And if you don't pay, you'll get regular visits from TV licensing agents:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Uni...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Uni...
(Unless you do have a TV of course)
You can choose not to have a TV and not pay the license. Without the license you can still watch BBC iPlayer (although not the live bit).
I love the BBC (even though I didn't always own a TV) but in my experience the TV licencing company are bullying scum.