Compare streaming TV offers by total cost for the same viewing basket and the same period, not by the largest introductory number on the page. Add upfront charges, every monthly price phase, required add-ons, hardware, activation and delivery; subtract only guaranteed credits. Divide by the minimum term for a monthly equivalent, but keep cancellation exposure and the price after that term visible. Broadband and a TV Licence should be included only where they are genuinely incremental to your household, with that choice stated.
TellyProof subscription offers
Choose a duration and continue to checkout
These are TellyProof’s own offers, separate from the providers discussed in this guide. Check channel availability and your device before buying. The selected GBP total appears in checkout and in your WhatsApp order request. Confirm availability and terms before paying.
IPTV subscription 1 month UK
A short duration to check your device’s compatibility and the quality on your connection.
- 1 simultaneous screen at this price
- Use on your compatible devices
- TV guide (EPG) when provided by the source
- HD, Full HD and 4K depending on the source, device and plan
- Installation help for a compatible device
- Final catalogue confirmed before ordering
IPTV subscription 3 months UK
A defined three-month viewing period without immediately choosing an annual duration.
- 1 simultaneous screen at this price
- Use on your compatible devices
- TV guide (EPG) when provided by the source
- HD, Full HD and 4K depending on the source, device and plan
- Installation help for a compatible device
- Final catalogue confirmed before ordering
IPTV subscription 6 months UK
Six months for regular use, after checking the catalogue, EPG and stability.
- 1 simultaneous screen at this price
- Use on your compatible devices
- TV guide (EPG) when provided by the source
- HD, Full HD and 4K depending on the source, device and plan
- Installation help for a compatible device
- Final catalogue confirmed before ordering
IPTV subscription 12 months UK
The lowest equivalent monthly price, to choose after confirming your devices and the catalogue.
- 1 simultaneous screen at this price
- Use on your compatible devices
- TV guide (EPG) when provided by the source
- HD, Full HD and 4K depending on the source, device and plan
- Installation help for a compatible device
- Final catalogue confirmed before ordering
What to know before you start
A rolling entertainment app, a provider box bundled with broadband and a 24-month pay-TV package do not share the same cost shape. One may have no activation fee but a higher monthly price. Another may discount six months and recover the difference later. A third may require a device, UHD pack or whole-home add-on. A useful calculator preserves those differences before producing a total; it does not pretend every product is interchangeable.
UK presentation rules have changed. For new phone, broadband and pay-TV contracts from 17 January 2025, Ofcom banned inflation-linked or percentage-based mid-contract price rises. Any contractual rise must be stated clearly in pounds and pence, with its timing, when the customer signs up. That makes arithmetic more possible, but it does not remove promotions, out-of-contract prices or optional add-ons. Capture the checkout summary and contract information on the day you compare.
Three facts that shape the decision
| Check | Useful marker | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Core formula | All required costs minus firm credits | Total the upfront amount and each monthly phase across the chosen period. Add compulsory hardware, activation, delivery and viewing packs; subtract only credits written into the offer. |
| Comparable output | Term total + monthly equivalent | The monthly equivalent is total minimum-term cost divided by months. Also show the post-term rate, because the average can conceal the price faced if the service continues. |
| Price-rise rule | Pounds and pence for new contracts | From 17 January 2025, Ofcom requires planned rises in new phone, broadband and pay-TV contracts to be clear in pounds and pence at sign-up, rather than linked to inflation or a percentage. |
A reproducible four-step method
Define one viewing basket before collecting prices
List the channels, competitions, on-demand catalogues, picture quality, simultaneous streams and rooms that matter. Mark each as essential or optional. Price only packages that satisfy the same essentials. If one offer includes broadband and another does not, either add a realistic separate broadband cost or compare just the incremental television component and disclose that choice.
Keep as evidence: Save the requirement list beside the calculation. Without it, a cheaper result may simply represent fewer channels, HD instead of UHD or one screen rather than several.
Build a month-by-month rate line
Enter the price for every phase: introductory months, later minimum-term months and any stated pound rise on its stated date. Treat a one-month rolling plan as one month only when comparing flexibility; for an annual viewing need, model twelve renewals and flag that the provider can change a rolling price subject to its terms and notice.
