions. This is a task that we carry out in the public interest and in the exercise of our official authority under article 6(1)(e) of UK GDPR. Where we process your personal data for the purposes of our law enforcement activity carried out for the performance of our TV Licensing function, we are entitled to do so under data protection law.
We process special category data, such as health data, on the basis of substantial public interest to operate the TV Licensing system, such as to respond to a request for us to make reasonable adjustments.
We also process special category data where you give consent for us to process it, such as during a visit by a TVL visiting officer.
We process your personal data to operate TV Licensing as explained below.
In order to issue you with a TV Licence or confirm that you don’t need one, we collect and use personal data that you give us when you use the BBC’s services. We also use websites and data that third parties give us.
We collect the following personal data:
If someone acts on your behalf (i.e. where you have authorised them to give us your personal data) we will collect their name and contact details too.
We also use information about your health or any disabilities, if you give it to us. This helps us to provide you with accessible information and support.
How do we collect your personal data?
We collect personal data you and third parties give us and through your use of TV Licence services, websites and apps in the following way:
Third parties share data with us, such as:
Categories of third-party processors we use |
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We use third parties when issuing you with a TV Licence, such as to:
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Some personal data will be processed outside of the UK in the EEA, Australia and India. The international transfer of personal data is safeguarded by UK adequacy decisions and standard contractual clauses. |
Which third parties do we share your personal data with?
In specific circumstances we share your personal data with third parties which they use for their own purposes (as data controllers) such as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
How long do we keep your personal data for?
We keep your personal data for as long as it is needed for its purpose, which is set out in this Policy. Each purpose has an exact period that we keep it for. This is set out in our Retention Policy, which we keep under review.
We keep personal data to manage your TV Licence for the length of the customer relationship.
We keep data on licensed and unlicensed addresses (including when you tell us you do not need a TV Licence) for as long as it is needed to keep our customer database up to date.
We will keep your personal data longer if it is required for legal or regulatory reasons, such as to deal with complaints.
We use your personal data to help us collect the TV Licence fee. This includes issuing any refunds and contacting you if a payment has failed.
We process the following personal data you and third parties share with us in the following ways:
If someone is paying for your TV Licence on your behalf, we will collect this personal data from them.
How do we collect your personal data?
We collect the personal data you and third parties share with us in the following ways:
Categories of third-party processors we use |
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We use third parties which help us to collect the Licence Fee, such as to:
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Which third parties do we share your personal data with?
In specific circumstances we share personal data with third parties which they use for their own purposes (as data controllers) such as the Pay UK (BACS) and Paypoint.
Payment Providers
Unless you’re paying by cash, we share your personal data with payment providers who act as data controllers for some data processing, so that we can accept your payment. These might be financial institutions – for example, your bank, your card issuer, or our bank. They might also be payment card schemes, like Visa or MasterCard.
These payment providers may transfer data outside the UK. For more information about how they use your data, whether they transfer it outside the UK and the applicable safeguards to protect your data, we recommend you read your bank or card issuer’s (such as Mastercard or Visa) privacy policies.
You can also read more about how our bank, Natwest, and our card handler, Barclays, process your personal data in their privacy policies.
How long do we keep your personal data?
We will keep your personal data only for as long as it is needed. Each purpose described in this Policy has an exact period that we keep personal data for. This is set out in our Retention Policy, which we keep under review.
We use your personal data when you contact us, for example if you have an enquiry or complaint. It allows us to consider or respond to what you are telling us.
You can send us notifications (such as if you do not need a TV Licence), ask a question and make complaints about TV Licensing by visiting the Help and Contact Us page, where you can email us, or by calling 0300 790 6130 or writing to us at TV Licensing, Darlington, DL98 1TL.
How do we collect your personal data?
We collect the personal data you share with us in the following ways:
Categories of third-party processors we use |
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We use third parties which help us to:
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Some personal data will be processed outside of the UK in Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man. The international transfer of personal data is safeguarded by UK adequacy decisions. |
Which third parties do we share your personal data with?
In specific circumstances we share personal data with third parties which they use for their own purposes (as data controllers) such as the Channel Islands Social Services Departments.
How long do we keep your personal data for?
We will keep your personal data for as long as it is needed. Each purpose described in this Policy has an exact period that we keep personal data for. This is set out in our Retention Policy, which we keep under review.
