Unaffordable TV

Some places you have to have a satellite as theres no way an arial can pick up a signal, lots of rural areas are like this and cable is still hit and miss a post code lottery within a postcode lottery. Where my son used to live they had cable, then he moved one street away, about 20 yards, and there was no cable. Freesats been a godsend for many people, its just a one off payment for the dish and decoding box 

Regarding being a luxury... Things like Satellite/Cable/Netflix/etc probably are. But a TV licence and the cost of the TV itself tend to be considered somewhat essential. For instance, if you put a claim in for free NHS services (known as an HC2 certificate), they compare your income to what they call "requirements". 

Requirements include council tax, housing costs which are not covered by benefits, and "personal allowances". Personal allowances include water/fuel bills, telephone, insurance, and "TV rental".

[source: HC1 application form]

Do bare in mind that we have the BBC here which has a duty to try and cater to as many different people as possible, as well as providing impartial news (which may not be applicable in other countries).

I maintain that TV isn't as good as it used to be but if you don't have internet (or can't access it or use it), an inexpensive TV and a license would be an important source of information.

The cost of a TV licence has come down in real terms. In 2006 a colour licence was £126.50. Accounting for inflation, that is the equivalent of about £225 today, yet a licence now is only £180.

I didn't for one minute think you were, I rarely put the telly on before 6pm too.

I like Shetland too, I think they transitioned really well from DI Perez leaving and the new DI coming in, sometimes programes lose thier edge when the main character leaves.

It's the last Death Valley tonight, then just more football, the I suppose we'll have wimbledon and other sport.

I've gone off a lot of American TV, just the same as I have books, I'm not sure why, if it's the loud, brashness of it, the perfect looking people, the product placement or what?

I was just thinking more about everyone's habits and reflecting the the TV doesn't get used a lot.

The kids like their games consoles, they also like a bit of YouTube kids on the tablet, which is restricted to half an hour and it auto turns off. My daughter will watch things if she's asked to have a break from gaming, and then watches the same shows over and over, and most are iPlayer these days. My sons main TV time is when his sister goes upstairs and he gets to stay up a bit longer, then it's wherever we recommend him a show/film to watch. 

My husband watches the most and subscribes to whatever provider has a show he wants to watch, then when they don't have anything else he's interested in he'll switch.  But quite often he watches on the tablet with headphones while washing up. He mainly only gets to watch in the evenings when the kids are in bed, and that's getting later and later.

When I've finished work between 11-12, I might come in and watch a bit of something fairly easy like some comedy show to unwind before bed. I think my interests are quite narrow though of what I'll want to watch. A lot of shows make me anxious, worrying about the characters/ people. 

I was just thinking most people will have one service at least, and a lot probably just spend more time on their phones these days. I think a lot of TV companies might be struggling to compete with the internet. 

I understand some UK banks and card companies may include a streaming service, when you register for their product. Keep in mind, that depends if you are going to be using their perks and rewards. Not to mention they may have a time limit.

Some YouTube channels like "ITV News in Full", have their full 30 minute broadcasts from different regions available to watch after broadcast.

The cheapest option for a TV, would be to use a PC monitor with a streaming stick (e.g. Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire Stick or even create your own personal custom server.

According to GOV UK, the TV licence is ONLY for BBC iPlayer and live broadcasts. On demand and catch up services DO NOT require one.

GO UK - TV Licence: https://www.gov.uk/find-licences/tv-licence 

I don't watch 'terrestrial tv' - the channels that you need a license for - and only watch streaming services I pay for. This is mostly due to finding adverts intrusive, and having interests that aren't well reflected in mainstream stuff. 

Apologies if I missed another person saying this, however there will be extensive duplication of programming across various services. 

One thing that might be helpful is if you make a list of stuff you like to watch (maybe a dozen different titles) and see which streaming service has the most of these? 

Many have or definitely had free trial periods. 

If you choose a single streaming service, and check the cancellation to see if you are locked into a year or if you can cancel with a month notice, you could always pick one service and swap to a different one if you find out after time that you don't like it. 

I totally get the drive to have everything. I'm not sure how much real value it adds to choice. It probably ends up like owning every music album from an HMV in the specific sense that there'll be masses you don't enjoy.

TheCatWoman said:

I was just wondering how people especially families cope with the cost of subscriptions?

The majority of young people in families I know seem to watch only Netflix, Prime or Sky, so they may have a subscriptions for these channels with or without ads. Individuals within families nowadays don’t watch TV together as much as families used to. Netflix in one bedroom, Prime in another while BBC is on in the kitchen and DIsney in the snug.

I am guessing the majority of older people watch Freeview channels such as BBC, ITV etc., but I expect they put up with the ads or have an extra subscription to go ad free on catch up.

Perhaps those who subscribe to multiple companies have high incomes or else they prioritise TV viewing over other forms of entertainment. 

To answer the ultimate question you initially posed, yes I signed up to Apple TV just for Slow Horses and got to binge watch every series in 30 days for free. Certainly wasn't going to pay.  Not sure what to do if they do another series......................................sign up for one month even if I do have to pay.

I didn't mean to imply that..................not at all, its just I am busy during the day and thats my only slot for watching TV, in fact you recommended Death Valley on another post and I have watched the first series and laughed out loud, looking forward to watching second series this week.  If anything, I think TV is perfect for switching off my anxiety and rumination and over thinking, with things like House, The Good Doctor, Brilliant Minds and Elementary, to name a few.

