Thought would share as somebody in Australia queried this. Yes in the uk you need to buy a licence to watch any life TV, or £1,000 or more fine and can result in jail.
wyer Nasir Hafezi explained: 'As per the TV Licensing Authority it is an offence under Section 363 of Communications Act 2003 to watch live on any channel, TV service or streaming service or use BBC iPlayer on any device, without a valid TV licence'.