We delete personal data as follows:
We may from time to time send you communications about TV Licensing, for example by post, email, or text. They help us:
Automated Decisions
We use your personal data to make automated decisions about what communications to send or show you. As part of this, we might also use such decisions to place you in a particular group of customers with similar characteristics.
This helps us to make sure our decisions are quick, fair, efficient and correct, based on what we know.
We use automated decisions to:
How do we use your personal data?
We use your personal data you share with us to:
How do we collect your personal data?
We collect the personal data that you and third parties share with us to help us communicate with you and improve our services in the following ways:
We may also invite you to participate in our surveys from time to time. If you agree to participate, in most cases, we do not collect information which will identify you. If we propose to collect personal data to help us contact you and understand your responses, we will tell you before we collect it. You can then decide whether you wish to take part in the survey. You can opt out from receiving future invitations to take part by emailing us or calling us on 0300 790 6130.
Categories of third-party processors we use |
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We use third parties when we send you communications about TV Licensing, such as to:
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Some personal data will be processed outside of the UK in Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man and the US. The international transfer of personal data is safeguarded by UK adequacy decisions and standard contractual clauses. |
Which third parties do we share your personal data with?
In specific circumstances we share personal data with third parties which they use for their own purposes (as data controllers) such as the Post Office and Channel Islands Post Office.
How long do we keep your personal data?
We will keep your personal data for as long as it is needed. Each purpose described in this Policy has an exact period that we keep personal data for. This is set out in our Retention Policy, which we keep under review.
We keep personal data as follows:
We keep statistical information indefinitely to help us measure the effectiveness of our communications. This is not personal data as no individual can be identified from that information.
We use your personal data to communicate with you through several different channels such as post and email. Even though we do not engage in direct marketing [email direct marketing], we still offer our customers a limited opt out for email communications. However, if you later decide to use our online TV Licence services you will be opted back in to receiving email communications sent by us, even if you have previously opted out. It is therefore not currently possible for you to permanently opt out of all email communications sent by us.
You cannot opt out of postal communication, as we require it as a minimum necessary channel to contact you. You can also choose an alternative correspondence address if you wish for communications to not be sent to your licensed address. However, if you provide an email address, we will endeavour to email you instead of sending communications via post.
We have a public duty to keep costs as low as possible and reduce our carbon footprint. So, where possible we would rather contact you electronically, for example by email or text.
If you have given us your email address, we will use this to send you email communications to contact you about your TV Licence, including sending you a link to your online TV Licence. However, if you prefer to receive your TV Licence via post, you can opt out of receiving an online TV Licence by signing into our website to switch to a paper licence.
You can tell us you don't want to receive email communications on the TV Licensing website. But you may be opted back in to receive email communications in future, as described below.
Whenever you use our online TV Licensing services, such as renewing your licence, changing your address or bank account, or informing us that you do not need a licence, you will need to provide an email address. By doing so you will be opted back into receiving email communications, even if you have previously opted out. This email address will then be used to send you an email with information confirming your online transaction, and/or if we need to contact you about the transaction, for example if there has been an issue with your renewal payment.
You can email us or call us on 0300 790 6130 to tell us not to contact you by email. From then on, if we need to contact you, we will instead call you or write to you (if you have provided a post address), unless you provide your email address to us after opting out of email communications as described in the section above.
If you pay for your TV Licence using the Simple Payment Plan, and you want us to stop emailing you, you can write to us at: The Simple Payment Plan Team, TV Licensing, PO BOX 923, Newport NP20 9PR or you can call us on 0300 555 0510.
Currently, due to systems limitations, we cannot send you messages by email if you have a free TV Licence, or if you pay for your TV Licence using a TV Licensing Payment Card.
If you have given us a mobile number, we may use it to send you SMS text messages about your TV Licence, where appropriate. For example, to let you know if a payment has failed. However, we will primarily communicate to you via email or post.
We do text customers in certain segments, for example customer satisfaction surveys, Cash customers who miss payments, informing Direct Debit customers about their very first payment being taken. In certain situations, you will be able to opt out of these communications, for example customer satisfaction surveys.
If you want to tell us not to send you text messages, you can email us or call us on 0300 790 6130. From then on, if we need to contact you, we will instead call you or email you (if you have provided an email address).
If you pay for your TV Licence using the Simple Payment Plan, and you want us to stop sending you texts, you can write to us at: The Simple Payment Plan Team, TV Licensing, PO BOX 923, Newport NP20 9PR or you can call us on 0300 555 0510.
