Subscriptions and the TV licence: what you can cut
When you do and do not need a £175 TV licence, how to rotate streaming services, and how to find the subscriptions you forgot
Subscriptions are the quiet leak in most budgets. A few pounds here for streaming, a few there for an app, and a TV licence of about £175 a year that some households do not need. This guide covers the licence rules, a simple way to cut streaming costs without giving up what you watch, and how to audit everything else.
When you need a TV licence
You need a licence if you:
- Watch or record live TV on any channel, on any device, including through streaming services that carry live channels.
- Use BBC iPlayer, live or on demand.
You do not need one if you only watch on-demand content on services other than iPlayer, such as catch-up on other broadcasters' apps or subscription streaming, and never watch anything live. Watching a live event stream on a video site counts as live TV.
If you do not need one, tell TV Licensing you do not need a licence so they stop writing to you. Be honest. Enforcement visits happen and the fine is far more than the licence.
Discounts and free licences
| Situation | Licence cost |
|---|---|
| Aged 75 or over and receiving Pension Credit | Free |
| Registered blind or severely sight impaired | 50% off |
| Living in qualifying residential care | Reduced |
| Black and white TV only | Much reduced |
The over-75 free licence depends on Pension Credit. If you are over 75 and not claiming Pension Credit but might qualify, a successful claim gets you the licence free as well as the income top-up. Check at gov.uk.
You can pay monthly by direct debit. Paying annually is the same total, so monthly is fine if it helps cash flow.
Rotating streaming services
Most households do not need three or four streaming services at once. The alternative is rotation:
- List the shows you actually want to watch and which service each is on.
- Subscribe to one service for a month, watch what you want, then cancel.
- Move to the next service the following month.
- Repeat.
Cancelling is usually a few taps in the account settings, and you keep access until the end of the paid period. Ad-supported tiers cost less if you can tolerate adverts. Annual plans are cheaper per month but only if you would keep the service all year.
Auditing your subscriptions
The quickest way to find what you are paying for is your bank and card statements. Most banking apps now have a subscriptions or regular payments view. Go back twelve months, because some charges are annual and easy to miss.
For each one, ask: did I use this in the last month? If not, cancel it. Common forgotten ones are cloud storage, fitness apps, premium versions of apps you stopped using, magazine apps, and delivery passes.
Check the app store subscription pages on your phone as well. Subscriptions taken through an app store show on your card as the store, not the service, so they hide.
Free trial traps
Free trials that need card details are designed to convert to paid. The safe way to use them:
- Set a phone reminder for two days before the trial ends.
- Cancel as soon as you have decided, if you can keep access until the end anyway.
- Use a virtual card with a low limit if your bank offers one.
- Be wary of "£1 for the first month" offers that lock into a longer term.
If you are charged after cancelling, contact the service first, then your bank. For debit card payments you can request a chargeback, usually within 120 days.
What to do next
- Decide honestly whether you watch live TV or iPlayer. If not, declare it.
- If you are over 75 and might qualify for Pension Credit, claim it.
- Pick one streaming service for October and cancel the rest.
- Go through twelve months of statements this weekend and cancel what you do not use.