The streaming-vs-cable debate gets muddied by cherry-picked comparisons. Cable companies compare themselves to Netflix — a streaming service that doesn’t carry live sport. Streaming advocates compare themselves to a full Sky bundle — the most expensive possible cable setup. Neither comparison is honest.
Here’s a real breakdown, built around what a typical UK household actually pays for TV in 2026.
What Cable Actually Costs in 2026
Sky TV’s entry-level entertainment package starts at £26/month. Add Sky Sports and that’s £43/month more. A Sky Q box rental is another £10/month if you want multi-room recording. Sky broadband if bundled adds £28-45/month depending on speed tier. Total for a full Sky setup with sports and broadband: £107-138/month.
Virgin Media’s full sports bundle (TV + broadband + sports) runs £90-120/month. BT’s equivalent is comparable. These are post-introductory-offer prices — what you actually pay after month 18 when the “half price for 18 months” deal expires.
What a Streaming Stack Costs
| Service | Cost/month | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Netflix Standard | £4.99 | On-demand, no live sport |
| Disney+ | £4.99 | On-demand, some live events |
| Now TV Sports | £34.99 | Sky Sports channels (no UCL) |
| TNT Sports | £30.99 | UCL, some PL, boxing |
| Amazon Prime | £8.99 | On-demand + some PL midweek |
| Total stack | £84.95 | Still missing channels |
A full streaming stack covering the same content as a Sky + TNT bundle comes to roughly £85/month — not dramatically cheaper than cable, and with more apps to manage.
Where the Real Savings Are
The savings in cord-cutting come from replacing the stack, not adding to it. A premium live TV streaming subscription that aggregates all channels — sports, entertainment, kids, news, international — into one plan eliminates the stack entirely. Instead of £85/month across five apps, you pay one flat monthly fee.
MazzTV’s Premium plan is €29/month (roughly £25) for 3 simultaneous streams. Add Netflix for on-demand content at £4.99/month, and you have a comprehensive TV setup for £30/month — a £55/month saving over the streaming stack, and £77/month saving over a full cable package. Over a year, that’s £924 back in your pocket.
The Contract Difference
Cable contracts lock you in for 18-24 months. Cancelling early on a Virgin Media bundle typically costs £250-400 in exit fees. Monthly streaming subscriptions have no exit fees — cancel the day before your renewal and pay nothing. That flexibility has real monetary value: it means you can drop subscriptions during the off-season and reactivate them before the next one.
MazzTV’s monthly plans have no minimum term. The annual plans offer roughly 55% savings over monthly billing — lock in for a year only when you’re confident. The €2.99 24-hour trial exists precisely for this reason.
What Cable Does Better
Honest answer: reliability. Cable delivers content via its own physical infrastructure — coaxial or fibre to your house. Streaming depends on your broadband speed and the streaming service’s server load. During a major sporting event with high concurrent viewership, streaming services can degrade. Cable, in theory, doesn’t have that problem (though in practice, Sky Q boxes have their own issues).
If your broadband is stable at 25Mbps+, streaming is indistinguishable from cable in practice. If you’re on a slow or unreliable connection, cable has a genuine edge. Most urban UK households are above 50Mbps — the reliability gap has largely closed.
How MazzTV Solves This
MazzTV replaces the streaming stack — not just one service in it. One subscription, all channels, one monthly payment. At €12/month for a single device or €29/month for three, it makes the cord-cutting math work for the first time. Browse the full channels list, check the setup guide, and see the full pricing breakdown at our pricing page.