Options to Stream Freeview without Aerial

Tantalus86

Hi,

My virgin media contract is up and the various price offers I've had from them for a new contract are still stupidly high so looking to leave them.

TV isn't hugely important now as most of the things we watch is from on demand or catchup services, however occasionally we do watch the odd bit of live tv so would ideally want to get freeview. 

But, we don't have a working aerial at the moment (there's an old one in the loft that has no functioned since we moved in 10 years ago).

So what options are there to stream freeview and have the similar UI to freeview play? We have samsung smart TVs from around 2018 and they don't have the freeview play app or freely or anything like that. 

Ideally what i'd like is:
- Freeview TV
- Sky Sports
- Ability to record sky sports & watch on demand (mainly for the early morning F1 races so that I can watch them when I wake up)

Seems quite tricky to do those 3 things without going for Virgin.
Sky sort of does it but they're making new customers have sky stream which can't record and has mixed comments on the playlist functionality)
BT looks like an option but expensive.
Can't see an option to record sky sports with NOW tv.

Any ideas? Seems a bit backwards thinking to get an aerial installed nowadays, thought they'd be other options?

GrubbyGirl_2

I have an apple TV box and it's brilliant.  Download the TV Launcher app (one of payment of £5.99) and you get all the live channels listed.  If it needs a background app installed to access a particular channel it will do that for you and channel hopping is pretty quick, much quicker than opening all the apps individually.  The other good thing about the apple TV box is the use of Siri.  You can ask it to find a programme for you and it will!

Detail_Merchant

I think Sky will still Sky Q - https://www.sky.com/tv/sky-q - though of course you would need to have or accept Sky installing a satellite dish for that. Not sure how the prices compare to other options.

Tantalus86

Detail_Merchant said:

I think Sky will still Sky Q - https://www.sky.com/tv/sky-q - though of course you would need to have or accept Sky installing a satellite dish for that. Not sure how the prices compare to other options.

ah yes, looks like a page that you can't get to from the main site anymore. Unfortunately this looks like it's even more pricy than BT.

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

I have an apple TV box and it's brilliant.  Download the TV Launcher app (one of payment of £5.99) and you get all the live channels listed.  If it needs a background app installed to access a particular channel it will do that for you and channel hopping is pretty quick, much quicker than opening all the apps individually.  The other good thing about the apple TV box is the use of Siri.  You can ask it to find a programme for you and it will!

do you need an apple ID to use it? 

ididgetwhereiamtoday

Cancel and sign up for a new customer deal in your partners name if you have one. 

I gave done this and it is perfectly legit. Even used same payment details. 

Just make sure you use a different email as it gets confusing when trying to sign in to tv go as it’s still connected to your old account. 

I have saved and absolute fortune doing this every 18 months without the rigmarole of negotiating with retentions. 

DullGreyGuy

Tantalus86 said:

Detail_Merchant said:

I think Sky will still Sky Q - https://www.sky.com/tv/sky-q - though of course you would need to have or accept Sky installing a satellite dish for that. Not sure how the prices compare to other options.

ah yes, looks like a page that you can't get to from the main site anymore. Unfortunately this looks like it's even more pricy than BT.

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

I have an apple TV box and it's brilliant.  Download the TV Launcher app (one of payment of £5.99) and you get all the live channels listed.  If it needs a background app installed to access a particular channel it will do that for you and channel hopping is pretty quick, much quicker than opening all the apps individually.  The other good thing about the apple TV box is the use of Siri.  You can ask it to find a programme for you and it will!

do you need an apple ID to use it? 

Yes, but you can create one for free.

Won't solve your SkySports or recording requirement directly though. 

Detail_Merchant said:

I think Sky will still Sky Q - https://www.sky.com/tv/sky-q - though of course you would need to have or accept Sky installing a satellite dish for that. Not sure how the prices compare to other options.

Isnt there streaming options now rather than a dish? 

