LIVE: Premier League · Champions League · NBA Finals · UFC 300 · F1 Grand Prix · La Liga · Serie A · IPL Cricket ◆ 25,000 channels · 120,000 VOD · 4K HDR ◆ Email order — no WhatsApp ◆ Free 24h trial · no card ◆ UK £15.99 · $19.99 · £23.99 · $29.99 · £39.99 · $49.99 · £54.99 · $69.99 ◆ 99.98% real uptime · London ◆

Home / IPTV vs Cable

Comparison · IPTV vs Cable UK

IPTV vs cable. The real numbers.

Cost, channels, contracts, hardware and buffering — compared honestly. MaxProTV from £54.99/year. Sky or Virgin Media with sports runs £80–£120/month. That is over £900 saved per year.

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£900+
Saved Per Year
25K
Live Channels
0
Contract Lock-In
4
Simultaneous
Side-by-side · Updated 2026-09-17

IPTV vs cable — every line.

Straight comparison between MaxProTV (IPTV) and a typical UK cable TV package (Sky or Virgin Media) with sports.

Feature MaxProTV Cable TV (Sky / Virgin)
Monthly cost (12-month plan)£4.58 / mo£80–£120 / mo
Annual cost£54.99 / yr£960–£1,440 / yr
Live channels25,000300–600
VOD titles120,0005,000–20,000
Contract lock-in0 months18–24 months
Hardware requiredNone — use your deviceSet-top box, dish or cable
Installation5 minutes, emailEngineer visit, weeks wait
Simultaneous streams4 included1 (extra paid per box)
4K HDR3,800 channelsSport & some film only
7-day catch-upYes, every major channelPartial — varies by channel
Free trial24 hours, no cardNone
Refund policy7 days, real process14-day cooling-off only
Adult channelsOptional +£23 / yrNot available
Support channelEmail only, <12 min replyPhone queue, 30+ min
Legal entityMaxProTV Ltd, LondonSky UK Ltd / Virgin Media Ltd

What you actually save — 12-month cost

Cheapest comparable UK cable TV package with sports, versus the MaxProTV 12-month plan.

MaxProTV 12 Months

£54.99
All 25,000 channels. All 120,000 VOD. 4 simultaneous connections. No contract.
Best value

Cable TV — budget

£960
Sky Signature + Sports, Virgin Bigger + Sports. Approximate UK minimum.
+£881 vs MaxProTV

Cable TV — premium

£1,440
Sky Q + Sports + Cinema + multi-room, or Virgin Ultimate + Sports.
+£1,361 vs MaxProTV
Why people switch

Six reasons to cut the cord.

Every reason below is a real, verifiable difference — not marketing adjectives.

Save £900+ per year

The 12-month MaxProTV plan is £54.99. Comparable UK cable with sports is £960–£1,440. The saving is immediate, not amortised over two years.

No 18-month contracts

Choose 1, 3, 6 or 12 months. Stop whenever you want. No price-hike-in-month-13, no retention phone call, no exit fee.

25,000 channels, not 600

Cable TV gives you 300–600 channels. MaxProTV gives you 25,000 across 92 countries, including every major UK, EU, US and international line-up.

No hardware, no install

You do not need a set-top box or an engineer visit. Use your Firestick, Smart TV, Apple TV, or any device you already own. Setup takes 5 minutes by email.

Real email support

Average first reply under 12 minutes. Sky and Virgin call queues run 30+ minutes. We do not have a phone line because we do not need one.

7-day money-back

Real refunds, real process. Email us within seven days and we refund to the original payment method. Cable TV gives you a 14-day cooling-off window and nothing more.

Deep dive · four factors

What actually matters when you switch.

Four factors decide whether IPTV is a good fit for your household. Here is the honest answer on each.

01Broadband requirement

What you need: a stable broadband connection. MaxProTV recommends a minimum of 15 Mbps for HD and 25 Mbps for 4K. If you can currently stream Netflix or YouTube in HD without buffering, your connection is sufficient. What you do NOT need: a cable TV subscription, a satellite dish, or a set-top box. You keep your existing broadband — BT, Sky Broadband, Virgin Media, Vodafone, EE, TalkTalk all work.

02Channel and content coverage

What you lose: almost nothing. MaxProTV carries 25,000 live channels including every major UK sports, news, entertainment, film and kids channel, plus 120,000 VOD titles. What is different: you may occasionally see a channel you had on cable that we do not carry. We list every channel inside the app — check before you buy if a specific channel is critical. What you gain: 92 countries worth of channels that cable does not carry at any price.

