Netflix, Disney+, Prime, Sky and TNT Sports for the football, and the TV licence on top: TV in the UK is now spread over a long list of separate subscriptions. We have put every price and the key viewing figures on one page, each with a source. Using a number? Please credit IPTVpakket with a link to this page.
- £161.91 a month is what six ad-free streaming services, every live Premier League match and pay TV plus the TV licence cost when you pay for each one separately. That is £1,942.92 a year, before broadband.
- £44.94 a month buys the same six streaming services on their cheapest plans, mostly with adverts.
- £65.98 a month is the cost of every live Premier League match without a contract (NOW Sports and TNT Sports).
- £180 a year is the TV licence from 1 April 2026, up from £174.50.
- 20.7 million UK homes (69.7%) had at least one subscription streaming service in Q2 2026 (Barb).
Prices checked on 13 October 2026. All amounts are consumer prices per month including VAT, without short-term offers. We update this page every month.
Streaming service prices in 2026
Most services now have three tiers: a cheaper plan with adverts, a standard plan without adverts and a more expensive plan with 4K and more screens. These are the monthly prices.
| Service | Cheapest | No adverts | Top tier (4K) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netflix | £7.99 (Standard with adverts) | £13.99 (Standard) | £20.99 (Premium) |
| Disney+ | £5.99 (Standard With Ads) | £9.99 (Standard) | £14.99 (Premium) |
| Amazon Prime | £8.99 (with adverts) | £11.98 (£2.99 extra) | £11.98 |
| Apple TV | £9.99 | £9.99 | £9.99 |
| Paramount+ | £5.99 (Basic with Ads) | £9.99 (Standard) | £12.99 (Premium) |
| HBO Max | £5.99 (Standard with Ads) | £9.99 (Standard) | £14.99 (Premium) |
Netflix Premium is the most expensive single plan at £20.99. Netflix raised every UK plan on 3 September 2026, and the plan with adverts went up by a third, from £5.99 to £7.99. Prime Video shows adverts by default; watching without them costs £2.99 a month on top of Prime. HBO Max launched in the UK on 26 March 2026 and is also where TNT Sports now streams.
What paying yearly saves
- Disney+: Standard £99.90 a year (£119.88 paid monthly), Premium £149.90 a year (£179.88 paid monthly). Standard With Ads has no yearly plan.
- Amazon Prime: £95 a year instead of £107.88. The ad-free extra is still paid monthly.
What does it cost to watch the Premier League?
From 2025/26 to 2028/29, live Premier League rights are split between two broadcasters. Sky Sports shows at least 215 matches a season and TNT Sports shows 52, including every Saturday 12.30pm kick-off. Every match is shown live except Saturday 3pm kick-offs. To see them all, you need both.
| Sports subscription | Price per month | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Sky Sports (with Sky TV) | £31 extra on a 24-month term, £33 outside a term | At least 215 live Premier League matches a season; needs a Sky TV plan |
| NOW Sports | £34.99 (no contract) | The Sky Sports channels without a Sky contract |
| TNT Sports (HBO Max) | £30.99 (no contract) or £25.99 on a 12-month plan | 52 live Premier League matches a season, including Saturday 12.30pm |
Every live Premier League match without a contract therefore costs £65.98 a month (NOW Sports £34.99 plus TNT Sports £30.99). Over a ten-month season that is about £660. If you already have Sky TV, the Sky Sports add-on is cheaper, but it ties you to a contract. More on combining sports in Best IPTV for sports, and everything about Formula 1 in F1 TV Pro: what it covers. For this week's Champions League matches and channels, see where to watch the Champions League tonight.
The TV licence and pay TV
You need a TV licence to watch or record live TV on any channel or device, and to use BBC iPlayer. Pay TV comes on top if you want channels such as Sky Atlantic.
| Item | Price per month | Note |
|---|---|---|
| TV licence | £15.00 | £180 a year since 1 April 2026, was £174.50 |
| Sky Essential TV | £15 (24-month term) | £18 on a 31-day rolling plan; includes Sky Atlantic, Netflix Standard with adverts and discovery+ |
| Freeview | £0 | Free-to-air channels; the TV licence still applies |
The licence fee is linked to inflation until the current BBC Charter ends in 2027. How the BBC is paid for after that is still being decided. For how IPTV compares with a cable or satellite contract, read IPTV vs cable TV.
What does it all cost together?
We worked out what it costs to pay for everything separately. Broadband is not included, because you need it either way.
| What you pay for | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| 6 streaming services, cheapest plans | £44.94 | £539.28 |
| 6 streaming services, no adverts | £65.93 | £791.16 |
| Football: every live Premier League match | £65.98 | £791.76 |
| TV: licence and Sky Essential TV | £30.00 | £360.00 |
| Everything, no adverts | £161.91 | £1,942.92 |
How we calculated it. The six streaming services are Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Paramount+ and HBO Max. Cheapest plans: Netflix Standard with adverts £7.99, Disney+ Standard With Ads £5.99, Prime £8.99, Apple TV £9.99, Paramount+ Basic with Ads £5.99 and HBO Max Standard with Ads £5.99. No adverts: Netflix Standard £13.99, Disney+ Standard £9.99, Prime without adverts £11.98, Apple TV £9.99, Paramount+ Standard £9.99 and HBO Max Standard £9.99. Football: NOW Sports £34.99 and TNT Sports £30.99, both without a contract. TV: TV licence £15.00 and Sky Essential TV £15.
