Your answer is a little misleading, modeller. You say (as does the TV Licensing Agency’s website):
“If you watch or record TV programmes as they are being shown on any receiving apparatus you have to have a licence.”
But you then go on to say “In theory if we all recorded our programmes and started watching the recording a couple a minutes later we wouldn't need a licence.”
Not so. From your first statement, if you record a programme as it is broadcast, you need a licence. However, if you only watch programmes using “catch up” services such as BBC’s iPlayer you do not need a licence. It was this anomaly that Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt was seeking to address in yesterday’s article in the Mail.
He specifically stated that he was not in favour of imposing a licence fee on anyone simply owning a computer or using the internet.