Being a student is tough, fun but tough, especially when it comes to managing money. Sometimes you just want to spend the day in to save money and binge-watch your favourite TV series, but oh wait…that costs as well!
In this survival guide we’ll cover everything there is to know about TV and being a student including student broadband deals, student streaming deals, tips on getting a TV license as a student and more.
Do students have to pay for a TV license?
A TV license is expensive and definitely not something you will want to be paying for while trying to survive on Pot Noodles.
Luckily for students, there is a loophole where you can avoid paying a TV license and it is legal. As explained on SaveTheStudent you can watch BBC iPlayer (that requires a TV license) without having a TV license. Here’s how:
The BBC state:“In limited circumstances, students can be covered by the licence at their parents’ address. The device must be powered by its own internal batteries – e.g. a tablet or mobile phone – and must not be plugged it into the mains when receiving television. This use is enabled by the Regulations governing TV Licensing.”
In layman’s terms, this means you can watch iPlayer on a mobile or tablet device without having a TV license, so long as it’s not plugged into the mains and that your parents have a valid TV license. Your parents home will also need to be registered as your primary address (Your home when you’re not at your temporary student accommodation).
If you want to watch regular TV, unfortunately, you will still need to pay for a TV license, but why do that when you can watch shows on demand when you want!
Streaming Service Deals for Students
Streaming services are probably the cheapest option for students to be able to watch TV, as opposed to your traditional TV package subscription services from companies like Sky. They allow you to watch TV, any time, anywhere all for a low monthly fee, which should easily be affordable! As a student, you can get discounts on some of these streaming services, check out the student streaming deals below.
Netflix Student Deals
Netflix currently does not have any student deals available. We will change this page if a new deal is available for students.
Even though there aren’t currently any Netflix student deals, we still have a tip to keep your costs at an all-time low! You can split your Netflix cost with your roommates and each can have their own profile on one paid account. The basic Netflix plan only allows you to watch Netflix on 1 screen, so you will probably want to choose the Netflix Premium package, which allows you to watch Netflix on 4 screens simultaneously!
Netflix premium costs £9.99 a month but for 4 screens you could share this subscription with 3 mates and it is then only roughly £2.50 each a month, an absolute bargain for all those hit shows like Orange is the New Black and 13 Reasons Why. You can view all the different Netflix plans currently available here.
NOW TV Student Deals
NOW TV offers a variety of passes to suit your needs, Cinema, Entertainment and Sports. As a student, you can get a discount on these!
If you are signed-up to UNiDAYS, you can currently get a NOW TV student deal where you get a 2 month entertainment pass for just £5! Get the deal here.
Before you start paying though you should definitely make use of the FREE NOW TV trials:
- 14 Day Free Entertainment Trial.
Unfortunately, there are no student deals on the Sky Sports or Sky Cinema passes at present.
Although they are not specifically student deals, NOW TV regularly run special offers for potential customers, below are the current offers on from NOW TV right now.
Amazon Prime Video Student Deals
Amazon has a great offer for Amazon Prime for students. As a student, you get a whopping 6 month free trial and then 50% off Prime when you continue to pay for the subscription. You can cancel the trial at any time!
What does Prime Student include?
- Free One-day delivery
- Free Prime Video (this is access to hundreds of TV shows and movies)
- Exclusive offers, discounts on certain products on Amazon
- Free Prime Music (a fairly limited music selection but its a great little extra when subscribing to Prime Student)
The exclusive offers include discounts on textbooks and other university essentials.
TV Player Student Discount
TV Player is a great platform, which enables you to watch live TV online. You can watch TV live, or on-demand, but you will need a TV license to use the service. TV Player has over 80 channels available and you don’t need any special box or set-up! The platform is supported by smart TVs and streaming sticks like the Amazon Fire TV stick.
For students, they are offering 50% off an annual subscription, which is usually £99. You can get the student discount here.
Before you sign up for an annual plan though, make sure you try the service with a free cancel at any time trial here.
Free streaming services
You may have heard that there is a completely free streaming service called Tubi, which is said to come to the UK soon, check out our article on Tubi for more info on this – here.
Student Broadband Deals
Broadband is another costly essential to add to all your current Uni outgoings! We have scanned the internet for the best student broadband deals.
Virgin Media Student Broadband
Virgin Media currently have a web page designed specifically for students. However, the site is a bit misleading as you don’t get any special benefit or discount for being a student. You get the same package as everyone else can get for the same price (at least when we checked). It seems like they have just designed the specific pages toward students to rank higher in search engines.
If you are interested in their deals, you can check them here, but check these deals against their standard deals to see if they are actually different, at the time of writing these were the same as the standard deals.
Sky Student Broadband
Again, Sky doesn’t have any specific student broadband deal. Sky are usually running a fairly good deal though and if you check out our TV deals section on our site you will be able to see the current deals on offer. We also try to provide information on past prices so you get an idea of how good the deal is.
BT Student Broadband
BT also do not have any special student broadband deals, just regular customer deals. If you are interested you can check them here on their site. Alternatively, check out our TV deals page which lists deals from BT and other companies.