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Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming video delivered over the Internet. 

Streaming TV stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aerial systems, cable television, and/or satellite television systems. The use of streaming online video and web television by consumers has seen a dramatic increase ever since the launch of online video platforms such as YouTube and Netflix.

^{Below is a guide reproduced from moneysupermarket.com of the streaming services currently available in the UK. Be sure to check their website from time to time for updates.}

Which is the best streaming service?

Streaming has totally changed the way most people now watch TV. According to Ofcom, YouTube and Netflix are now two of the country’s most-watched channels, behind only BBC One and ITV. Nearly half of the country uses a streaming service, and it’s not hard to see why – instead of only being able to watch whatever’s on TV at the moment, on-demand streaming lets you enjoy your favourite films and TV shows, whenever you want.

But with so many streaming services now available, which one should you sign up for? We’ve got the lowdown on some of the UK’s biggest providers to help you make the right choice.

Netflix

It’s starting to face some tougher competition from other services, but Netflix is still the undisputed king when it comes to online streaming – nearly 12.5 million UK households have a Netflix subscription, next to about 7 million for its nearest rival.

So, what are those 12.5 million customers getting? Netflix’s biggest selling point is its range of content – when you subscribe, you get instant access to thousands of films and TV shows. This includes Netflix Originals like Stranger Things, The Crown or Narcos, as well as blockbuster movies, foreign dramas like Kingdom or Money Heist, and even stand-up comedy or reality TV.

But while Netflix is investing heavily in its own programming, right now the most popular show on the service is the 90s sitcom Friends – with all 236 episodes available to stream on demand.

There are several pricing tiers available with Netflix. For £5.99 a month, you can watch anything on its catalogue in standard definition. To upgrade to HD, you’ll need to pay £8.99 – but you can also have two people using your account simultaneously on different devices. And with an £11.99 family account, you can have four people watching at the same time, all in 4K ultra-HD.

Netflix does have its downsides, though. As competition in the streaming market gets more intense, it’s losing some content to its challengers. For instance, Marvel movies that were once on Netflix can now only be streamed through Disney+. And the Netflix catalogue changes daily – which means you could be midway through binging on your new favourite show, only to find out that it’s been suddenly dropped from the service.

Amazon Prime Video

Next to Netflix, Amazon Prime is the UK’s second most popular streaming service. Like Netflix, Amazon offers a wide range of its own original programming, including shows like Mr Robot, American Gods and Vikings. Amazon’s shows aren’t quite as popular and talked-about as those on Netflix – but as more and more people start using Amazon Prime, that could be changing.

In 2017, Amazon became the first streaming service to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars with Manchester by the Sea, and dozens more great films and TV shows are added to the service every year – including an upcoming Lord of the Rings series, with a budget rumoured to top $1 billion.

The selection on Amazon Prime Video might not be quite as large as the one on Netflix, but don’t worry if you think you might be missing out. The service also allows you to browse an almost limitless movie library: you can rent a film for as little as £1.99, or buy and download it, so you can watch it again whenever you like.

There are extra benefits to Amazon as well. If you’re an Amazon Prime customer, you also get unlimited free one-day delivery on millions of items from Amazon’s marketplace, plus unlimited music streaming with Amazon Music and free access to hundreds of Kindle books.

Now TV

Now TV is a streaming service owned by Sky – which means you can watch exclusive Sky content without needing a satellite dish or a Sky subscription.

All content on Now TV is streamed at 720p – a higher resolution than an ordinary DVD, but lower than the ultra-HD offered by Netflix or Amazon. If you don’t have an enormous TV, you might not notice, but those with bigger screens might find it a bit blurry.

The services includes a number of different packages, so you can tailor it to your own watching habits. With the Entertainment Pass, you can watch channels including Sky One, Sky Atlantic and Comedy Central live – plus you also get access to on-demand box sets like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. The Sky Cinema Pass lets you watch 10 movie channels live, along with Sky Cinema’s library of over a thousand on-demand films. And if there’s a match you’re dying to watch, you can get a Sky Sports Pass for a month, a week, or even just one day – so you’ll never have to miss a Premier League match or Formula 1 race again.

Now TV’s various passes are all priced differently. The Kids Pass, which offers access to channels like Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network with an easy-to-use interface, costs £3.99 a month, while the price goes up to £11.99 for the Sky Cinema Pass.

You can mix and match these bundles to your heart’s content – but depending on how you use it, Now TV could either be one of the cheapest streaming options on the market, or one of the most expensive.

Disney+

It’s a newcomer to the streaming market, but Disney+ is already making waves. Launched in 2019, it offers much more than Disney’s back catalogue – you’ll also get the entire Star Wars saga, all the Marvel films, and every episode of the Simpsons to boot.

All these titles migrated permanently to Disney+ when it launched, so if you don’t want to shell out a rental fee to see Iron Man or Luke Skywalker, Disney+ is your only option.

Disney+ is also ploughing some serious effort into its own original programming, including shows like the Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian – with a $100 million budget, the most expensive TV show ever made.

For all that, it’s cheaper than many other streaming services, costing £5.99 per month or £59.99 for a whole year. Your money gets you around 7,000 TV episodes and 500 films, all in ultra-HD – and you can have four people watching on different devices simultaneously.

Apple TV+

At only £4.99 a month, Apple TV+ is one of the cheapest options on the market. You also get a year’s free subscription whenever you buy a new iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, MacBook, or Apple TV.

Unlike with most streaming services, the focus here isn’t so much on the content being offered as the way it’s delivered. Apple TV+ comes with some of the highest specs available – everything is streamed in 4K ultra-HD with Dolby Vision high dynamic range and 3D surround sound. If you have the right tech setup, that means that Apple TV+ can probably give you the most immersive watching experience of any streaming service.

For the moment, though, that service is pretty limited. Apple TV+ launched late in 2019 with just nine titles available, including the tentpole drama The Morning Show, starring Jennifer Anniston and Reese Witherspoon, post-apocalyptic adventure See, and the visually stunning nature documentary The Elephant Queen. But new titles will be added constantly, and you won’t be able to watch them anywhere else – which means Apple TV+ could be one to watch in the years ahead.

Britbox

Another recent addition to the streaming market is Britbox, a joint project from the BBC and ITV. Britbox was originally launched in the US and Canada, as a way to let people across the pond enjoy some of their favourite UK TV shows – and it’s now available in the UK as well.

But is it more than just an upgraded iPlayer? Unlike the free catch-up services offered by British broadcasters, Britbox lets you stream a vast archive of TV shows from 70s favourites to more recent programmes like The Only Way is Essex or Downton Abbey, along with classic films including the complete Carry On series and The 39 Steps. That library is expanding as more channels sign on to Britbox – such as Channel 4, which has now made hundreds of hours of content available through the service.

Britbox costs £5.99 a month and streams all content in full HD, and you can use it across many devices. You can also watch it across as many screens as you want – but there’s no way to download content for offline viewing.