Just like in other areas of society the internet is changing the way we consume Television and films with more TV choice than ever.
Companies like Netflix are now recruiting top actors and directors to make original films that are streamed straight to subscribers for viewing in their own homes, threatening the cinema industry.
Watching sporting events has now become all about TV choice as you no longer have to make do watching the game or event picked by the TV company, you can usually choose to watch the game or event that interests you.
Sticking with the same TV choice can be an expensive mistake
Over the years there has been a small range of satellite and cable providers competing to offer you a range of TV choice. More recently, different internet streaming services are now providing TV choice through different methods of consumption such as computers, tablets, phones and TVs.
Even with all this new TV choice there is still a dominant player when it comes to paid TV. That dominant player is Sky.
Sky have enjoyed their dominant position for a number of years, providing exclusive access to events, especially when it comes to sports. Unfortunately they have become greedy to the point people are paying well over £80 a month (£960 a year) for access to all their packages. Worse still, Sky will announce regular price increases once you are locked into a contract, which may not feel like much when it’s £2-£3 per month extra a time, but it soon adds up.
If you’re a Sky customer, ask yourself this, how many channels do you actually watch on a regular basis? I’m guessing it’s probably only a handful and even then you are probably only watching certain programmes on those channels.
The good news is, things are changing. Sky are facing threats from all over. The content quality of streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon is now some of the best TV around. Sky are losing rights to more and more sporting events, recently thanks to BT and soon to Facebook and Amazon.
So now’s the perfect time for you to benefit from the changes in TV choice.
How you can use the range of TV choice to save you money
If you are a Sky customer it’s likely that you could be in a fixed term contract with them so you may not have the opportunity to change straight away. However the first thing you need to do is negotiate with them. Tell them you are planning to leave at the end of your contract and it’s highly likely they will offer you a significant discount on your current package for a certain period of time.
Once your contract comes to end explore the range of TV choice.
#1 – BBC iPlayer
No matter what you think of the BBC they do still produce the occasional excellent content, think Planet Earth, Blue Planet and Sherlock. There are also still certain sporting events that Sky can’t touch due to government protection that means these events must be shown on free to air TV.
The BBC iPlayer was actually one of the first online streaming services and now offers a great way to watch sporting events like the summer and winter olympics, football FA and world cups and Wimbledon tennis championships. You can pick and choose when, where and what you want to watch. All for free (as long as you have a TV licence).
#2 – YouTube
Did you know YouTube sometimes stream live events. As an example, last year they streamed the football Champions League final live in full for free as part of a deal with BT.
So it’s worth checking out if the event you want to watch is to be screened on YouTube.
YouTube is also great if you are into music TV channels as you can find most music videos available for streaming on YouTube. Better still you can actually create your own music video playlist – it’s a bit like creating your own music channel for free!
#3 – Netflix, Amazon Prime, Now TV etc
As mentioned earlier, online streaming services are producing more and more excellent content and what’s even better is that they do this at low cost and no contracts. For example Netflix start from £5.99 per month and this gives you access to everything they produce.
Amazon Prime is slightly more expensive but you can get additional services as well as the TV choice like delivery on Amazon purchases and music.
The best way to use online streaming services is to pick and choose what and when you want to watch. Perhaps you don’t watch much TV in the summer so therefore cancel the subscription during the summer months. Or once you have watched the series you want to watch, cancel the subscription and watch another series on a different subscription service. Don’t fall into the trap of paying for them all at the same time though!
Now TV is actually owned by Sky and if you really can’t find the Sky programme or sporting event you really want to watch then I would recommend accessing Sky this way.
The initial subscription is £7.99 per month and can be cancelled any time. You can then add packages as extra including the sporting package. You can even purchase a day pass for the sports if it’s only one particular day that you actually want to watch. But even if you buy the monthly sports pass, at an additional £33.99 per month it’s still cheaper than normal Sky TV as long as you cancel the pass in the months you are not watching sports.
So some massive savings can be had if you just look and get clever with the TV choice available. If you were to cut Sky out you could be saving £960 a year and if you invested that money, over time you could make a significant difference to your future wealth.
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Risk warning:
Stock market linked investments and any income from them, can fall as well as rise and is not guaranteed. Any figures quoted are for illustrative purposes and should not be taken as a forecast or guarantee. Past performance should not be seen as an indication of future returns and clients may get back less than they have invested.