Keep as evidence: Use the final checkout or pre-contract summary, not an undated search snippet. Record the checked date, minimum term, notice period and what happens when the promotional period ends.
Classify every extra and credit
Add activation, delivery, compulsory box rental or purchase, installation, UHD, ad removal, sports, multi-room and any required base membership. Keep optional equipment outside the headline total but show it in a scenario. Subtract a gift card or bill credit only if eligibility and value are clear; do not count uncertain cashback as though it were cash already received.
Keep as evidence: Give every line a type: required, optional, refundable, one-off or credit. Note whether hardware is owned, rented or must be returned, because a low upfront amount can carry a later non-return charge.
Calculate totals and test the decision
For each offer, add all minimum-term payments and produce a monthly equivalent. Then model the same 12- or 24-month horizon for every option, plus a scenario in which you cancel as soon as allowed. Show the ongoing monthly price and any early termination exposure separately. The lowest average is not automatically best if your viewing need lasts only a season.
Keep as evidence: Retain the worksheet and source captures. Recheck the provider page at checkout, because offers and eligibility can change after editorial review; our updated date is not a price guarantee.
Stop the calculation if the seller does not state its legal identity, total price, recurring schedule, cancellation route or what content the payment buys. Do not enter card or bank details merely to reveal basic contract terms. An implausibly cheap catalogue containing every premium service is a rights and consumer-risk signal, not a saving that belongs beside recognised offers without further verification.
What to record in your evidence journal
Use the same fields each time so that a later comparison is based on like-for-like evidence rather than memory or a sales claim.
- Viewing basket
- Record essentials, optional extras, months needed and simultaneous rooms.
- Price evidence
- Save dated checkout lines, contract length, scheduled rises and post-term price.
- Cost treatment
- Explain broadband, TV Licence, hardware ownership, credits and refundable deposits.
- Scenario result
- Keep term total, monthly equivalent and the cost of leaving at the realistic date.
Decision criteria
Like-for-like entitlement
Compare the same channels, live rights, resolution, stream count and room access. A package with more logos is not necessarily equivalent if the specific programme, live fixture or accessibility feature you need is absent.
Incremental household cost
A television licence or broadband line may already be required for other reasons. Include it when taking the offer creates or changes that cost; otherwise list it as a prerequisite outside the incremental total. Apply the same treatment to every provider.
Commitment as well as average
A long minimum term may win on monthly equivalent while exposing the household to more payments if circumstances change. Show rolling flexibility, cancellation notice, equipment returns and post-term pricing alongside the arithmetic instead of compressing the decision into one score.
Deeper practical analysis
Detailed scenarios and decision notes
Use these cases to apply the method to a real household without turning a general guide into a one-size-fits-all recommendation.
How do you make unlike television offers comparable?
Start with outcomes, not brand bundles. Write down the exact live channels, competitions, on-demand programmes, picture quality, simultaneous screens, rooms, recording behaviour and accessibility features the household needs. Separate essentials from preferences and note how many months each is required. A service that omits an essential is not a cheaper equivalent; it belongs in a different scenario. This prevents a broad annual package being compared with a narrow monthly app simply because both advertise entertainment, and it keeps an attractive introductory price from replacing the actual viewing decision. Have every regular viewer confirm the essentials before collecting prices, avoiding a cheap shortlist that fails as soon as another household need is added.
Create one row per valid route to the same basket. One row might combine free broadcaster apps with a seasonal sports membership; another might use a provider box and long contract; a third might bundle television with broadband. Include only recognised, rights-cleared routes whose terms can be verified. Where two offers cannot deliver identical content, identify the compromise in plain language. The cost calculator should show that one option lacks recording or another needs separate apps instead of silently treating missing functionality as a discount.
Choose a common comparison horizon that matches the decision. Twelve months can suit a household reviewing annual entertainment, while a football season or a 24-month broadband commitment may demand a different view. Calculate each offer across that same horizon, but preserve its true minimum term and renewal points. Do not force a rolling plan to look like a fixed contract: model likely renewals while acknowledging its price and continued availability are not guaranteed for the whole period. Consistent time lets totals be compared without erasing flexibility. Save a second result at each option's own minimum term so nobody mistakes a common-horizon comparison for the amount contractually due on early exit.