We work with trusted third-party partners, like social media networks and other third-party website publishers, to identify groups of individuals with shared demographic and/or behavioural characteristics. This helps us to tailor TV Licensing messages to particular groups of individuals on these third-party networks' websites. We do this by sharing your encrypted contact data (such as your postal address or email address) with our third-party partners which is then compared with encrypted information held by them. When a match is found, this information is then used to group you together with other individuals who share your characteristics, and a tailored TV Licensing message is then presented to these individuals on the third-party network or website.
Third-party websites and social media networks give us information to help us to measure the effectiveness of our website and social media network posts and messaging campaigns. This helps us to understand if our messages are read or if they are clicked. This helps us tailor our messaging campaigns to ensure that they are relevant and effective and to design services for different customer groups.
Our messaging campaigns help the BBC to fulfil our public function to collect the TV Licence fee and to enforce the requirement to hold a TV Licence. We provide relevant information that informs users when a TV Licence is needed and how to buy one.
We take measures to make sure our records are correct and up to date.
To keep the information, we store up to date, we use the personal data you share with us and personal data we receive about you from our trusted third-party data providers.
You can help us keep your personal data up to date by letting us know if:
You can also ask us to update any of your personal data if you think it is inaccurate, out of date, or incomplete at any time by:
How do we collect your personal data?
We collect personal data you and third parties give us as follows:
Third-Party Data Providers
Reputable organisations that you may have engaged with give us data. This helps us to understand whether the personal data we hold about you is correct by comparing it with the data they hold about you in their databases from publicly available sources (such as the Edited Electoral Roll) and data you have given them (such as through purchases or surveys). This includes third parties such as Equifax, Experian, Ordnance Survey, Read Group and Royal Mail.
We use personal data to help us as follows:
Royal Mail
The BBC receives postal address information for properties from Royal Mail (Postcode Address File). We use this information to ensure our customer database is accurate, such as to add new addresses and delete addresses which no longer exist.
Address base
The BBC has access to Ordnance Survey’s Address base data, as a member of the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA). TV Licensing use this data to identify and understand more about addresses we have on our database, including geospatial location, as well as to identify any addresses that we may not have on the database.
Categories of third-party processors we use |
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We use third parties when you update the personal information that we hold, such as to:
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Which third parties do we share your personal data with?
In specific circumstances we share personal data with third parties which they use for their own purposes (as data controllers) such as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The BBC also shares Postcode Address File addresses with Royal Mail as part of the process to ensure our customer database is accurate. Royal Mail may be able to identify occupiers of UK addresses if they use other information which they hold. Royal Mail is the data controller responsible for the safeguarding and processing of the personal data it holds. You can see the Royal Mail PAF / Postcode Address File product website for more information on how Royal Mail processes personal data.
How long do we keep your personal data for?
We will keep your personal data for as long as it is needed. Each purpose described in this Policy has an exact period that we keep personal data for. This is set out in our Retention Policy, which we keep under review.
Personal data provided to us by a third-party data provider is deleted once it has been used for checking the quality of our customer database or to contact individuals.
We use your personal data to make sure our database of licensed and unlicensed addresses is up to date and correct.
How do we collect this personal data?
We collect personal data that you and third parties share with us in the following ways:
Categories of third-party processors we use |
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We use third parties to help manage the TV Licence Database, such as to:
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Which third parties do we share your personal data with?
In specific circumstances we share personal data with third parties which they use for their own purposes (as data controllers) such as Royal Mail.
How long do we keep your personal data for?
We will keep your personal data for as long as it is needed. Each purpose described in this Policy has an exact period that we keep personal data for. This is set out in our Retention Policy, which we keep under review.
Personal data provided to us by a third-party data provider is deleted once it has been used for checking the quality of our customer database or to contact individuals.
We will delete your personal data that we collect in relation to your use of BBC products as explained in the BBC Privacy Policy – How long will you keep my information?
We keep track of the responses we get from our campaigns, TV Licence sales, claims that a TV Licence is not needed, complaints and enquiries.
This helps us to:
How do we collect your personal data?
We collect personal data as follows:
How long do we keep your personal data for?
We will keep your personal data for as long as it is needed. Each purpose described in this Policy has an exact period that we keep personal data for. This is set out in our Retention Policy, which we keep under review.
We keep some statistical information indefinitely to help us understand our customers’ needs and continue to improve our performance over time.
