Who Are TVL?

"TV Licensing", or TVL, is a trading name used by the BBC to adminster the UK television licence system.

As a trading name, TVL are not a company in their own right - they are simply a name used by the BBC.

The BBC, and TVL, go out of their way to describe TVL as a separate organisation - for example, BBC News have described them as:

"The Bristol-based TV Licensing Authority says 4,000 people were caught watching sets illegally in the city last year"

The implication is that TVL are a separate entity, however the BBC are themselves the authority responsible for enforcing the television licensing system.

TVL employees are employees of the BBC, or of companies contracted by the BBC to act on their behalf (e.g., almost all "TVL Inspectors" are employed by Capita).