Remember to License your Olympics Viewing

Some business owners think that installing a viewing screen in public areas during the Olympics might bring them more business. Many pubs, hotels and restaurants already have facilities for their customers to view sporting events while they eat or drink. Now others have decided to jump on this bandwagon.

Also, to keep staff on their premises during the Olympics this summer, some entrepreneurs are making arrangements for them to be able to watch the events at work. This means either allowing them to watch online, or setting aside an area for viewing on a TV or large screen. No doubt some of the employers will be joining them.

The TV Licence Laws

Whatever your reason for accessing live coverage, and however you choose to do it, you must have a licence to view. You may think that watching streamed coverage on the internet via a computer or a mobile phone lets you off that hook, but that is not the case. Only none-live broadcasts can be seen without a licence. All live viewing on any media has to be licensed.

A licence costs £145.50, but if you are prosecuted for not having one, it could result in a fine of up to £1000.00. TV Licensing promises that their Enquiry Officers will be checking out premises that don’t have licences all through the summer.

Don’t Let your Business Suffer

Once you have your viewing media and your licence, you will need to schedule the viewing so that your business doesn’t suffer from work inactivity. Even staff who are not really interested in the sporting events may be tempted to take as much viewing time as everyone else. That’s only fair. So you need to ensure you proper and fair arrangements for all eventualities.

The best way to do this is probably to introduce flexible working arrangements, in which you specify a minimum amount of time must be spent on work each day or each week. That way you can ensure that essential tasks will be covered, although it may be necessary to extend the time your premises are manned each day so that personnel can start earlier and/or leave later.

Allowing staff to watch some of the Olympic and Paralympic events while at work may motivate them not to take sickies but to make their best efforts to get there even through possible traffic congestion. Just make sure that you have a TV licence that will cover all the live viewing that takes place on your premises.

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