It is a criminal offence to use a TV receiver or watch BBC iPlayer (except S4 on demand) without a TV Licence. Under Part 4 of the Communications Act 2003, the BBC is the TV Licensing authority in the UK and has the legal function of enforcing the requirement to have a TV Licence.
As part of this role, we might use your personal data to:
Investigating TV Licence evasion
We use personal data, including any information in relation to your use of services that require a TV Licence, to detect TV Licence evasion. Suspected evasion may be investigated by a visit to a property.
If a visiting officer visits your address, they will identify themselves clearly to you, and will ask you to provide the following personal data if it is required:
Visiting officers' body worn cameras
The BBC’s data processor for the administration of TV Licensing, Capita Plc, may collect personal data through their visiting officers' body worn cameras for the purpose of protecting their visiting officers' health and safety.
Capita is the data controller of the personal data it collects and processes through the use of body worn cameras for the purpose of protecting their visiting officers' health and safety as governed by the Capita Body Worn Video Privacy Notice.
Prosecuting TV Licence evasion
We process personal data, including data relating to offences (including alleged offences), criminal proceedings, outcomes, and sentences for the purposes of conducting prosecutions where appropriate.
Evidence of the use of a TV receiver and any additional related information held will be used to:
We will write to you to inform you of any of the above decisions, where this is appropriate.
How a decision to prosecute is made
A decision on whether to prosecute is made as follows:
How do we collect your personal data?
We collect the data you give us as explained in Investigating TV Licence evasion and occasionally we may also obtain personal data from other sources such as law enforcement agencies, legal representatives, courts, local authorities, suppliers of goods and services and members of the public.
Categories of third-party processors we use |
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We use third parties to help us to enforce the law, such as to:
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Some personal data will be processed outside of the UK in Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man The international transfer of personal data is covered by UK adequacy decisions. |
Which third parties do we share your personal data with?
In specific circumstances we share personal data with third parties which they use for their own purposes (as data controllers) such as:
We may also share your personal data where we are required or permitted to do so by law. This includes where we need to protect or enforce our rights or to enforce our official authority.
Other public authorities such as the police may also ask for personal data. These requests are considered case-by-case, and we will balance your privacy against the importance of the reasons why the request has been made (e.g. to investigate serious crimes).
How long do we keep your personal data for?
We will keep your personal data for as long as is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy and our Retention Policy, which we keep under review.
We will keep your personal data for as long as it is necessary to decide whether to send a visiting officer to your property and in the case of a reoffence or an appeal this personal data will impact any decision and may be disclosed to the court.
Your rights
You have rights in relation to the personal data that we process about you for law enforcement purposes under Part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018. For more information in relation to the rights that apply where your personal data is processed for law enforcement purposes, please see Your Rights.
To improve BBC services, we sometimes use personal data as described within the policy. We set out how in the BBC Privacy Policy as well as this policy.
The BBC uses information about its audience to help make decisions about what content to make. We want to be sure that we’re making something for everyone – especially groups that have been underserved by the BBC in the past.
How long do we keep your personal data for?
The BBC will delete your personal data to improve BBC services as explained in the BBC Privacy Policy – How long will you keep my information?
We are strongly committed to keeping your personal data safe.
To do this, we only collect the data that we need. We have dedicated teams to make sure your data is kept as secure as possible.
If you are worried that your TV Licence account, BBC account or other personal data held by the BBC has been put at risk, get in touch with us straight away.
We store your personal data on our servers in the UK.
We sometimes securely send your personal data outside of the UK when data is processed on our behalf. For example, we do this for some of our communications, changes of address, and refund requests. We only do this if we are satisfied with the security levels and safeguards in place to protect your personal data.
Please see the relevant sections of this Policy for the location of any data that we process outside of the UK and the relevant safeguards which protect your personal data.
You have rights about the personal data we hold about you. While some of these rights apply generally, some rights apply only in certain limited circumstances. Some do not apply (or apply differently) in relation to personal data held for law enforcement purposes. We may need some identification to check you are who you say you are before we can action your request to exercise your rights.
For more details about your rights, you can contact our Data Protection Officer.
Please see a full explanation of how to exercise your rights below.
You have the right to know what personal data we hold about you. If you ask us, we’ll confirm whether we’re processing your personal data and, if so, provide you with a copy of that personal data.
There is normally no charge for a request, but we may charge a reasonable fee if the request is repetitive or unreasonable. We are generally required to respond to a request within one month.
If the personal data that we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to ask us to correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data that we hold about you.