Back to guide contentsHow should introductory prices and scheduled changes be calculated?
Build the bill as phases. If a hypothetical offer costs one amount for three months and another for the remaining nine, multiply each rate only by the months it applies, then add the results. Add any clearly stated pound increase from the correct date rather than averaging it across the whole term. The example teaches arithmetic, not a current market price. For a real decision, take every figure from the final checkout and pre-contract summary because a landing-page headline may exclude eligibility conditions, compulsory packs or later phases.
Keep recurring add-ons on their own lines. UHD, ad removal, extra rooms, sports, premium channels and app memberships can begin or end at different times from the base package. Model only the months they are genuinely needed, subject to their cancellation rules. If an add-on is mandatory for the essential basket, include it in the primary total. If it is optional, place it in a named scenario. This avoids the misleading practice of advertising the cheapest base membership while calculating the household's required features somewhere out of sight.
Treat credits carefully. A guaranteed bill credit with clear eligibility can reduce the contract total on the date it is applied. Cashback requiring a separate claim, a gift card with restrictions or a free device the household does not want should be shown outside the cash total unless its value and receipt are sufficiently certain. Record any clawback condition. Never subtract a marketing retail value for equipment that remains loaned or financed. A transparent model distinguishes cash leaving the household, conditional benefits and non-cash extras. Add a claim deadline and responsible household member beside every conditional benefit; if those details are unknown, keep its value out of the primary cash comparison.
Back to guide contentsWhich hidden household costs belong in the model?
Hardware is more than the price of a stick or box. Include delivery, activation, installation, supported adapters, safe cabling and any extra remote that is genuinely required. Mark whether each item is owned, rented, financed or loaned for return. If the existing television already runs every required official app, do not invent a replacement cost. If an older screen needs a new player to remain supported, include that incremental purchase and a realistic comparison scenario rather than assigning it to every service regardless of compatibility.
Multi-room costs need entitlement and network treatment. Add each required provider puck, extra-screen fee or membership, then check whether the broadband and home network can sustain simultaneous viewing. A mesh purchase or Ethernet installation is not automatically a charge against one provider; include it only where that offer creates the need or show it as shared household infrastructure across all applicable options. State the allocation rule. Otherwise the model can make a service look expensive simply because unrelated home-network work was placed in its column.
Accessibility can alter the valid basket and equipment cost. Confirm subtitles, audio description, spoken menus, remote layout and app support on the exact programme and device before selecting the lowest total. A cheaper plan that cannot provide a required access feature is not equivalent. If a specialist remote, compatible sound path or support installation is needed, record it openly. Do not assign a monetary value to inconvenience or independence as though it were objective; describe those decision factors beside the cash result so the household can weight them. Include any setup assistance only when it is actually required, and note whether the cost is once-only or likely to recur after equipment replacement.
Back to guide contentsHow do broadband bundles, licences and flexibility change the answer?
Use incremental treatment for broadband. If the household would keep the same line at the same price with any television choice, list broadband as a prerequisite outside all television totals. If choosing a bundle changes the line, speed, commitment or price, model the difference across the shared horizon. Include activation and stated price phases, and identify any lost discount when television ends. This approach avoids both double-counting an existing necessity and presenting a bundle's television element as cheap by hiding a compulsory broadband commitment.
Apply the same accounting logic to a TV Licence only after the household has checked its current position through official guidance. The calculator accepts that conclusion as an input; it does not determine the rule from a service name. If the same verified cost applies to every valid viewing option, show it once as a common prerequisite rather than charging it selectively. If different viewing scenarios might change the position, leave that line pending until it is confirmed. Record the amount and check date without presenting the worksheet as legal advice.
Flexibility has a measurable component and a personal component. The measurable part is the amount payable if the service continues, the notice deadline, any early exit quote and the hardware return obligation. The personal part is the value of being able to stop after a tournament, move home or respond to an income change. Show the cash outcomes at several plausible exit dates, then describe flexibility separately. Do not fabricate a universal flexibility score that makes one household's priorities look like an objective market ranking. Add payment timing to the scenarios, because the same total can create different budgeting pressure when activation, annual charges or overlapping services fall in one month.
Back to guide contentsWhat should be saved before the household commits?
