I suppose it depends how you watch TV. I tend to plan ahead rather than just switch on and hope there’s something that appeals.
Five years ago, when I first bought a smart TV after watching on a non-smart TV through Sky satellite for 20 years, I subscribed to several apps. The combined cost was around the same as I had been paying for the Sky entertainment package. I soon realised that, apart from a limited amount of original or exclusive content, they were all showing the same things. One-by-one, I cancelled.
Tastes vary but Netflix has little to attract me for long. The standard ad free version now costs £12.99 a month, £156 a year compared to a TV licence costing £174.50 which gives access to the BBC as well as free-to-air and live paid channels.
Nowadays, I read media reviews and make a list of content that I would like to watch on subscription services. Once there is enough on one service to warrant a month’s subscription, I sign up again. For example, over the holidays, I wanted to watch Mick Herron’s Down Cemetery Road and Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus plus one or two other things on Apple TV so I bought a month’s subscription for £10.
I do the same with Disney, Netflix and Now, dip in for a month at a time. If you shop around you can often find a voucher code for a discounted price.
The only regular subs I have are for Channel 4 as I like the international drama from Walter Presents which tend not to be in the main schedules. I want to watch without intrusive adverts every ten minutes. I also have an annual sub to BFI as I like independent smaller budget films as well as the international content there. Both cost a £1 a week.
As it can now cost up to £20 to go to the cinema, even with an age concession, I think that’s good value especially as many of the films I like don’t have a general release outside London if at all.
I used to be a regular cinema goer but lockdown forced me out of the habit. It made me realise that I am happy to wait a few months for a new film to arrive on a streaming service for a fraction of the price.
The BBC archive, especially since ITV bought out Britbox, is increasingly extensive. Again, tastes vary but I would be surprised if someone couldn’t find much to watch there. There are hundreds of TV programmes listed on the A-Z. The radio archive is even more extensive.
Other than that, I keep an eye on the free-to-air channels and set the Humax box to record anything that I want to see so I can fast forward through the adverts.
I enjoy vintage content so Talking Pictures TV on channel 82 is a favourite. I also watch a lot of content on Sky Arts channel 36.
Generally, the kind of new content I like is spread across several different services. It’s just different now to how things were 25 years ago before satellite TV and now digital.
I figure I spend around £300 a year altogether (licence plus annual and dip in and out subs). Less than £1 a day to have a wealth of content at my fingertips. I struggle to think of anything else that offers such good value.
). Thinking of what we saw yesterday, it was Only Connect, University Challenge, The Traitors and The Night Manager, all excellent. Match of the Day for DH. Oh, and The Traitors at the Proms, which was even better. And we had Radios 2 and 4 on for much of the day. We have the basic Netflix subscription, but rarely use it - the last things I watched were the Crown and One Day. As for Prime, I’ve had the membership for years for the other benefits, and can’t remember ever watching anything on it.