You can ask us to delete your personal data in certain circumstances such as where we no longer need it. We will be entitled to retain a basic level of information about you to perform our TV Licensing functions properly.
You have the right to ask us to restrict or suppress the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances. This includes where you disagree with the accuracy of the personal data we hold, or you object to us processing it.
There may be reasons why we need to continue processing your personal data in which case we can refuse your request.
We will tell you before we lift any restriction.
You have the right, if we are processing based on your consent which is not usually the case, to obtain personal data you have provided us so that you can reuse it elsewhere or to ask us to transfer this to a third party of your choice.
You can ask us to stop processing your personal data in certain circumstances. We will cease processing your personal data if we are relying on our own or someone else’s legitimate interests to process your personal data unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue processing or where it is needed for legal reasons.
You have the right not to be subject to an automated decision that is based solely on automatic processing, which produces a legal effect or a similarly significant effect. You can ask that a person reviews it.
We would like to help resolve any concerns or complaints that you may have. If you would like to make a complaint or discuss how we process your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer by sending an email to dataprotection.officer@bbc.co.uk.
To exercise any of Your Rights, please email tvl.policy@capita.co.uk or write to the Data Protection Manager, TV Licensing, Darlington, DL98 1TL.
If you make a request, we may tell you that we need to verify your identity where we have reasonable doubts who you are. We are entitled to request reasonable and proportionate information to confirm your identify and we may delay dealing with any request until this is received.
We would like to help resolve any concerns or complaints that you may have. If you would like to ask a question or make a complaint about how we process your personal data, please contact the BBC Data Protection Officer by sending an email to dataprotection.officer@bbc.co.uk.
If you continue to have a concern about the way we have handled your personal data, you can raise your concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) https://ico.org.uk/. However, the ICO recommends that you attempt to resolve your query or complaint with us before contacting the ICO if possible.
To collect information about how you use our products and services, our websites and apps, such as tvlicensing.co.uk and the TVL Pay App, collect and store information using cookies and similar technologies.
We cannot use cookies without your permission unless they are “strictly necessary”.
For information in relation to the use of cookies and similar technologies that apply to BBC products and services (other than the BBC’s TV Licensing products and services), see the BBC Privacy Policy - Cookies.
Cookies
Cookies are small pieces of text that are stored on your laptop, tablet, or phone when you visit a website or use an app. They keep bits of information (like whether you have just signed in or what pages you have just looked at) to make your browsing experience smoother. They also send information back to the owners of the website and or app.
We use cookies to:
We also use:
In this Policy we will refer to all these technologies collectively as “Cookies”.
“First-party cookies” are directly deployed by the BBC in our websites and apps. Only we can collect and use information from these cookies.
“Third-party cookies” are deployed by other organisations such as third-party platforms, media agencies and providers.
For example, posts and banners on third-party websites, social media networks and search engines. This helps us to ensure TV Licence messaging is relevant and effective.
“Session cookies” only last for the time you use a website or app. They stop collecting or storing data after you stop using a website or app or close your browser.
“Persistent cookies” remain in place for a period even after you close your website session or your use of an app. They have a fixed date when they stop collecting or storing data.
“Strictly-necessary cookies”
We deploy first-party strictly-necessary cookies that provide essential features of the TV Licence website that will not work without cookies. For example, cookies that are needed to pay for your TV Licence or update the personal data we store under this Policy.
Strictly-necessary cookies are also used by the BBC to comply with the BBC’s legal obligations under its Royal Charter, its agreement with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (“DCMS”) and its regulator, Ofcom.