Hardly anyone pays for all of it. But the sum shows why so many households keep cancelling and recombining subscriptions.
UK TV and streaming figures
How much do we watch?
- People in the UK spent an average of 4 hours 27 minutes a day watching video at home in 2025. Broadcaster content (live, recorded or on demand) made up 53% of that.
- A weekly average of 70% of people watched broadcaster programmes in 2025, down from 73% in 2024 and 78% in 2022.
- Only 54% watched live or recorded TV in an average week in 2025, down from 71% in 2022.
- Broadcaster on-demand services such as BBC iPlayer and ITVX are growing: 46% used one at least weekly in 2025, up from 38% in 2022.
Source: Ofcom, Media Nations UK 2026 (published 29 July 2026), figures for 2025.
How many homes pay for streaming?
- 20.7 million UK homes (69.7%) had access to at least one subscription streaming service in Q2 2026.
- Netflix was in 18.0 million homes (60.4%). 41% of them were on the plan with adverts.
- Amazon Prime Video was in 13.6 million homes (45.9%), and 89% of them watched with adverts.
- Disney+ grew to 8.9 million homes (29.9%), up from 7.8 million in Q1 2026.
Source: Barb Establishment Survey, Q2 2026.
Price rises in 2026
This is what went up this year:
| Provider | When | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| TV licence | 1 April | From £174.50 to £180 a year |
| Sky | 1 April | TV packages £1 to £3 a month more, broadband £3 more |
| Paramount+ | 27 August | Standard from £7.99 to £9.99; Basic with Ads to £5.99, Premium to £12.99 |
| Netflix | 3 September | With adverts £5.99 to £7.99, Standard £12.99 to £13.99, Premium £18.99 to £20.99 |
| Disney+ | 14 October | Standard With Ads 6-month saver from £4.99 to £5.99 a month |
Disney+ has also announced that the monthly Standard With Ads plan will rise from £5.99 to £6.99, without a confirmed date yet. We will update the table when it changes.
How to pay less for TV
- Rotate monthly. Most streaming services can be cancelled any month. Take one at a time and switch when you have finished what you wanted to watch.
- Accept adverts if they do not bother you. On Netflix that saves £6 a month compared with Standard.
- Pay yearly for the services you keep anyway. On Disney+ that saves two months a year, on Prime £12.88.
- Football only in season. NOW Sports and TNT Sports on HBO Max can be cancelled over the summer and restarted when the season begins.
- Avoid paying twice. Check whether a service is already included somewhere else, for example Netflix with adverts in Sky Essential TV, or a deal with your mobile or broadband provider.
There is also another route: one IPTV subscription with live TV, sport, films and series together. At IPTVpakket that costs €12 a month or €49.99 a year, and you can try it free for 24 hours first. More in How to choose an IPTV subscription.
How we collect the numbers
- Prices come from the provider itself or from at least two recent sources that give the same amount. If we could not find a reliable price, the service is left out. That is why NOW Entertainment is missing: sources disagree on its current price.
- We use the regular price, not introductory offers for new customers. Sky prices are for new customers on a 24-month term, because Sky Sports needs a Sky TV plan.
- All amounts include VAT and are per month, unless it says "per year".
- Viewing figures come from Ofcom and Barb, each with its period.
- We check the prices every month. The date at the top shows the last check.
You are free to use every number on this page in articles, videos and presentations. Please credit the source with a link:
Sources
- Netflix: ISPreview and Express & Star
- Disney+: Disney+ UK and Cord Busters
- Amazon Prime: Household Money Saving and GB News
- Apple TV: Apple UK
- Paramount+: Three and Cord Busters
- HBO Max and TNT Sports: HBO Max UK and TNT Sports on HBO Max
- NOW Sports: NOW and Cord Busters
- Sky Essential TV and Sky Sports: Sky; April 2026 rise: MoneySavingExpert
- TV licence: ITV News
- Premier League TV rights 2025 to 2029: Inside World Football
- Viewing: Ofcom, Media Nations UK 2026
- Streaming homes: Barb, Q2 2026
Questions about the cost of TV in the UK
How much does TV cost in the UK per month?
It depends on what you pay for. Six big streaming services cost £44.94 a month together on their cheapest plans, or £65.93 without adverts. Add every live Premier League match (NOW Sports and TNT Sports), the TV licence and Sky Essential TV and you reach £161.91 a month, before broadband.
How much does it cost to watch every Premier League match?
You need Sky Sports for at least 215 live matches a season and TNT Sports for 52. Without a contract, NOW Sports (£34.99) and TNT Sports on HBO Max (£30.99) cost £65.98 a month. Saturday 3pm kick-offs are not shown live in the UK.
Which streaming service is the most expensive?
Netflix Premium is the most expensive single plan at £20.99 a month. Netflix raised every UK plan on 3 September 2026.
How much is the TV licence in 2026?
The TV licence costs £180 a year since 1 April 2026, up from £174.50. That is £15 a month. You need it to watch or record live TV on any channel or device and to use BBC iPlayer.
How many UK homes pay for streaming?
According to Barb, 20.7 million UK homes (69.7%) had at least one subscription streaming service in Q2 2026. Netflix was in 18.0 million homes.