03Buffering and uptime

What people worry about: IPTV buffering during live sports. What we actually do: MaxProTV runs load-balanced edge nodes in London, Frankfurt and New York with automatic failover. Our published rolling twelve-month uptime is 99.98%. Cable TV has its own outages — you can read the Sky and Virgin customer forums for that — but they rarely publish real numbers. We do.

04Legal and licensing

What we are: MaxProTV Ltd is a UK-registered reseller where such licensing exists. We are not a broadcaster, and we do not own the content. What you should know: in the UK, streaming services and content distribution are governed by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. We operate as a reseller where such reselling is permitted. What we do NOT do: we do not claim to be a licensed broadcaster, we do not hide our legal entity, and we do not pretend to own the content. Read our About page for the full statement.

Pricing · GBP / USD

Cheaper than one month of cable.

Every MaxProTV plan includes 25,000 channels, 120,000 VOD titles, 4 simultaneous connections, and email support.

United Kingdom · GBP

4 simultaneous connections · all 30+ devices
1 Month
£15.99
Cheaper than one Sky bill
  • 25,000 live channels
  • 120,000 films & series
  • 4K where available
  • 7-day EPG & catch-up
  • 4 simultaneous connections
Choose 1 Month
3 Months
£23.99
Save 50% vs monthly
  • Everything in 1 month
  • 4K streaming
  • Smart EPG
  • Multi-device ready
  • Priority email support
Choose 3 Months
MOST PICKED
6 Months
£39.99
Save 58% · £6.66/mo
  • Everything in 3 months
  • Anti-freeze servers
  • 4K HDR
  • Priority email support
  • Free channel request
Choose 6 Months
12 Months
£54.99
Best value · £4.58/mo
  • Everything in 6 months
  • 4K+ streaming
  • Free VPN included
  • Annual priority support
  • Referral credit ready
Choose 12 Months

What is not included: hardware, dedicated devices, and pay-per-view events outside the standard sports catalog. Everything else is in the price.

Adult IPTV add-on — optional

Available on the 12-month plan only. PIN-locked, age-verified, off by default. Parents can lock out entirely. Cable TV does not offer this at any price.

+£23 / +$30 per year

Set Gmail as your default mail app for one-click ordering

MaxProTV uses email-only checkout. When you click "Build my order email", your default mail app opens with everything pre-filled. For the smoothest experience, we recommend setting Gmail as your default mail app on Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS. Step-by-step guides are below. Jump to setup guides ↓

Before you switch

Three things cable buyers should know.

  • IPTV is not for everyone. If you have poor broadband (under 15 Mbps) or an unstable connection, cable TV will be more reliable. We would rather say that than sell you a service that buffers.
  • We are not a broadcaster. MaxProTV Ltd is a UK-registered reseller where such licensing exists. We do not own the content, we do not claim to, and we do not hide the fact. Cable TV owns content — we do not.
  • You will not get a phone line. We removed phone support in 2024 and WhatsApp in 2025. Email-only is deliberate — it is faster, cheaper, and does not create the fraud and chargeback problems that phone and WhatsApp ordering create. If you want a phone number, cable is the right call.
Comparison questions

IPTV vs cable — straight answers.

Yes. MaxProTV 12-month plan is £54.99 per year — roughly £4.58 per month. A comparable Sky or Virgin Media package with sports runs £80–£120 per month in the UK. That is a saving of over £900 per year.
For most households, yes. MaxProTV carries 25,000 live channels and 120,000 VOD titles including the sports, films and series you would get from cable, delivered over your existing broadband connection. You do not need a cable TV subscription.
Yes. MaxProTV recommends a minimum of 15 Mbps for HD and 25 Mbps for 4K. If you can stream Netflix or YouTube in HD without buffering, your connection is sufficient.
MaxProTV carries all major UK sports, news, entertainment, film and kids channels including Premier League, Champions League, La Liga, Serie A, NBA, NFL, UFC, F1, and every major PPV event inside the standard catalog.
No. MaxProTV has no lock-in contracts. You choose 1-month, 3-month, 6-month or 12-month plans and can stop at any time. Cable TV providers typically lock you in for 18 to 24 months.
Yes. MaxProTV works over any broadband connection, including BT, Sky Broadband, Virgin Media, Vodafone, EE and TalkTalk. You keep your broadband and drop the cable TV subscription.
IPTV vs Cable — Facts
MaxProTV 12-month plan is £54.99 / $69.99 per year — roughly £4.58 / $5.83 per month. UK cable TV with sports runs £80–£120 per month (£960–£1,440 per year). MaxProTV carries 25,000 live channels and 120,000 VOD titles. No contract lock-in. No hardware required. Setup in 5 minutes. 99.98% rolling 12-month uptime. Free 24-hour trial. Email-only order to [email protected].
ORDER · EMAIL CHECKOUT

Cut the cord. Order MaxProTV.