"Performance cookies"
We deploy first-party performance cookies to help us:
"Functional cookies"
We deploy first-party functional cookies to help us:
"Third-party communications cookies"
We deploy third-party cookies to make our TV Licensing messages more relevant by:
Cookies used by TV Licensing
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Cookie name | What it’s for | Duration |
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JSESSIONID | This cookie is used to create a unique identifier (a random number specific just to your session on the website) so we can store data about it. It expires at the end of your session (when you leave the TV Licensing website) and is removed from your device when you close your browser. | Session |
SSROUTEID | This cookie is used to make sure all the activity during your visit is directed to the same one. This is because our website uses more than one server. It expires at the end of your session (when you leave the TV Licensing website) and is removed when you close your browser. | Session |
ROUTEID | This cookie is used to make sure all the activity during your visit is directed to the same one. It expires at the end of your session (when you leave the TV Licensing website) and is removed when you close your browser. | Session |
TVL-JSESSIONID | This cookie is used to create a unique identifier (a random number specific just to your session on the website) so we can store data about it. It expires at the end of your session (when you leave the TV Licensing website) and is removed from your device when you close your browser. | Session |
CSROUTEID | This cookie is used to make sure all the activity during your visit is directed to the same one. It expires at the end of your session (when you leave the TV Licensing website) and is removed when you close your browser. | Session |
tvlicensingCookieConsent | This cookie is used to display a banner to you the first time your device’s browser visits our website (or the next time you visit the site after clearing cookies from your browser). Your acceptance is given either when you accept the banner or you continue to browse the website. This cookie can persist for a maximum of 400 days. | 400 days |
NSC_WT.CCD.IUUQ.uwmjdfotjoh_443 | The cookie is used to ensure traffic and user data is routed to the correct locations where a site is hosted on multiple servers, so that the end user has a consistent experience. | Session |
incap_ses | This cookie is used to maintain the security and performance of the TV Licensing website. It expires at the end of your browser session. | Session |
visid_incap | This cookie is used to maintain the security and performance of the TV Licensing website. This cookie can persist for a maximum of 364 days. | 364 days |
X-Mapping | This cookie is used to keep your browser's session intact and is removed when you close your browser. | Session |
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These Webtrends Optimize cookies are used to ensure that the pages and content displayed on our website are consistent for all users. They allow us to test and compare alternative page designs in order to derive improvements to the TV Licensing website experience. Most of these cookies expire at the end of your session (when you leave the TV Licensing website) and are removed from your device when you close your browser. | Persistent & Session (up to 90 days) |
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TV Licensing uses Piano Analytics to monitor how customers interact with our websites. We analyse this data to improve website performance and ensure we provide the best experience for all website visitor. | Persistent (395 days) |
Functional cookies
Virtual Assistant (LoveAmi)
These cookies are required for us to provide the TV Licensing Virtual Assistant service to website visitors.
Cookie name | What it’s for | Duration |
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sr-data | This cookie is used to recognise a previous user. It can persist for a maximum of 1 day. | 1 day |
sr-In | This cookie is used to detect the browser language. | 1 day |
sr-cur | This cookie is used to recognise the start of a session. | Session |
sr-tts-muted | This cookie is used to recognise when a user minimises conversation. | Session |
sr-ec | This cookie is used to recognise when a user visits a page. | Session |
sr-cl | This cookie is used to identify when a widget is closed. | Session |
sr-lc | This cookie is used to recognise the first conversation. | Session |
SrIMin & srMin | This cookie is used to identify when a widget is minimised. | Session |
sr-bt | This cookie is used to identify when the Ami badge is clicked. | Session |
sr-sea-rdr | This cookie is used to identify when a page is switched during a conversation. | Session |
sr-act | This cookie is used to determine if no response is given by Ami. | Session |
srinSe | This cookie is used for conversion tracking. | Session |
AWSALB | This cookie is used to send information between the load balancer and the device to help manage performance. It can persist for a maximum of 6 days. | 6 days |
sr-li | This cookie is used to authenticate the Ami dashboard. | Session |
AWSALBCORS | This cookie is used to ensure performance stability when lots of people are on the page or using Ami at the same time. It can persist for a maximum of 6 days. | 6 days |
Performance cookies
Google Analytics
TV Licensing uses Google Analytics to monitor how customers interact with our websites. We analyse this data to improve website performance and ensure we provide the best experience for all website visitors. Visit Google Analytics (opens in a new window) for further detail about the types of tags they use.
Cookie name | What it’s for | Duration |
---|---|---|
_ga | This cookie is used to store and count pageview. It can persist for a maximum of 391 days. | 391 days |
___utmvc | This cookie is used to enable Google Analytics to function. | Session |
_gcl_au | This cookie is used to measure customer journeys on the website. It collects summary data which allows us to identify which web pages visitors go to most often or how many visitors complete transactions, like buying a licence or changing customer or licence details, so we can improve our online services. This cookie can persist for a maximum of 90 days. | 90 days |
Contentsquare (Advanced website analytics)
We use ContentSquare to help us understand how users interact with our website. It allows us to see what content users may be finding useful, and helps us to identify useability issues and drive improvements to our website.
