I have a TV package with Virgin which I never wanted, and it was just kind of forced on me by the salesman when I was upgrading my internets. I specifically asked them to remove the TV package, and they said they can't do that because it's part of the bundle or something. I only wanted the broadband and the phone. I have never taken the TV box out of its original packaging, or even plugged it in, or used any of Virgin's online TV services. Of course I would rather avoid paying a random bill for something I have never and will never use - as far as I'm concerned, a TV is just an overpriced burglar deterrent.
I have no need, at the moment, to prove that I'm not watching TV (I haven't engaged at all with the TV licence people and have no ongoing disputes with them, they have never asked me to prove anything), so it's not a question of whether it would be difficult to prove but simply "am I legally required to pay it?". If I understand correctly, the burden of proof is currently on the TV licence people as they would have no reason to believe that I'm watching TV up in here.
The TV licence website says: "If you watch or record TV on any channel via any TV service (e.g. Sky, Virgin, Freeview, Freesat), you need to be covered by a TV Licence" (I am neither watching nor recording TV). And then it says: "You don’t need a TV Licence if you never watch live on any channel, TV service or streaming service, or use BBC iPlayer*. On any device" (I have never watched any of these things).
Somebody on here said (to another user) that it's clarified in the Virgin T&C, but all I see in the T&C regarding TV licenses is in Section B-9 "We will not continue to provide you with the television service if we find out that you do not have a valid television licence" - I don't read this as saying you need to pay a TV licence just because you have the package, but instead that the TV service will be removed if you don't have a TV licence, which is fine by me because that's what I wanted them to do anyway - as long as they don't remove everything else too because "it's part of the bundle".
If it does transpire that I need to pay a TV licence then that's bang out, that would mean Virgin is cornering me into paying a TV licence when all I wanted was some broadband.
