Netflix is an all-you-can-eat video streaming service that launched in the UK in 2012. For a small monthly fee, users can stream as much video as they via a range of hardware including computers, smartphones and games consoles.

Netflix has been around since 1997 in the US, and since bringing its on-demand streaming service to the UK in January last year has emerged as the only genuine rival to Amazon’s Lovefilm Instant streaming platform. It reportedly has over a million subscribers in the UK and Ireland.

Netflix works through a wide range of hardware: computers, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players and games consoles. Selected content is available in HD and with 5.1 surround sound – something Lovefilm’s service doesn’t offer.

While Lovefilm arguably boasts a finer selection of movies, Netflix is the undisputed king of TV shows, offering a huge range of popular series both old and new. But Netflix goes even further than buying the rights to existing shows: it actually makes its own, funding the superb Kevin Spacey-fronted political drama House of Cards and reviving much-loved sitcom Arrested Development with 14 new episodes.

Price: £5.99 per month | Netflix