Cookie name | What it’s for | Duration |
---|---|---|
_cs_id | This cookie stores technical user data. | 396 days |
_cs_s | This cookie stores session replay data. It lasts for 30 minutes. | Session |
_cs_c | This cookie stores user consent on use of sessions data use within replays (not masked vs. full masked). | 396 days |
_cs_cvars | This cookie stores the URL-encoded custom variables from the session. | Session |
_cs_ex | This cookie records when the user is excluded from tracking. | 30 days |
_cs_optout | This cookie records when the user is opted-out from tracking. | 396 days |
_cs_t | This cookie checks if the browser supports cookies and sets flags. It is then immediately removed. | Session |
_cs_samesite | This cookie checks if the browser supports the SameSite flag. It is then immediately removed. | Session |
_cs_root-domain | This cookie stores the URIencoded main domain name of the site. It is then immediately removed. | Session |
_cs_debug | This cookie enables/disables specific behavior of the Tag for debugging purposes. | Session |
_hjUserAttributesHash | This cookie specifies whether any user attribute has changed and needs to be updated. | Session |
_hjUserAttributes | This cookie stores user attributes sent through the Identify API. | No explicit expiration |
_hjClosedSurveyInvites | This cookie Ensures the same invite does not reappear if it has already been shown. Set when a user interacts with a Link Survey invitation modal. | 365 days |
_hjDonePolls | This cookie ensures the same Survey does not reappear if it has already been filled in. | 365 days |
_hjMinimizedPolls | This cookie ensures that the Survey stays minimized when the user navigates through your site. Set when a user minimizes an on-site Survey. | 365 days |
_hp2_hld | This cookie is used to determine which domain a cookie can be set on (since public suffix domains block setting cookies on the top level). It is then immediately removed. | Session |
_hp5_event_props.ENV_ID | This cookie records event properties. | 395 days |
_hp5_meta.ENV_ID | This cookie contains all metadata related to user/session. | 395 days |
_cs_mk_aa | This cookie ensures Adobe Analytics dimensions and eVars are set only once every 30 minutes. | Session |
_cs_mk_ga | This cookie ensures Google Analytics dimensions and eVars are set only once every 30 minutes. | Session |
_cs_tld{nnnnnnnnnnnnn}. | _These cookies generated for Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics integrations which help determine the main domain on which create integration cookies. It is then immediately removed. | Session |
Third-party communication cookies
Google Doubleclick
These cookies are used to measure the effectiveness of TV Licensing’s online communications. They track activity on the website once the user has viewed TV Licensing’s online communications (e.g. banners). 'Floodlight Tags' are used on specific pages on the TV Licensing website to allow cookies to be set on a user's browser. These tags read the data provided by the Doubleclick "id" cookie and by other suppliers served at different times on our behalf.
If you log in, or make a transaction on the TV Licensing website, the data collected may be matched back to the TV Licensing database for analytical purposes. We analyse customer journeys in this way, to help us improve our customers' online experience.
These cookies can persist for a maximum of 390 days.
Cookie name | Duration |
---|---|
__Secure-3PSIDCC | 365 days |
__Secure-1PSIDCC | 365 days |
SIDCC | 365 days |
__Secure-3PAPISID | 390 days |
SAPISID | 390 days |
APISID | 390 days |
__Secure-1PAPISID | 390 days |
HSID | 390 days |
SSID | 390 days |
__Secure-3PSID | 390 days |
__Secure-1PSID | 390 days |
SID | 390 days |
.DDMMUI-PROFILE | 7 days |
1P_JAR | 30 days |
NID | 183 days |
AEC | 170 days |
SEARCH_SAMESITE | 170 days |
__Secure-ENID | 386 days |
OGPC | 20 days |
IDE | 388 days |
DSID | 6 days |
XSRF-TOKEN | Session |
Other online communication cookies
We use the following cookies to allow us to measure the performance of our online communications.
Meta
Cookie name | What it’s for | Duration |
---|---|---|
sb | This cookie is used by Facebook to store browser details. | 397 days |
datr | This cookie is used to identify the web browser being used to connect to Facebook, independent of the logged in user. | 391 days |
dpr | This cookie is used by Facebook to store browser details. | 4 days |
wd | This cookie is used by Facebook to store the browser window dimensions and is used by Facebook to optimise the rendering of the page. | 7 days |
_fbp | This cookie is used by Facebook to deliver a series of advertisement products such as real time bidding from third-party advertisers. | 90 days |
Xandr
Cookie name | What it's for | Duration |
---|---|---|
uuid2 |
These cookies are used to help us understand and improve customer journeys, and to tailor communications to devices used to access third party search engines and websites after leaving the TV Licensing website.
