The Cov residents who still watch black & white TVs

DESPITE colour TVs being around for more than 50 years, nearly 60 people in Coventry are still watching black and white TV.

In 2016/17, there were still 58 homes across the city with a black and white television set - although the number of people with a monochrome licence has been decreasing every year nationally.

In Coventry, too, the figure had decreased from 61 in 2015/16, according to figures released by the BBC through a Freedom of Information request.

Overall in 2016/17, there were 8,147 homes with a black and white TV licence, down from 8,876 registered in 2015/16.

It’s estimated that in 2017/18 there were around 6,000 homes with a monochrome licence, but the BBC refused to release figures at a local level.

There were 1,611 homes in London watching in black and white, followed by 371 in Birmingham and 281 in Manchester.

A spokesperson from the National Science and Media Museum, which holds more than 1,000 objects in its television collection, said: “It wasn’t until 1976 that colour TVs outnumbered black and white sets in the UK, and despite the trend never reversing after that, it’s always interesting to hear that black and white licences are still in demand.

“Nowadays it must be difficult for anyone who’s got a full colour, HD, 3D or even 4K ultra HD screen in their house to imagine what exclusively watching in black and white would be like.

“It could be considered a living history and an unlikely experience for many.” A monochrome TV licence is a lot cheaper than a colour one. It is only £50.50 while the fullcolour is £150.50. It is possible that some people with monochrome licences are trying to save some money by lying about the type of TV they have. However, some may be blind users who get a 50 per cent discount, which can be applied to both colour and black and white licences.

In 2016/17, there were 25.8million licences in force while the evasion rate was between six and seven per cent, according to TV Licensing. Jason Hill, TV Licensing spokesperson, said: “It is striking that in an era of HD TV and spectacular true-tolife pictures, there are still viewers content to watch programmes in monochrome.

“Whether you watch in black and white on a 50-yearold TV set or in colour on a tablet, you need to be covered by a TV licence to watch or record programmes as they are broadcast. You also need to be covered by a TV licence to download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer.”