Watch United Kingdom from anywhere

All 4+ is the ad-free, paid tier layered on top of Channel 4’s otherwise free streaming service. It keeps everything you expect from Channel 4 (Black Mirror, Peep Show, Task Master, Gogglebox, Gordon Ramsay’s kitchen franchises, cult documentaries from the Dispatches strand) and removes the ad breaks that fund the free plan. Both tiers are limited to UK IP addresses.

BBC iPlayer is the streaming and catch-up service of the UK’s public-service broadcaster. Every BBC channel (One, Two, Three, Four, News, Sport, CBeebies and CBBC) is available live and on-demand with no ads, no ongoing subscription and no paywall, funded instead by the UK TV licence fee. The library spans Happy Valley, Peaky Blinders, Planet Earth and decades of archive. Access is restricted to the UK.

BritBox was launched in 2017 as a joint venture between BBC Studios and ITV, built to give classic British television a single, easily findable home. The catalogue leans heavily on detective series (Vera, Midsomer Murders, DCI Banks), period dramas, sitcom archive and long-running panel shows that rarely surface on mainstream platforms. After BBC Studios sold its stake, ITV now runs the service on its own and distributes it in around nine English-speaking markets.

F1 TV is the official streaming service of the Formula One Group (owned by Liberty Media), launched in 2018 and distributed directly by the championship itself. Two tiers split the product: Access (onboard cameras, team radio, highlights and archive) and Pro (every live session from every race weekend, F2, F3 and Porsche Supercup support races, plus the live timing and telemetry widget). Pro is available in 118 markets, Access in even more.

ITVX is the streaming platform of UK commercial broadcaster ITV, launched in December 2022 as a rebuild of the old ITV Hub. It combines a free, ad-supported tier (live ITV channels plus catch-up for shows like Love Island, Coronation Street and I’m a Celebrity) with an ad-free Premium tier that adds exclusive box sets and early access. Roughly 40 million monthly active accounts make it one of the busiest UK catch-up services.

My5 is the free streaming portal of UK broadcaster Channel 5, operated since 2014 by Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS after it bought the channel). Alongside the main channel, the app carries sister networks 5Star, 5USA, 5Action and 5Select, with a library that spans soaps like Neighbours, factual programming and licensed US drama. Everything is ad-supported and restricted to UK IP addresses.

NOW is the Sky Group’s streaming alternative to its traditional satellite package, priced as month-to-month passes with no long-term contract. Three core memberships carve up the catalogue: Entertainment (Sky Atlantic, HBO imports), Cinema (Sky Cinema premieres) and Sports (every Sky Sports channel, also available as a day pass). A paid Boost add-on unlocks 1080p and 5.1 audio. Availability is limited to the UK and Ireland.

STV Player is the streaming and catch-up platform of Scottish commercial broadcaster STV, a subsidiary of STV Group plc, running since 2008. It carries the live STV, STV2 and STV News streams along with a catalogue of more than 3,000 hours of programming, ranging from Scottish news and documentaries to licensed British drama. A free ad-supported tier sits alongside the paid STV Player+ with no advertising. Geographic availability is restricted to the UK, with a few short-clip exceptions.

Sky Go isn’t a standalone subscription but a companion app bundled with every active Sky TV contract in the UK and Ireland. It mirrors whatever packages already sit on the main account (Sky Cinema, Sky Sports, Sky Atlantic, Sky Max) on mobile, tablet and web, so existing subscribers can follow live channels and on-demand box sets outside the living room. Access is limited to the UK, Ireland and EU roaming.

Sky Sports is the sports arm of Comcast-owned Sky Group and has shaped the look and language of British sports broadcasting since 1990. Premier League is the flagship, but the portfolio also covers Formula 1, Test and T20 cricket, rugby union and league, golf and select tennis. There’s no standalone subscription; access comes either bundled inside a Sky TV contract or month-by-month through NOW Sports.

TNT Sports is the UK sports service launched in July 2023 when Warner Bros. Discovery rebranded BT Sport after taking majority control of the joint venture. In the UK it holds exclusive rights to every UEFA Champions League and Europa League match, along with selected Premier League games, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, MotoGP, UFC and boxing. The product is delivered through the discovery+ app and isn’t sold separately.

UKTV Play is the free streaming platform of the UKTV group, which today is run by BBC Studios. It pulls together live feeds and catch-up archives from the group’s lifestyle and entertainment channels (Dave, Gold, Drama, Alibi, W, Yesterday) into a single app. The draw is the depth on British comedy, panel formats like Taskmaster and Would I Lie to You, cosy crime from the Death in Paradise family and history documentary. The service is ad-supported and limited to UK IP addresses.

MUBI is the streaming service for viewers who plan their week around the Cinémathèque rather than the multiplex. Instead of an overflowing library it runs a rotating selection, a curated archive and a growing pipeline of theatrical releases the company distributes itself. Recent festival winners, retrospectives and contemporary auteurs dominate the schedule, and the service ships without ads on monthly or annual billing.

DAZN is a sports-first streaming service built to compete with traditional pay-TV sports channels. The schedule shifts dramatically from country to country: in Germany it carries the Bundesliga and Champions League matches, in Italy it owns the majority of Serie A, in Japan it runs baseball and boxing. The global side of DAZN remains its combat sports division, where it has become one of the biggest buyers of marquee boxing pay-per-view events.

Netflix didn’t invent streaming but it set the rules everyone else now plays by. With 325 million paying subscribers across 190 countries and a stable of shows like Squid Game, Stranger Things and Wednesday, it still defines what mainstream streaming looks like. Recent pushes into live sports and ad-supported plans show the company is willing to bend its own playbook when the market demands it.

Amazon Prime Video lives inside the wider Prime bundle, so streaming is only part of what you’re paying for. The content mix is unusual: splashy originals (The Boys, The Rings of Power, Reacher) sit next to a huge catalogue of movies available to rent or buy and a growing set of optional add-on Channels. Prime has also turned into a heavyweight in live sports, from Thursday Night Football to Champions League in select markets.

Disney+ is the one place where Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic live under the same roof, plus the general-entertainment arm Star. Launched globally in November 2019 and in the Czech Republic in June 2022, it keeps things simple with two ad-free tiers: Standard (Full HD, two streams) and Premium (4K HDR, Dolby Atmos, four streams). Annual billing knocks roughly two months off the price.

Max is Warner Bros. Discovery’s attempt to keep everything important in one app: HBO’s prestige catalogue, the DC Universe, Warner Bros. theatrical slate and the reality-heavy Discovery library. The product still leans on HBO’s reputation for Sunday-night event TV (Succession, The Last of Us, House of the Dragon) but the expanded library means there is something for almost every household.

Apple TV+ takes the opposite approach to almost everyone else: no licensed back catalogue, only original productions. The result is a comparatively small library where misses are rare and hits like Ted Lasso, Severance, Slow Horses and For All Mankind have picked up Emmys. A single tier covers 4K HDR with Dolby Atmos, and the service is bundled into Apple One for households already invested in the Apple ecosystem.

Paramount+ gathers the Paramount Pictures film vault, CBS prime-time drama, Nickelodeon kids programming and MTV reality into one subscription. The backbone is the Taylor Sheridan universe (Yellowstone, 1923, Lawman: Bass Reeves), with Star Trek carrying the sci-fi side and South Park providing the decades-old evergreen. In select regions the service also carries NFL games and UEFA Champions League, blurring the line with traditional sports packages.