Uk Wirecutting Guide
The UK has a lot of different ways in which you can watch TV without watching Live TV, but I will add some parts around that in here towards the end because of an unfortunate genre which I am a bit interested in myself.
Put simply, if you want to watch anything other than on demand services you need to get a TV Licence and this will cost around £150 for a year unless you are over a certain age where it is free or you are registered blind and get 50% off.
What if you just want to watch On Demand stuff? Then this next bit is for you.
Netflix
Netflix in the UK gets a bit of a bad rap compared to other areas but it does provide a reasonable service. You can get some good shows on there and in some cases some great content, but it can be hard to find stuff. Netflix costs depending on how many simultaneous uses.
- £5.99 for one screen in standard definition
- £7.99 for two screens in high definition
- £9.99 for three screens in ultra-high (4k) definition
Because of this £7.99 seems like the sweet spot unless you have the facility to play 4k then it may be worth it with the content becoming more widely available than it has previously.
Now TV
Now TV is owned by Sky and has a lot of decent stuff on there, but availability can be hit and miss so you have to keep up to date with the thing and likely have it subscribed all the time rather than subscribing in and out.
It is great for a lot of the big shows like Game of Thrones or Westworld and generally is pretty good for a lot of what is on its “Sky Atlantic” channel which includes shows the The Sopranos on there as well.
The cost of it is £7.99 a month but you can find vouchers in places which may offer a cheaper price for the entertainment package.
It also charges £9.99 for the Sky Movies package which can be a good deal to get occasionally because it does offer a lot of movies which have been released on Blu Ray/Digital/DVD lately but it is not something I would regularly subscribe to, as with the entertainment package look out for vouchers.
Amazon Prime
I really wish I could say I get this for the TV, but I get it for the other perks, if you are a student you can get it for pretty cheap and it is worthwhile then, but otherwise it is expensive.
- £39 per year if you are a student (£3.25 per month)
- £79 per year if you are not a student (£6.58 per month)
You get a bunch of other benefits like music streaming on a limited library, kindle book borrowing on a limited library and Twitch Prime. You also get free next day delivery.
All 4 / Channel 5 On Demand / ITV Player
You can watch On Demand stuff here for free, but that is pretty much it when it comes down to it, there are adverts and they can get annoying.
Live TV
If you do want to watch some live TV the main reason I want to is sports and with this there are two things you need to get Sky Sports on Now TV (costly and annoying) and BT Sport (annoying unless you get BT TV)
I personally get Now TV and BT Sport through EE.
In Conclusion
If you do want to not have to spend £10 on a TV licence you can get other content, but if you do then you get BBC iPlayer which is worthwhile and overall it should be something as needed if you want to watch sports - or go round the pub.