GrubbyGirl_2

Tantalus86 said:

Detail_Merchant said:

I think Sky will still Sky Q - https://www.sky.com/tv/sky-q - though of course you would need to have or accept Sky installing a satellite dish for that. Not sure how the prices compare to other options.

ah yes, looks like a page that you can't get to from the main site anymore. Unfortunately this looks like it's even more pricy than BT.

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

I have an apple TV box and it's brilliant.  Download the TV Launcher app (one of payment of £5.99) and you get all the live channels listed.  If it needs a background app installed to access a particular channel it will do that for you and channel hopping is pretty quick, much quicker than opening all the apps individually.  The other good thing about the apple TV box is the use of Siri.  You can ask it to find a programme for you and it will!

do you need an apple ID to use it? 

Yes but that’s free. Watch sky sports via Now which is much quicker on the Apple box. Keep cancelling and they will make you good offers to stay. 

Tantalus86

ididgetwhereiamtoday said:

Cancel and sign up for a new customer deal in your partners name if you have one. 

I gave done this and it is perfectly legit. Even used same payment details. 

Just make sure you use a different email as it gets confusing when trying to sign in to tv go as it’s still connected to your old account. 

I have saved and absolute fortune doing this every 18 months without the rigmarole of negotiating with retentions. 

That's an interesting idea, can you keep the same equipment or do you have to go through the charade of sending old kit back and getting new stuff sent out? Usually virgin are pretty good at offering new deals after haggling for a bit it's just this year where they seem to have given up trying to keep me as a customer by offering respectable offers.

Tantalus86

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

Yes but that’s free. Watch sky sports via Now which is much quicker on the Apple box. Keep cancelling and they will make you good offers to stay. 

NOW is a good option - the only sticking point I can find is that there's no way to record the live sports to watch back at a later time. Example is the F1, where i'd want to be able to watch it when I wake up. I think the only options to do this are with virgin, BT or SkyQ. 

ididgetwhereiamtoday

Tantalus86 said:

ididgetwhereiamtoday said:

Cancel and sign up for a new customer deal in your partners name if you have one. 

I gave done this and it is perfectly legit. Even used same payment details. 

Just make sure you use a different email as it gets confusing when trying to sign in to tv go as it’s still connected to your old account. 

I have saved and absolute fortune doing this every 18 months without the rigmarole of negotiating with retentions. 

That's an interesting idea, can you keep the same equipment or do you have to go through the charade of sending old kit back and getting new stuff sent out? Usually virgin are pretty good at offering new deals after haggling for a bit it's just this year where they seem to have given up trying to keep me as a customer by offering respectable offers.

It’s very easy. You just swap the equipment over and they send you packaging for the old kit. You pop it to a local shop and they do the rest. Very smooth and easy. 

I saw an advert for bigger bundle and sky sports for £57 which seems quite good for you?

I Got bigger bundle without sports for £41 this time around. 

Tantalus86

ididgetwhereiamtoday said:

Tantalus86 said:

ididgetwhereiamtoday said:

Cancel and sign up for a new customer deal in your partners name if you have one. 

I gave done this and it is perfectly legit. Even used same payment details. 

Just make sure you use a different email as it gets confusing when trying to sign in to tv go as it’s still connected to your old account. 

I have saved and absolute fortune doing this every 18 months without the rigmarole of negotiating with retentions. 

That's an interesting idea, can you keep the same equipment or do you have to go through the charade of sending old kit back and getting new stuff sent out? Usually virgin are pretty good at offering new deals after haggling for a bit it's just this year where they seem to have given up trying to keep me as a customer by offering respectable offers.

It’s very easy. You just swap the equipment over and they send you packaging for the old kit. You pop it to a local shop and they do the rest. Very smooth and easy. 

I saw an advert for bigger bundle and sky sports for £57 which seems quite good for you?

I Got bigger bundle without sports for £41 this time around. 

thanks, think i'll do this. Do you have to go through the moving home option when signing up on their website? It currently flag up that the address already has VM