We do this by measuring whether a user device:
|
90 days |
anj | 90 days |
Amazon
Cookie name | What it's for | Duration |
---|---|---|
ad-id |
These cookies are used to understand / improve customer journeys, and to tailor communications to devices used to access third party search engines and websites after leaving the TV Licensing website.
We do this by measuring whether a user device:
|
206 days |
ad-privacy | 400 days |
Yahoo
Cookie name | What it's for | Duration |
---|---|---|
IDSYNC |
These cookies are used to help us understand and improve customer journeys, and to tailor communications to devices used to access third party search engines and websites after leaving the TV Licensing website.
We do this by measuring whether a user device:
|
329 days |
tbla_id | 329 days | |
A3 | 365 days | |
A1 | 329 days |
Teads
Cookie name | What it's for | Duration |
---|---|---|
ar_debug |
These cookies are used to help us understand and improve customer journeys, and to tailor communications to devices used to access third party search engines and websites after leaving the TV Licensing website.
We do this by measuring whether a user device:
|
396 days |
tt_viewer | 396 days |
Snapchat
Cookie name | What it's for | Duration |
---|---|---|
_scid |
These cookies are used to help us understand and improve customer journeys, and to tailor communications to devices used to access third party search engines and websites after leaving the TV Licensing website.
We do this by measuring whether a user device:
|
384 days |
_scid_r | 396 days | |
sc_at | 341 days | |
_sctr | 365 days |
BING
Cookie name | What it's for | Duration |
---|---|---|
MUID |
These cookies are used to help us understand and improve customer journeys, and to tailor communications to devices used to access third party search engines and websites after leaving the TV Licensing website.
We do this by measuring whether a user device:
|
387 days |
SRCHD | 390 days | |
SRCHHPGUSR | 390 days | |
SRCHUID | 390 days | |
SRCHUSR | 390 days | |
SUID | 1 day | |
_SS | 0 days |
YouTube (Google)
These cookies allow us to embed videos in our website that we host on our TV Licensing YouTube channel. They allow Google to measure and track how users use their services and to display targeted online communications.
Cookie name | What it's for | Duration |
---|---|---|
CONSENT | These cookies are used by YouTube (Google) to collect user data through videos embedded in websites, which is aggregated with profile data from other Google services in order to display targeted online communications to web visitors across a broad range of their own and other websites. | 729 days |
YSC | 0 days | |
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | These cookies are used by YouTube (Google) to track viewing of videos. | 179 days |
TikTok
These cookies allow us to measure the performance of our online communications.
Cookie name | What it’s for | Duration |
---|---|---|
_ttp |
These cookies are used to help us understand and improve customer journeys, and to tailor communications to devices used to access third party search engines and websites after leaving the TV Licensing website.
We do this by measuring whether a user device:
|
390 days |
Other tracking technologies |
---|
Internet Protocol Addresses Technical information is also gathered about you through the use of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. An IP address is a number assigned to your computer by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), so you can access the Internet. In most cases an IP address is dynamic (meaning it changes from time to time as you connect to the Internet), rather than static (unique to a particular user's computer). We log the IP address of any user visiting the website, primarily to track geo-location and understand how people interact with our website. IP address along with webtrends keys may also be used in exceptional circumstances to identify customers who may have been affected by a security incident. |
To view cookies that have been stored on your computer or mobile device, please check your browser settings.
If you want to delete or reject all cookies, you can modify your browser so it notifies you when they are sent to it, or you can refuse cookies altogether. You can also delete cookies that have already been set.
If you set your browser to reject all cookies, you can still browse our websites and apps but certain important features will be unavailable to you. For example, you won’t be able to pay for your TV Licence or update the personal data we store. You will still see messaging on third-party websites and social media networks, but it may not be relevant to you.
You can normally control all cookies via your web browser. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser.
To understand these settings, the following links may be helpful, or you can use the Help option in your browser for more details.
Alternatively, visit www.aboutcookies.org which has comprehensive instructions for a wide variety of browsers.
To manage cookies via your phone or tablet, please go to the privacy area in your device settings.
We will update this Policy from time to time to reflect any changes to our use of your personal data.
We may also make changes as required to comply with changes in applicable law or regulatory requirements.
If we make any significant changes we will provide you with notice of such changes, this may be via communications such as on our website, email, press or post.
We encourage you to review this Policy periodically to be informed of how we use your personal data.
Published: 07/11/2024
Version: 01