About TVLicenceCost.com
An independent reference for the cost of a UK TV Licence. Operated by Digital Signet, founded by Oliver Wakefield-Smith. Sourced from the official TV Licensing fee schedule, kept current, no advertising overlay between you and the rate.
Why this site exists
The TV Licence fee is set by the UK government and collected by TV Licensing on behalf of the BBC. The official tvlicensing.co.uk site is authoritative on the rate but is built around purchase flow, not the questions a household actually has: 'do I need a licence if I only watch streaming?', 'what counts as live broadcast?', 'are there discounts for over-75s, blind households, students or care homes?', 'what happens if I don't pay?'. This site exists to publish the official rate with practical context for the household-decision question.
Who runs the site
Oliver runs Digital Signet, an independent AI-development studio that builds data-led pricing and decision tools using public datasets. After 20 years as a solutions architect and tech lead across media, utilities, satellite, and data, he founded Digital Signet to apply autonomous AI development methodology to real software at scale.
Reach Oliver: [email protected]. Profile: LinkedIn.
About Digital Signet
This site is operated by Digital Signet, an independent AI-development studio founded by Oliver Wakefield-Smith. It is part of a portfolio of consumer cost-reference and calculator sites we run as a live R&D lab for our Signet methodology, an autonomous AI development team that ships real software at scale.
Digital Signet does not sell TV Licences, does not act as a TV Licensing agent, does not run a streaming service, and does not accept paid placements from broadcasters or streaming services. Editorial direction is set by Oliver. Drafts are produced via Digital Signet's autonomous AI development methodology and reviewed against the editorial framework before publication.
For consulting enquiries (fractional CTO, AI product strategy, autonomous-dev-team setup): see digitalsignet.com.
Editorial principles
- Source pattern. Single primary source, cited per page.
- No paid placements. Does not sell TV Licences, does not act as a TV Licensing agent, does not run a streaming service, and does not accept paid placements from broadcasters or streaming services. Independent of every named third party in the relevant space.
- Math is documented inline. Where the site has a calculator, inputs and assumptions are visible on the calculator page. Nothing is hidden behind opaque scoring.
- Update only when underlying reality changes. Triggers: Government announces a change to the TV Licence fee (typically annual, in line with inflation); Concession or exemption rules change; Material change to the live-broadcast definition (e.g. iPlayer scope changes).
Contact
For corrections, methodology questions, or scenarios that don't fit cleanly: [email protected].