Should You Cancel Your Streaming Services?
If you’re like most people, you’ve probably noticed that inflation is climbing pretty fast and it’s already starting to affect streaming services. Subscription prices have risen significantly in recent years, and although paying a little more each month may not seem like a big deal, it adds up when you pay for multiple services.
Netflix has raised the price of their Premium tier from £15.99 to £17.99 and Disney+ went from £7.99 to £10.99, but offers a discount if you pay for a year up front. Amazon Prime is taking a different approach by showing ads to everyone unless they pay to remove them.
It would be ideal if one service gave you access to all your favorite shows and movies, but that’s not how it works. All the separate streaming services have their own set of movies and shows. Even when networks air some of the same movies, there are a handful of networks that produce their own shows and you can’t watch them anywhere else. If you happen to be addicted to a specific TV series, you have to subscribe to watch. It’s easy to see how one person can end up with a lot of subscriptions.
To avoid the rising fees, many people are choosing to cancel their streaming services or consolidate them into just one account, like Netflix. If you’re trying to save money and don’t want to pay for so many services, here are some good reasons to consider canceling.
Every saved dollar counts
When you’re trying to save every dollar you can, it makes sense to start by canceling some of your streaming services. Start with the ones you don’t use that much and then move to cancel the services you might use on occasion but not enough to justify a monthly fee. There’s nothing wrong with going back to cable TV as your primary source of entertainment. With TV guide apps like mytelly.co.uk, you can see what’s on and find some new shows to enjoy.
Hopefully you aren’t locked into any type of yearly plan that requires a monthly payment until the year is over. If you are, calculate the early termination fee; you might save more money by canceling compared to paying for the rest of your term.
You don’t use a particular streaming service
First and foremost, think about all the streaming services you have and how often you use them. Cancel anything you don’t use at all, and consider canceling subscriptions you got just for one movie or series. To be fair, there’s nothing wrong with paying for a subscription just to access one TV show you currently watch. You like what you like. If it happens to be a show that only airs on a certain network and it’s the only show you watch, that’s okay. However, if you no longer watch your intended show, that’s a good reason to cancel.
You don’t remember signing up for a service
We all do it – sign up for a free trial and then forget about it for months and never realize we’re still paying the monthly fee. To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, go straight to your bank account statements to see if you’ve got any monthly recurring charges for streaming services you don’t use. If you find anything, cancel them immediately.
Even if you haven’t watched anything, you probably won’t be able to get a refund, but at least you can stop the charges. Although, if you’ve only been charged for one month of service since your free trial ended, it doesn’t hurt to request a refund. Just be honest and tell them you signed up for the trial and forgot to cancel. Sometimes companies will honor refund requests past the deadline to keep customers happy.
You don’t need extra perks
Downgrade your subscription tier if you don’t need features like the ability to connect multiple devices at once, save downloads offline, and access cloud-based DVR storage. These features are nice to have but aren’t always necessary. If you can give them up but still want to watch your shows, just downgrade your plans.
Consider streaming daily for sports
Sports channels will often offer a daily subscription fee that gives you access for 24 hours. Sometimes that’s all you need. If you only like to catch specific games on TV, consider canceling services you have that include sports channels and switch to paying for the day instead.
Subscription costs will continue to grow
If you don’t cut off your excess subscriptions now, you’ll end up paying more in the long run. Reel in the number of subscriptions you have; you’ll save more money than you think by not paying for things you don’t actually use.