Save the dated offer, full checkout basket, pre-contract information, key terms and any chat statement that materially influenced the decision. Capture the legal supplier, billing intermediary, minimum term, cancellation route, scheduled price changes, delivery, activation and equipment status. A search result or affiliate table is not enough because it may omit later prices and conditions. Protect account and payment details in the stored copy. Give the worksheet a version date so a later promotion is not accidentally combined with earlier terms.
Run an error check before paying. Confirm that each monthly phase covers the right number of months, percentages have not been substituted for pound amounts, one-off charges appear once, credits are not counted twice and optional add-ons remain outside the core total. Recalculate the monthly equivalent from the final total rather than averaging advertised rates. Ask another household member to trace the basket from need to package to line item. If they cannot reproduce the result, simplify the workbook or annotate the assumption before using it.
After ordering, replace estimates with the confirmation and first bill. Note any difference immediately and use the provider's official correction route while the evidence is fresh. Set reminders before the household's contract review date, promotional end and optional add-on renewals, but do not rely on a reminder as cancellation itself. At review, compare actual payments with the original model and record why they diverged. This creates household evidence for the next choice without pretending one private bill proves how a provider will price every customer. Keep refunds and corrections as separate dated lines instead of rewriting the original price, preserving an audit trail from expectation to actual household cost. At the end of the chosen horizon, report variance for base service, extras and one-off charges separately; that makes the next estimate better without presenting household experience as a market-wide price claim.
Back to guide contentsChecklist before you act
- Write a fixed basket of essential channels, sports, quality and rooms.
- Use the final checkout or contract summary and record the date.
- Enter each promotional and standard-price month separately.
- Include activation, delivery, required packs, hardware and installation.
- Subtract only guaranteed credits for which the household is eligible.
- State how broadband and the TV Licence are treated in every comparison.
- Show total term cost, monthly equivalent, post-term price and commitment length.
- Model cancellation after the household's real viewing season, not only full term.
- Save the offer, key terms and equipment-return conditions before ordering.
Plain-English glossary
- Minimum term
- The initial period in which ending a contract may trigger charges, distinct from the total time a service can continue.
- Monthly equivalent
- The comparable total divided by the number of months modelled; it is an analytical average, not necessarily any amount actually billed.
- Upfront cost
- A payment due at or near sign-up, such as activation, delivery, equipment or installation.
- Post-term price
- The ongoing price after a minimum or promotional period, if the customer does not change or cancel the service.
- Incremental cost
- The extra household spending caused by choosing an option, excluding costs that remain identical with or without it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the correct formula for a streaming TV contract?
Add upfront charges, all monthly price phases across the comparison period, required add-ons, hardware, delivery and activation, then subtract guaranteed credits. Divide by months for a monthly equivalent, but display the actual payment phases and post-term price as well.
Should broadband be included in the streaming TV price?
Include the incremental broadband cost when a bundle requires a new or upgraded line. If the household would pay the same broadband bill anyway, show it as a prerequisite rather than loading it into one provider's television price. State the treatment so every option remains comparable.
How should I handle a free television or gift card?
Show the offer separately and subtract a value only when it is guaranteed, the household is eligible and the valuation is defensible. Do not treat a financed device, conditional cashback or unwanted item at full retail value. Record clawback and return conditions.
Can a UK provider still increase the price during a contract?
For new phone, broadband and pay-TV contracts from 17 January 2025, a planned rise can still exist, but Ofcom says it must be clearly stated in pounds and pence with its timing at sign-up; inflation-linked or percentage rises are banned for those new contracts. Check the actual contract date and summary.
Limits and update policy
This guide is educational and reflects the sources available on 2 September 2026. Prices, rights, devices and provider terms can change. Confirm the official page and final basket before paying; legal disputes require advice tailored to the facts.
Apply your budget to a TellyProof subscription
Once you have calculated the full commitment, compare it with the duration you actually need. On our IPTV subscription plans page, select the period and number of simultaneous screens, then read the total before continuing. These are TellyProof’s own offers, not independent recommendations or a claim that another provider is included.
A low monthly equivalent does not mean monthly billing. Keep any separate player licence, equipment or broadband costs in your comparison, and confirm your required programmes and device compatibility first. The checkout repeats your selected GBP total and prepares a WhatsApp request for you to review before sending.