Fill the form. We build a pre-filled email. You click send. We reply within 5 minutes. Gmail as default mail app recommended — setup guide.

Your email client will open with everything pre-filled. Just hit send. Prefer to write manually? Email [email protected]. Need Gmail as your default? See setup guide.

Email checkout · setup guide

Set Gmail as your default mail app.

MaxProTV's email-only checkout works best when Gmail is your default mail app. When you click "Build my order email", Gmail Compose opens with your plan, price, device, and reference pre-filled. Here is how to set it on every major platform.

Windows 11 — set Gmail as default mail app

Windows 11 supports PWAs (Progressive Web Apps). Install Gmail as a PWA first, then assign it as your MAILTO handler.

  1. Open Microsoft Edge or Chrome and go to mail.google.com. Sign in to Gmail.
  2. Click the Install app icon in the address bar (a monitor with a downward arrow), or open the browser menu and choose Install Gmail. Confirm.
  3. Open Settings (Win + I) → Apps → Default apps.
  4. In the search box, type Gmail. Gmail will appear in the results.
  5. Click Gmail, then scroll to the MAILTO entry. Click the current default and select Gmail from the list.
  6. Close Settings. Test by clicking any mailto: link — Gmail Compose should open.

Tip: If Gmail does not appear in Default apps, restart Windows after installing the PWA. Windows registers PWA protocol handlers on first launch.

macOS — set Gmail as default mail app

macOS Sonoma (14+) and later allow setting default apps. On older versions, use the browser protocol handler route instead.

  1. Install Gmail as a PWA: open Chrome → go to mail.google.com → menu → Cast, save, and share → Install page as app.
  2. Open System Settings → Desktop & Dock.
  3. Scroll to Default web browser and set it to Google Chrome (Gmail opens in Chrome by default).
  4. In System Settings → General → Default apps (Sonoma+), find the Email row.
  5. Click the current default and choose Gmail (the installed PWA).
  6. On older macOS: open Mail.app → Mail menu → Settings → General → set Default email reader to Google Chrome, then enable the protocol handler in Chrome as described in the Chrome tab.

Tip: If the Email row is greyed out, make sure the Gmail PWA is fully installed (it will appear in Launchpad). Restart Settings and retry.

Android — set Gmail as default mail app

Android has supported default mail apps since Android 6. This works on stock Android, Samsung One UI, and most manufacturer skins.

  1. Make sure the Gmail app is installed from the Play Store.
  2. Open Settings → Apps → Default apps.
  3. Tap Opening links (or Default apps → Email app).
  4. Find Gmail in the list and tap it.
  5. Tap Open by default → Add link → enable mailto: links.
  6. Back out. Any mailto: link now opens Gmail Compose.

Samsung One UI: Settings → Apps → Choose default apps → Email app → Gmail. Xiaomi MIUI: Settings → Apps → Manage apps → Default apps → Email → Gmail.

iPhone / iPad — set Gmail as default mail app

iOS 14 and later allow setting a default mail app. iPadOS 14 and later as well.

  1. Install the Gmail app from the App Store.
  2. Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad.
  3. Scroll down and tap Gmail (it appears in the app list once installed).
  4. Tap Default Mail App.
  5. Select Gmail.
  6. Any mailto: link now opens Gmail Compose.

Tip: If you do not see the "Default Mail App" option, update iOS to 14 or later. On iOS 13 and earlier, setting a default is not possible — use the copy-fallback panel instead.

Chrome / Edge — set Gmail as the mailto handler

This is the browser-level protocol handler. It works on every OS and is the fastest fallback if the OS-level setting is unavailable.

  1. Open Chrome (or Edge) and go to mail.google.com. Sign in.
  2. Look at the address bar. A small double-diamond or mail icon may appear. Click it.
  3. Choose Allow — this lets Gmail register as the handler for mailto: links.
  4. If no icon appears, open the browser menu → Settings.
  5. Go to Privacy and security → Site settings → Additional content settings → Protocol handlers.
  6. Under mailto, make sure Sites can ask to become default handlers is on and Gmail is listed.
  7. Test by clicking a mailto: link — Gmail Compose opens in a new tab.

Edge: Settings → Cookies and site permissions → Site permissions → Protocol handlers → mailto → add mail.google.com. Firefox: Settings → General → Applications → mailto → choose Use Gmail.

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