How rediscovering the good old BBC is helping to pay my electricity bill

THERE’S been a lot of talk recently about the future of Netflix, the streaming service that was there for the start of the streaming boom but now appears to be falling from grace.

Like all Netflix subscribers, I received the email telling me the monthly price would be going up. I’d been paying £13.99 and it’s now £15.99.

That’s for the top plan, which allows me to watch content in 4K, and to share my plan with four other people. It might only be a couple of quid, but on top of every other bill that’s increasing at the moment, it made me stop and think.

And it dawned on me that Netflix is actually a bit rubbish. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched some brilliant documentaries on Netflix. There are some good comedy series and its original movies can be excellent. Or terrible, but usually excellent.

But I was thumbing through the content list the other day and I could spot only two or three programmes I was genuinely interested in watching. And, of those, I could either find them elsewhere or I’d probably only spend a few hours a month sat in front of them.

So it makes £16 seem a bit steep, to say the least.

My mother and brother use my Netflix account, which I’ve never minded at all, but when I asked them if they’d like to contribute, they pointed out they already paid for Sky and at least one other streaming service, and they wouldn’t get enough out of even a partial contribution to the new Netflix price to make it worth their while.

So I considered dropping down to one of the cheaper price plans. The new fees start at £6.99, but for that you only get to watch content on one device. And given we have a motorhome, and my wife occasionally likes to treat herself to a period drama on Netflix, that wouldn’t work. The biggest stumbling block on the basic plan, however, was the resolution. For reasons I can’t fathom you’re only given content in 480p. I don’t want to blind you with science, but that’s not even what we know as “HD”. To upgrade to true “HD” I’d need to go up to the next plan, at £10.99 per month. Who, in this day and age, doesn’t have a HD television? My telly’s not huge, but 480p looks terrible on it after I’ve been used to most programmes I watch being delivered in 4K. I don’t want to go back to the dark ages.

And the final nail in the Netflix coffin came when I spent 10 minutes idly thumbing through the BBC content library the other day.

I’d not touched the BBC for ages, other than tuning into their news programmes every now and again, or for my weekly Countryfile fix.

But the number of documentaries I’d enjoy on there was remarkable. It felt like I’d completely overlooked the one service we’d been paying to subscribe to since we first bought a house.

And I quickly realised that Netflix just didn’t offer anything like as much content I would enjoy as the BBC and the other services I use.

We have Amazon Prime, which I honestly believe has better movies than Netflix. And it also has Top Gear, The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm - arguably the best television programmes out there.

And then I pay for Youtube Premium, which is nearly as expensive as Netflix. I don’t pay for any other services beyond those and Netflix because it would start to get silly. But by sacking off Netflix I’ll save a fortune over a year. And I don’t think I’ll miss it.

Netflix is considering introducing a cheaper subscription, supported by adverts. But when I can already watch ad-supported content for free on ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, not to mention countless other streaming services, I don’t fancy giving Netflix any more money.

So I’m going to save myself £16 per month and cut the Netflix apron strings. I think I’ll put the money towards my electricity bill. At the current rate, it should cover me for at least two days.

It felt like I’d completely overlooked the one service we’d been paying to subscribe to since we first bought a house.