DON’T let costly TV subscriptions empty your bank account all through 2025.
There are easy ways to trim your TV bills, and the savings can be enormous.
One of the easiest mistakes to make is paying for the wrong kind of plan.
This is surprisingly easy to do with Netflix, so you should check your account right away.
The top Netflix subscription is called Premium, and it costs a fairly hefty £17.99 in the UK and $22.99 in the US.
It has several perks, but the main advantage of Premium is that you can watch 4K Ultra HD content.
Netflix has loads of 4K telly and movies on offer, so it sounds like a cracking deal.
The problem is that you might not actually be getting a 4K picture.
For a start, if your TV isn’t 4K then you won’t see an Ultra HD image even if you’re paying for the top Netflix plan.
Instead, you’ll be capped at whatever the maximum resolution of your TV screen is.
Similarly, anyone streaming with a plug-in box needs to make sure that supports 4K too.
For instance, your Amazon Fire Stick or Roku device need to be 4K models – or you won’t see an Ultra HD picture, even with a 4K TV.
This is an easy mistake to make, especially as the cheapest Amazon and Roku plug-in streamers typically aren’t 4K-friendly.
So that might be cutting you off from the best-quality picture.
Lastly, if you’re mostly watching on smartphones and tablets then you’ll want to check the resolution on those devices.
Most phones and tablets don’t have 4K screens – and it’s less important anyway because the pixels are packed into such a small space.
Here's an easy guide to what 4K means...
So if you’re not getting the 4K picture you’d hoped for, consider downgrading to Standard – it’s way cheaper at £10.99 in the UK and $15.49 in the US.
You’ll save a whopping £84 in the UK and $90 in the US over the course of a year by switching down.
Standard will still give you multiple-device streaming, downloadable offline content, and Full HD viewing – as well as the same library of content.
Choosing to view ads is another clever way to save money on Netflix.
There’s a Standard with Ads plan that dramatically reduces the amount of money you’re paying each month.
It’s very similar to the Standard plan, but with commercials interrupting you content.
If you don’t mind that then it’s an easy way to save.
You’ll still be able to stream and download on two devices simultaneously – and the telly is capped at Full HD.
Here's what you need to know...
Netflix Standard with Ads
Price: £4.99 / $6.99
Netflix Standard
Price: £10.99 / $15.49
Netflix Premium
Price: £17.99 / $22.99
Picture Credit: Netflix
The big upside is that the monthly fee is just £4.99 in the UK and $6.99 in the US.
That equates to a mammoth saving of £156 or $192 versus a Premium plan.
Possibly the best tip is to simply kill your Netflix membership for most of the year.
There are two things to think about here.
Firstly, there are loads of free services offering up ad-supported telly, including apps like:
Combine them all together and you might find yourself being able to bin Netflix.
They even serve up live channels in addition to their vast libraries of on-demand content.
Here's what you need to know
The Roku Channel is a streaming app that’s available on a range of devices.
It offers more than 400 live TV channels.
And it promises over 80,000 movies and TV shows on an on-demand basis.
Roku says that the app is available on:
Roku notes that the app is only available in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It’s also available in Mexico, but only on Roku devices.
Picture Credit: Roku
Secondly, think about the services that you are paying for – and then make a list.
If you have three or four TV apps, only keep an active subscription to one for a month.
Watch all of its tops movies and shows, cancel it, and move on to the next.
Repeat that with a third or fourth subscription, and then by the month after, you can cycle back to the first app.
That way you get to watch all of the top shows for each app in a year – but you’re only paying for each service for a few months.
It’s one of the easiest ways to significantly reduce your TV bills in 2025.