I love crime drama Shetland,  The Capture, and absolutely love Race across The World.  I watch nature programmes for the majesty and beauty of nature. 

No TV is my friend...................................

I think theres way to much stigma around watching tv, I love strictly too, and bake off and property programs. The world often feels full of human hairballs who snootily say they never watch telly and imply that those of us who so are intellectually inferior. I do enjoy a good drama too. I don't listen to audio books, but I read loads.

Sorry to anyone who's not into tv, I've not encountered the attitudes mentioned above from anyone on here.

I have a Roku Stick and watch all the "free" channels, BBC, C4, U, and ITV. I get around the annoyance by just muting the ads when they are on, or making a drink, or visiting the bathroom.  I only watch TV after 6pm for 2 hours, usually some drama or series that relaxes me before my bedtime routine. I prefer audio books for escapism.  But I had to get a TV licence in order to watch Strictly, my guilty secret.  

We have freeview, and we can get all the catch up services, but we have to have them with adverts as theres no button on the humax remote to fast forward through them and some channels don't let you anyway. I always record comercial channels so as I can fast forward through the ads. The humax box could get prime and netflix, it can't do sky, we'd have to get a different one that does sattelite pick ups.

I was just wondering how people especially families cope with the cost of subscriptions? I guess this could be one of those things where if you don't have them and you have kids it could cause a lot of angst because they couldn't keep up with thier friends?

My Mum is far worse than me with tech and can just about use the remote contols, she can't even use our dumb phone properly, luckily or unluckily the only time she may have needed it, she fell over and sat on it and broke it.

if you want decent content you have to pay - Prime Movies/TV is just a side benefit part of the Prime with occasionally half decent stuff.  I love my Netflix subscription and we jump betweeen others Disney, Apple and HBO as needed (mainly my son pays for these as he like them).

Netflix is great for Global/European TV series - which I enjoy.

My wife pays for the TV licence - as I predominantly watch Netflx and my Spotify subscription iI listen to 12 hours a day 

Yes like everything in life they all come at a cost - which may not be accessible to all.  But compared to a lot of other spend housing, utilities, motoring &  council tax (mine is over ~3.6k/yr), I get more value out of these subscriptions for sure.  Even if I only watch an hour or two a night.

It's not for eveyone - some people prefer reading and podcasts, but for others Movies & Anime can be there special interest - so the cost is nothing compared to the enjoyment you get

Each to their own - I've heard the TV licence may be extended out to cover all streaming - so this is being considered.  I personally wish it was ditched. And BBC was made to stand on its own 2 feet, and make content people would be willing to pay for, in recent years most of the content has not been to that standard - just dragging out tired formats of shows like strictly and comedy shows are sadly lacking comedy

Roy said:

Apparently there is a 50% disconnect for blind people,   It still seems quite a high cost considering they can’t see it.

I agree.  I hadn't known that when my mum was blind.

Roy said:

it must be very similar to listening to The Archers.

Apparently there is a 50% disconnect for blind people,   It still seems quite a high cost considering they can’t see it. There is audio description, it must be very similar to listening to The Archers.

The programmes I like are mostly on BBC and Channel 4, so my monthly costs are £15 for a TV licence to watch BBC live and BBC I-player, and £3.99 to have no ads on channel 4's online catchup service. 

When Amazon Prime have a special offer on the Prime subscription, we'll get that temporarily for the free parcel delivery and will check what's on Prime video, which is part of the package. There's not usually much we like, but we did watch Lucifer, Good Omens and Fallout on there. It's usually £8.99 a month, but earlier this year I got it for half price (£4.49 a month) for 3 months, then cancelled it when the 3 month period finished.

My smart TV is about seven years old but it doesn’t need a Sky or Humax box as the programmes are built into the TV. It receives Freeview through the aerial and it connects to broadband to receive Netflix or Prime. It can also receive Sky and pretty much whatever is available, at a cost.

I watch mostly the Freeview channels, particularly BBC, ITV and Channel 4 on ‘catch up’. The TV licence covers these channels.

Sometimes I subscribe to Amazon Prime for a month at a time if there is something particularly good to watch. It’s easy to stop and start the subscription to suit. The odd time I subscribe to Netflix for a month, then cancel. 

I don’t watch a lot of TV so there is no need to have yearly subscriptions to lots of channels.

We have a smart TV and when we moved here there was no aerial, only a dish. We had an expert who came and did something to the dish so we could get Freesat. It picks up slightly different channels from Freeview which we had before, but has all the main channels.

Roy said:

My smart tv is connected to a normal aerial for Freeview, that gives me about 100+ channels.

I thought that was the case and why I mentioned Freeview too.

Even my old mum managed with that with no difficulty.

People have been using Freeview for many years I think and I believe that it's now often built into TVs rather than having to buy a separate Freeview box.

Roy said:

I only bought a 50” smart tv

My last TV was probably about 21" although I have to confess that there is a huge one in the house that I would rather was a window seat as it's in a bay window.

For some reason I don't have permission to replace it.

My smart tv is connected to a normal aerial for Freeview, that gives me about 100+ channels. To use the smart part it is connected to Wi-Fi, that allows all the different streaming and player services to work.

I have 800mm walls and have Ethernet cables in most rooms. You could just tack them around the skirting boards from the router. The pre made extension cables have the plugs already fitted.

I only bought a 50” smart tv from Argos as the rooms are quite small, a Toshiba was about £240.