England fans watching Euro 2025 final on BBC or ITV risk £1,000 fine - Birmingham Live

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England fans are getting ready to cheer on the Lionesses in the final of Euro 2025 this Sunday. But fans watching the European football tournament playing out live on their TVs, laptops, tablets and smartphones are being reminded to ensure they have a TV Licence.

Your licence for your home address covers you to watch live TV on any equipment away from your address as long as it is powered by batteries. If you plug it in to the mains, you need to be covered by a licence at the place you are using it.

Legal expert Nasir Hafezi (@tiktokstreetlawyer) explained in a TikTok post last year exactly what could happen and whether you could end up in prison. Hafezi said not paying your licence fee and watching anything live on any channel or streaming service is a criminal offence.

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Whether you agree with the TV licence or not, if you're found to be watching or recording live TV without a valid licence, you're guilty of a criminal offence that is punishable by a fine of up to £1,000 plus court costs.

But to land yourself behind bars, you would need to have a 'refusal to pay the fine' and land yourself in a situation where 'all other enforcement methods have been tried'.

"In short, while you cannot go to prison for simply not paying your TV licence fee, you can go to prison if you deliberately refuse to pay the court fine," the lawyer explained.

You can watch live coverage of England v Spain on ITV1 from 3:30pm and BBC One from 4:00pm.

Women's Euro 2025 games have been split between the BBC and ITV throughout the summer in a big boost for fans across the country who can enjoy live matches on free-to-air TV.

You can listen to the match on BBC Radio 5 Live or talkSPORT. BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra is available on DAB radio, MW 693 kHz, 909 kHz and 990 kHz, or you can tune into the station via most TV packages.

You can also listen to BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra online via the BBC website or BBC Sounds app.