Write a commentTV Licensing has been working with local groups in Newry to highlight licensing requirements to people who may speak Polish, Lithuanian or other languages as their first language.
With more than four million people in the UK whose main language is not English, TV Licensing has worked with many local advice organisations and community groups including the Northern Ireland Polish Consulate to highlight to the community of more than 25,000-30,000 Polish people in Northern Ireland amongst others when a TV Licence is needed.
Deborah King spokesperson for TV Licensing, said: “We’ve been speaking to a range of organisations across Northern Ireland over the past couple of months explaining the need to be correctly licensed. We’ve found some people might not understand their licensing responsibilities, for example, the fact that a TV Licence is still needed when watching live television from a different country via a satellite dish or receiver.”
As part of this work, TV Licensing produces literature in 20 languages, along with translated web pages explaining licensing requirements, including in Polish, Lithuanian and Portuguese. People who are not confident speaking in English, can call TV Licensing on 0300 7906044 and use a language translation service, which allows customers to set up or pay for a TV Licence over the phone in more than 120 languages.
Jerome Mullen, Honorary Polish Consul for Northern Ireland said: “With a community of more than 25,000 Polish people alone in Northern Ireland it is vitally important that people from other countries who live and work here know and understand the law in relation to TV Licensing. We want to make sure that people know you need a licence to watch TV online, or on a mobile phone and that you can spread the cost of a licence over weeks or months to ensure you stay on the right side of the law.”
“I’d encourage anyone from the Polish community who is not sure if they need a licence or not to contact me through the Consulate website www.polishconsulateni.org or to contact TV Licensing directly to ensure you don’t risk a prosecution and a fine.”
TV Licensing information is available in 20 different languages at tvlicensing.co.uk/languages or more than 120 different languages over the phone by calling the translation line on 0300 7906044.
