Cheaper ways to watch TV

Television used to be so simple. Five channels, maybe a VHS machine and just a couple of remote controls. If you wanted to watch EastEnders, you either had to be on the sofa at the right time, or make sure you'd set the VCR properly - if the recording failed or the machine ate your tape, well, that was just tough luck. Your only hope was to make sure you caught the omnibus on Sunday, or that you had a sympathetic friend who could lend you a tape of the episode.

The dawn of the TV digital age changed everything: the old analogue system was finally switched off in 2012 and broadcasting moved over to digital. With so much more spectrum, that also meant an explosion in the number of TV and radio channels available: instead of having just five channels to choose from, there were hundreds, ranging from kids' and cookery channels to shopping channels selling unusual kitchen implements 24 hours a day, not to mention a wide range of religious radio stations.

Everyone in the UK can get the free-to-air basic package of 60 TV channels and 25 radio stations provided by Freeview via the aerial on their roof or via Freesat if you have a satellite dish. Today, every new TV receives Freeview without a need for a separate box (when Freeview first launched in 2002, most people had to buy a separate Freeview box).

That basic package includes all the BBC channels as well as the assorted Channel 4 and Five offshoots, plus Sky and Al-Jazeera's news channels, several shopping channels and others that repackage older content and US content such as Drama, Yesterday, Pick and Really.

Many people want more than the 60 channels offered by Freeview because, let's face it, most of them are of limited interest: there are not many people who would settle down for an evening's viewing of a shopping channel. That's where other providers come in: the best known are, of course, Sky and Virgin. The former delivers some 600 channels via satellite dish, while the latter offers around 250 channels via a fibre-optic cable network although not every home, even in central London, can get cable.

Sky and Virgin are not the only providers: many of the internet service providers (ISPs) also bundle TV channels with your internet connection. It makes financial sense for them to do so: once an ISP is connected to your home, the cost to them to pipe films and old episodes of Dad's Army down the connection that you use to pick up your email, Skype family abroad and read Moneywise.co.uk is marginal.

If BT is your ISP, for example, you can add a further 70-odd channels to the Freeview offerings, including several Sky film channels, premium sports channels, documentary offerings, such as Discovery and Animal Planet, as well as kids' channels. All of those providers – Sky, Virgin, BT and the other ISPs – will give you a box that connects to your TV to deliver the additional channels and services.

Depending on your package, the box your provider gives you will also offer catch-up TV, the ability to watch a programme you've missed without having to record it, and 'box sets', entire popular series packaged so that you can “binge-watch” episodes.

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