What you are able to watch after going TV licence free will really depend on how much you want to spend. We’ve set out some recommendations for you below but, obviously, you can mix and match to suit your tastes and budget.
True Freeview: Monthly cost £FREE
You can watch on-demand on all of these platforms for free, without a licence.*
*Please note that within ITV Hub, All 4, My 5 and YouTube there are limited amounts of “live TV”, you cannot watch those elements without a licence. The on-demand content on these platforms is fine to watch. UK TV Play is 100% on-demand.
We recommend: Monthly cost £8.99 (£4.14 less than TV licence)
Adding in Netflix can really perk things up though and, combined with the collection of freeview platforms, you still pay less than the TV licence but with much greater variety.
*Please note that within ITV Hub, All 4, My 5 and YouTube there are limited amounts of “live TV”, you can not watch those elements without a licence. The on-demand content on these platforms is fine to watch. UK TV Play and Netflix are 100% on-demand.
Other options…
Amazon Prime Video comes free with the retailer’s Prime membership; alternatively you can pay £7.99 per month. It provides a combination of mostly on-demand content – some included, some pay-as-you-go – and a couple of live TV channels.
Disney+ is made up of on-demand content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic. It costs £5.99 per month.
Britbox costs £5.99 per month and features 100% on-demand content made up of BBC and ITV back catalogue.
Now TV is Sky’s on-demand platform, but still contains some live channels that you’ll need to be careful to avoid. Like Sky, you can choose which bundles you want, starting at £7.99 per month.
Across Apple TV and Apple TV+ you can access a range of pay-as-you-go movies, on-demand original series and some live TV. Starting at £4.99 per month.
Identifying and avoiding “live TV”
- In ITV Hub, All 4, My 5 the link to their live channel is clearly marked ” Live TV” or “Live Channels”
- On YouTube avoid content streamed by any TV channel that’s marked “Live Now”
We are asking all platforms to make it clear which of their content requires a TV licence, thus putting the onus on them to ensure their customers cannot accidently break the law.