Change your subscription?

To save money in the peak of the recession we cancelled our monthly 'Chorus' TV subscription and replaced it with a one off €40 FreeSat decoder to access UK freeview TV. It was so surprisingly successful that we still have it a decade later.

As with many other subscription alternatives a set top box connected between the satellite aerial and the TV to provide more TV shows than I care to count. 24/7 News, soaps, documentaries and classics on constant repeats together with new channels and shows we've never heard of before appearing with random clicks of the channel changer.

Money savings made us look into changing how we recieved TV but we discovered it provided so much more and saved a minimum of €3,000 just for TV supply.

Many have witnessed the dramatic speed increases from 'dial up' telephone in the 90's through to high speed fibre broadband of today.

In the early years it could take 48hrs for a poor quality movie to download. Now it could be yours within minutes or 'streamed' on demand in very high quality.

Now we're being promised another leap forward in the form of 'Giga Speed' internet which will allow every single internet device in your home to have very high quality live viewing simultaneously without buffering or interruption 24/7.

It's one we're looking forward to testing out when SIRO becomes active especially since the cost is similar to what we currently pay for significantly less performance.

Not many people can say that they've not heard of YouTube. It's got shows produced by anyone and everyone. It's turned some 'everyday' people from all walks of life into celebrities and millionaires.

Not many young people can say they don't know what Netflix is or that they haven't got an access password borrowed from a friend's friend!

The internet provides vast amounts of digital data storage which can easily be shared with millions. It therefore makes sense to sell services to access this especially since there is a huge back catalogue readily available and a world wide market.

Most traditional TV stations show repeats, lots and lots of repeats! There's very little 'Live' TV and new shows are stifled by startup costs and viewing figure targets to gain new seasons.

New startup shows such as those on YouTube are not confined to a specific country and therefore the potential audience is millions more than traditional terrestrial stations could ever reach. The cost can be no more than a smartphone!

Finally, homes now have several devices capable of showing Videos and it's too complex to run TV cables around the home and extra decoder boxes or aerials and signal boosters. The internet has done away with most of the hardware requirement and Wifi allows considerable unhindered movement in or out of the home.

The internet is essential to start with and a package with sufficient free or unlimited download prevents the cost from being extreme.

You could buy an expensive new internet enabled TV but you really don't need to.

If your existing TV has a HDMI connection at the back then for around €5 you can connect it to a computer via a cable and display the screen.

Alternatively around €40 gets you a Google Chromecast or Amazon FireStick (there are many others too) which will enable the screen to display the internet and control it via any one of your mobile phones, tablets or computers.

If you have an older TV with a scart (rectangular) socket then a media player decoder box could allow you to connect it to your internet.

No TV licence

In the REP of Ireland you don't need a licence to view online media but you do need a licence if you have any physical device in your home (broken or not) which is capable of receiving terrestrial TV broadcasts.

Debated for several years now is a change to the licence law but it's been going on for a decade and there's still no agreement.

Your computer and mobile phones are unlikely to have a TV aerial connection and if you don't possess any you could save €160 a year for a licence that you don't need.

NOTE: You might already be paying through your internet service provider if you have subscribed to a TV package deal. Check that you're not paying twice!

Your Internet Location is used against you.

Typically you buy a TV licence to watch terrestrial TV from within your resident country and, for the moment, you can view the vast majority of it online for free.

However you can't view other countries free to air TV online since you are highly unlikely to have paid for a TV licence in that country where the rules and distribution rights for those tv stations might be limited.

Therefore, your Republic of Ireland internet address is being used to block and prevent you from accessing the likes of UK, Australia or USA terrestrial TV online.

Hide your Home.

To get around the location issue you can subscribe to a Virtual Private Networks (VPN's ) who then allow you to easily connect to their computers in the specific country of your choice to temporarily pretend that you are there too.

Connecting to other computers is very common and legal provided you do NOT commit an illegal act. Whether or not the authorities can record your actions and can prove who you are is the grey legal issue about the internet and invasion of privacy.

Your reason for hiding your true location doesn't sound very innocent or legal but for the moment it is not illegal to do this.

As with many services there's a combination of deals available ranging from monthly subscriptions to pay per view.

Some free and some pay Apps are either VPN's or only provide you with a convenient cover screen to access those free TV stations.

Most subscription services will offer a one month free trial pass and if you 'Google' there could be special offers or incentives to get further deals.

Some internet service providers such as Virgin, Vodafone, Sky and more provide a subscription to a selection of channels as part of monthly TV, Internet, phone, mobile....packages.

Since people willingly share their passwords the services now tend to limit the number of active viewing devices.

Sporting channels will always be a deal breaker for many.

You'll notice we didn't mention the 'other' means of getting TV Shows, Movies, Music, Books...... everything digital online.... such as specific websites, torrent sites or hardware providers.

We can't advocate participating in an activity which definitely doesn't appear to be even remotely legal ..... you'll have to google those alternatives yourselves.