THE REVOLUTION IS BEING TELEVISED
Think outside the box and save a fortune on movies, shows and sport. Because now...
THE cold winter nights provide an ideal excuse to curl up on the sofa and enjoy some TV. But now, thanks to a major viewing revolution, you can dramatically cut the cost of watching most shows and events. Gone are the days when you have to pay up to £50 a month – even more in some cases – for a TV bundle, most of which you never access.
With the advent of ‘streaming’ over the internet, viewing opportunities have been transformed. Now viewers need only pay for what they want to watch – and can actually enjoy more television for free.
EXTRA TERRESTRIAL ENCOUNTERS
TERRESTRIAL television still offers the best value.
The TV licence costs £147 a year – and as most of us must pay you should take full advantage of what it offers. Those aged 75 or over can watch BBC for free by applying at tvlicensing.co.uk.
A key attraction is the BBC iPlayer website which offers a choice of shows, movies and sports coverage you can enjoy long after they have been screened on TV.
Commercially funded channels such as ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 also have websites – ITV Hub, All 4 and My5 – which you can access on a laptop, tablet or a modern ‘smart’ TV linked to the internet. These also allow you to catch up on favourite shows and even indulge in some box sets.
You might prefer to buy a separate internet-connected set-top box that plugs into a traditional TV – usually pre-installed in modern sets – such as Freeview and YouView. These boxes cost from £30 but provide access to more than 70 free channels. Alternatively, if you have a satellite dish you can enjoy a similar service using instead a Freesat box.
These gadgets not only open up access to your usual terrestrial channels but other viewing options such as Dave, Yesterday, Drama, CBS and Quest.
WIN WITH FAVOURITE SPORTING EVENTS
MAJOR sporting events, such as Premier League football matches and The Ashes cricket Test series are no longer shown live on terrestrial television.
Sky offers dedicated sports channels from £18 a month – £27.50 if you want access to all seven. But you will have to be a Sky TV customer paying an initial £20 a month for access to these extras.
But the media giant also has a spin-off company called Now TV that allows you to buy a ‘pass’ for instant access to sporting favourites for a limited period. For example, a Sky Sports Pass can be
purchased through Now TV for just £6.99 to give you 24 hours of access to the sports channels.
There are a variety of ways you can access Now TV – you need not be a Sky customer. You can buy one of its boxes for £15 and plug it into your TV. You can also opt for a wi-fi-enabled device that connects to the television, such as a £30 Google Chromecast dongle or £149 Apple TV. These also allow you to access other streaming services.
British Telecom is a new entrant to the market with its BT Sport channels. The sports package can cost £3.50 a month but only if you are signed up to a BT broadband and TV bundle which might land you with a monthly bill of at least £29.99. For those signed up to other TV bundles, the charges are much higher. For example, it charges £25.99 a month for access to Sky customers.
In a deal announced earlier this month, BT and Sky are allowing customers easier access to each other’s sports and entertainment channels from 2019.
It can, of course, work out cheaper to watch football live. The cheapest season ticket in the Scottish Premier League costs only £180 at Hamilton, which works out at £9.47 for every home match. And entry to lower league matches is usually even cheaper, often costing less than £15 for adults, while children under 12 will be able to attend some SPL games for free in January.
BE A DISCERNING MOVIE FAN
ONLINE TV and film providers such as Netflix, Amazon and Apple have shaken up the market. Competitors such as Hulu and YouTube are also expected to offer similar services from next year.
Netflix is the market leader and a quarter of British homes now subscribe to it, with its basic package starting from £5.99 a month. This gives you access to hundreds of TV shows and movies. Amazon also charges £5.99 for a similar Instant Video service. Apple focuses on 48-hour rentals, charging in the region of £5.49 to view a current top film.
In contrast, a traditional provider such as Sky charges £10 for a cinema deal but you must already pay £20 per month for a basic bundle – so a total of £30. If you are a Virgin Media customer, Sky Cinema costs £21 a month.
Film critic and journalist James Prestridge, 23, of Watford in Hertfordshire, pays extra money to view favourite films despite being a Sky subscriber.
He says: ‘Bundled deals are great for watching the latest blockbusters but if you are after something less mainstream, perhaps world cinema, they often turn out to be a disappointment.’
The movie fan – who runs his own website Prestridge Squared – subscribes to streaming service Curzon Home Cinema, paying £4.50 to view rare film classics or £10 for the latest releases.
He uses BFI Player to view cult movies for £4.99 a month. On top of this his family pay a total of £76.50 a month to Sky – £32 for a TV bundle, £27.50 for a sports pack, £12 for a recorder and high definition and £5 to watch the channels on other devices.
James says: ‘We are planning a review of our finances in the New Year – and that includes our TV packages. By only paying for what we watch we should still be able to enjoy what we love but for half the cost.’
Those with poor internet reception – perhaps if they live in the countryside – might suffer from ‘buffering’ where frames freeze or go into meltdown.
You need a minimum download speed of two megabits per second or five megabits a second if you want high definition. To stop buffering, providers such as Netflix and Apple allow you to download some of the movies to watch later rather than stream in real time, though rentals still later vanish.
A DVD rental postal service such as Cinema Paradiso costs £6.98 a month to allow you four film rentals every month.