We all love to slump on the sofa and watch that great show that everyone is talking about. There are some programs we can't live without. Others that we watch every so often to feel better, laugh or maybe cry. TV is fantastic but it doesn't have to cost you a small fortune. Many of us are paying a lot of money for TV. Let's have a look at how to save money on watching TV.
Cut Your Subscriptions
One of the quickest ways to keep cash in your pocket is to cut the subscription services you pay for. There are so many of them, with great content on there for sure! However, they can cost up to around £10 each per month. So if you have signed up you might be paying £50+ each month. Are you really getting the most from each of these services or would it be better to cut some of them out and just enjoy one? Slicing your outgoings from £50 to £10 is a huge saving. That's £40 a month, almost £500 a year!
The big names include NOW, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+ and Paramount+. There are others including Britbox, AppleTV and Shudder. Which ones do you have? Go through your banking statement and look at how much you are spending. It might shock you as to just how much cash you are shelling out every month on this. Now is the time to cut some of them out. Why not pick your favourite, one that covers something for each member of the family and get rid of the rest?
Rotate Subscriptions
Of course, you might have shows on each of these services that you really enjoy watching. If that is the case, you can still save money on watching TV but rotating these subscriptions. Most of them only tie you in for a month. So you can pay for 30 days and then your access comes to an end. This is plenty of time to binge-watch a boxset on NOW, or stream that show on Netflix. Pay for the month, cancel straight away so it doesn't auto-renew and charge you for that second month and then rotate through the subscription services that have the content that you want to watch.
It could be Amazon Prime Video in January and then Disney+ in February. Perhaps you want Shudder for scary films in October and then want a break before paying for Netflix to watch those Christmas films? Maybe you are on holiday for most of August so there isn't much point in paying for something that month. This puts you in control of your spending.
Take Advantage Of New Customer Offers
One of the best ways to save money on watching TV is by taking advantage of new customer offers. We've all seen advertisements, trying to lure new customers to sign up with Sky or Virgin Media, for example. There is very little loyalty in staying as a customer these days. The prices continue to rise and can even be bumped up mid-contract. When you compare what you might be paying with that advertised price for a new customer, you want to kick yourself.
Most of the contract lengths are for 12 or 18 months and you can usually return to a company as a new customer after a year. This means that you could bounce between TV companies, taking advantage of those new customer deals to save money on watching TV. Maybe you pay for a sports subscription but the only thing you watch is football. If your contract comes to an end at the end of the season, is there any point in renewing until the new season begins? Make where you are paying for TV work for your individual or family situation. You can often save even more by clicking through to the retailer via a cashback site. This might give you £100+ in cashback.
Stop Paying For Your TV Licence
The TV licence is now over £150 annually, working out to be £13.45 for each month of the year. That is a huge amount of money for a lot of people. A lot more than any subscription to Disney+ or Netflix. The question is, do you really need to pay for it? You only need to pay the TV licence if you are watching live TV or using BBC iPlayer. If you don't use these services, you don't need to pay for the licence. This will still allow you to watch ITV shows on demand via ITVX. You can still watch catch-up TV on All 4. Remember, you don't need to pay the licence fee if you are watching live TV or using iPlayer. If you can tailor your TV viewing, you can avoid paying this TV licence fee altogether.
It's worth noting that you might get letters from the TV licencing company. You might even get someone knocking on your door asking why you don't have a TV licence. You don't need to let these people in and you don't have to prove that you are not watching these services. A simple and polite conversation at the door to tell them you don't use BBC iPlayer and don't watch live TV is all you need. If they do not believe you this can be escalated, however, if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about. You can still have a TV, you can still watch TV shows (as long as they are not live or BBC) and you can save yourself that £150+ every year.
Now you know some top tips about how to save money on watching TV, you can still be entertained whilst keeping an eye on how much you are spending. It can be quite a shock to see just how much of our hard-earned money is going out of our bank accounts every month on TV subscriptions. By being sensible and figuring out where you are happy to spend that money in return for the content you are actually watching, you can start to save. What are you putting on next?
