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Unaffordable TV

TheCatWoman

I've asked AI how much it would cost to have all the common streaming channels and the answer is £120 per month minimum, that dosent' include Sky, the licence fee or any sporting channels which would add another £30-50 a month.

Given how much rubbish there is on terrestial channels, especially now with all the football and the knock on effects of how much less funding there will be for other programing, is this a hidden part of the cost of living?

I don't have any of the streaming channels or Sky and signing up to them would make a serious dent in my finances, how do people afford them and are they worth it? DO you only really use them for one big series each like GoT?

  • I pay £5.99 a month to have Netflix (with adverts). 

  • Freeview?

    It's just something I've heard of, by-the-way, so can't answer any questions.

    I don't watch TV.

  • I was looking to see what is on terrestrial recently and noticed that some of the streaming channels have the same repeats as others. 

    I have also noticed that when the BBC have a feature about a new series it is often on a streaming service. As they are on different ones, you would possibly need to pay for a few. As you have to pay for a TV licence anyway I am sticking with the free ones for now. I enjoyed it when you could rent a film on video as you just paid for what you wanted.

  • TheCatWoman said:
    is this a hidden part of the cost of living?

    It is far from a cost of living. It is an entertainment option - a luxury and something you don't "need".

    I use methods I can't discuss here to obtain the series or films I want to watch (many are not available on local services or are geo-blocked from my region anyway) but most of my casual entertainment is from YouTube where I follow a range of channels on my special interests and there is often plenty to choose from.

    With YouTube there are simple ways to avoid the adverts which have been discussed on other threads here before and this makes it altogether more pleasant. If you don't have good internet access so get low quality of buffering then you can download the videos to watch offline using other processes that are free.

    There are sites like the Internet Archive that have loads of old TV series that are not being broadcast anymore plus millions of other random bits of old TV if this takes your interest. 

    It isn't complex to have a load of entertainment options on zero budget and still be legal with them all. You won't have the latest but when you work out the price per year then it puts it in context - it is just an expensive luxury. 

  • in reply to Cinnabar_wing

    I don't watch a lot of TV, it's mostly on what my husband or the kids want to watch. (I mostly use bbc iPlayer which you still need your TV licence for).

  • Most people won't have all the streaming channels, but you don't have to be loyal to one, and most don't have contacts ( I imagine sky would), so the trick is to see what each one offers and go with them while they have things you want to watch and it's worth it. Then you might choose to cancel that and switch to a different service if they have something better. 

    Sometimes we get an offer, like we have Disney at the moment because my husband got a free 6 month trial when buying a phone. They hope you get used to it and then don't cancel I think.  If you can try things on a free trial it can be good, but make sure you cancel before you get charged if you don't want it. (This is a lot easier these days than l then it used to be).