SUBSCRIPTION services can be a great way to access your favourite food, films, music and more.
However, rising prices mean they aren’t always good for your bank balance.
Disney+ is set to increase the price of its premium subscription from Sunday, March 24.
The streaming giant made changes to its subscriptions at the end of last year, with premium subscriptions increasing from £7.99 to £10.99 a month.
But those renewing their annual premium subscription will be charged £109.90 instead of £79.90 at the end of this month due to the introduction of a new three-tier subscription service.
The new system is as follows:
Here is how you could reduce some of the costs so you can continue to stream and subscribe without hurting your bank balance too much.
Sometimes it can seem daunting to pay for a whole year’s subscription all at once.
But if you know you’re going to stick with the service, it can save you money to pay in one lump sum.
Customers can save £13 a year on Amazon Prime membership by paying annually.
The full membership is £95 upfront for 12 months, but if you pay monthly at £8.99 a month you’ll end up paying £107.88 over the year.
Disney+ standard plan customers can also save up to £21.98 a year by paying their bill a year ahead.
If you have multiple TV and film subscriptions, you could save money by rotating what you pay for each month.
If you’re signed up to everything, you could be forking out a fortune.
Netflix is £10.99 a month, Amazon Prime £8.99 and Disney+ £7.99 – adding up to £27.97 a month if you have them all, or £335.64 a year.
However, each of these services allows users who pay monthly to cancel their subscription at any time without a fee.
So if you can plan what you want to watch, you could alternate which service you’re signed up to and save.
And if you don’t mind a few commercial breaks and want Netflix or Disney+, consider their standard plans with ads.
Both Disney and Netflix’s cheapest plans with ads cost just £4.99 a month.
Sharing streaming subscriptions between a household is one of the easiest ways to save money.
Spotify is one platform that has this option.
While the music streaming service costs £10.99 for a single membership, you can get its Premium Duo plan for £14.99 a month.
This saves £83.88 a year compared to the price of two individual subscriptions.
Netflix standard and premium account plans also allow for users to be added outside the household for an extra £4.99 a month.
You could save by doing this with a friend and splitting costs.
Streaming services often let you try before you commit, and will give you one month for free.
For example, a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime Video is worth doing if you are just signing up to watch a particular show.
Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited and YouTube Premium also give new users a one-month free trial.
And new Spotify Premium members get the first three months for free.
Set a reminder to cancel before the end of the promo period so you don’t end up with an unwanted subscription.
Hundreds of films and box sets are available via free streaming services such as All 4, ITVX, UKTV Play, and My5.
You’ll usually need to sit through ads, but the savings tend to make it worthwhile.
BBC iPlayer is also free if you already pay for a TV licence – though you can’t watch it without one.
You could even get a subscription service free of charge for a selected period when buying a new mobile phone contract or taking out a new credit card.
For example, new Barclaycard customers can get Apple TV+ free for five months.
O2 offers newbies up to three months of free Apple TV+, too.
