TV licence dodgers in parts of North Durham are being targeted in a blitz on non-payers.
Viewers in Chester-le-Street and Houghton-le-Spring are the latest to be targeted in a national campaign to stop licence evasion in the UK.
The TV Licensing campaign says its inquiry officers are using the latest detection equipment to home in on people who use their television without a valid licence.
Once they suspect a household of not paying up, their equipment can determine whether a set is being used within seconds.
Mark Auslebrook, regional manager for TV Licensing North, said: "The maximum penalty for watching television without a licence is a fine of £1,000.
"For people who genuinely have problems paying, we are working with organisations such as the National Association of Citizens' Advice Bureaux, to develop payment schemes to help them."
TV Licensing says its officers will be making checks on people who say they do not have a set, because it has found one in five people in the UK who claim not to have one are lying.
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