Other Licences and Permits

TV Licence for a Pub, Bar or Hotel: When You Need One and What It Costs

The business TV licence explained: one licence per premises, the hotel and holiday accommodation rules, showing sport, and the fine for not having one

A TV licence is needed to watch or record live television on any channel, or to use BBC iPlayer, and that applies to a business premises exactly as it does to a home. A pub with a screen showing the football, a hotel with televisions in the rooms and a cafe with the news on all need one. The rules for premises are simpler than most operators expect: one licence covers a single premises regardless of how many screens, hotels get a concession for the first 15 rooms, and the fee is the same as a household's. This article sets out when a licence is needed, how the hotel rule works and what showing live sport commercially adds.

Key takeaways

Any premises watching or recording live TV on any channel, or using iPlayer, needs a TV licence at the standard fee; one licence covers all screens at one address.

Hotels get one licence for up to 15 rooms, then one more for each further five.

Showing sport needs the TV licence plus a commercial broadcaster subscription plus TheMusicLicence.

No licence is a criminal offence with a fine of up to £1,000; businesses are prosecuted.

When a Business Needs a TV Licence

If any device at the premises is used to watch or record programmes as they are broadcast on any channel, or to watch anything on BBC iPlayer, the premises needs a licence. That includes a screen showing Sky Sports, a TV in the staff room, a laptop streaming a live channel and a screen showing BBC news. It does not include a screen used only for on-demand services other than iPlayer, for a DVD, for a digital menu board or for CCTV. A single licence covers all the equipment at one address; a group of five pubs needs five licences. The fee is the standard colour licence fee, £174.50 a year at the time of writing, paid to TV Licensing.

Hotels, B&Bs and Holiday Lets

Hotels and guest houses have a specific concession: one licence covers up to 15 rooms or units of accommodation on the same premises, and each further group of five rooms, or part of one, needs another licence. A 30-room hotel therefore needs four licences. The concession covers the guest rooms and the public areas together. Self-catering holiday lets need a licence per unit unless they qualify for the hotel arrangement. Staff accommodation on the premises is covered by the business licence only if it is part of the same address; a separate staff house needs its own.

Showing Live Sport Commercially

The TV licence covers the right to receive the broadcast. It does not cover the commercial subscription to show it. Sky and TNT Sports charge commercial premises a subscription based on rateable value that is many times the domestic price, and showing a domestic subscription or a foreign decoder in a pub is a breach of contract and, in the case of foreign feeds, has been prosecuted as fraud. Premises showing sport therefore need the TV licence, the commercial broadcaster subscription, and, because the broadcast includes music, TheMusicLicence from PPL PRS as well.

Other Licences and Permits

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Enforcement and Penalties

TV Licensing enforcement officers visit business premises, and watching live TV without a licence is a criminal offence with a fine of up to £1,000 plus costs. Businesses are prosecuted. The licence is annual and renews on the anniversary, and a group should hold the certificates centrally, because the officer visiting one site will ask about the others. Put the renewal date in the licence tracker with the premises licence annual fee and TheMusicLicence.

What to do next

List every screen and what it shows

Live channels and iPlayer need the licence; menu boards, CCTV and on-demand only do not. The list also tells you what PPL PRS will charge for.

Common mistakes to avoid

Mistake

Showing football on a domestic Sky subscription

Instead

Domestic subscriptions cannot be used in commercial premises. Sky and TNT sell commercial packages by rateable value, and using a domestic box or a foreign decoder has led to prosecutions.

Frequently asked questions

Does a pub need a TV licence?

Yes, if any screen is used to watch or record live television on any channel or to use BBC iPlayer. One licence covers all the screens at that premises.