Amazon Fire Stick owners slapped with £174 charge due to huge rule change

Amazon Fire Stick owners face having to fork out £174 each if they watch live TV - under new licence fee rules. Amazon Fire Stick users and owners are reminded that they must have a TV Licence to watch live streams on any device, not just Fire Sticks.

You also need one if you use BBC iPlayer whether it's live or not, and for recording live TV too. An annual TV Licence currently costs £169.50 but will rise to £174. The maximum fine for not having one when required is £1000 if you're caught.

A TV Licensing spokesperson told Birmingham Live: "A TV Licence is needed to watch live content on streaming services, watch or record a TV programme on any channel and when using BBC iPlayer.

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"Further information is available on the TV Licensing website or via the customer services team, who can help with any queries." The TV Licensing website states that live TV means "any programme you watch or record as it’s being shown on any channel, TV service or streaming service". TV Licensing say an online TV service is "any streaming or smart TV service, website or app that lets you watch TV programmes over the internet".

This can include services like Channel 4, Sky Go, Now, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube and ITVX if you watch live content on them. Those caught and found guilty for watching live TV without a TV Licence can receive a maximum fine of up to £1,000.

The increase in the licence fee follows a two-year freeze and a below-inflation increase set by the government for this year that limited the increase to £10.50 as the rate of annual inflation soared. A BBC spokesperson added: “We also look forward to the debate about the future and working with the government to ensure sustainable, long-term public funding”.