Are you being ripped off on TV packages?

People who are over the age of 55 are far more likely than any other group of people to be paying over-the-odds for their TV package. A new study has revealed that most older people feel they're not getting value for money - and they are absolutely right.

The research, from Freesat, found that people over the age of 55 spend an average of £41 on TV subscriptions, but typically watch less than a quarter of the channels available to them. This means they're wasting around £380 a year on channels they never watch.

The problem seems to be that they are more likely to get drawn into expensive packages. More than a fifth of people over the age of 55 have been persuaded to pay for a package costing between £51 and £70 a month - compared to just 6% of those aged between 18 and 24. Once they have signed up, 47% of them say they have been taken advantage of, as their provider regularly hikes the price.

There's a chance that older people may be easier to persuade that they need an expensive package because they are not quite so aware of the alternatives. Freesat spokesperson Jennifer Elworthy said: "Many older consumers are getting poor value for money as they don't realise how many TV options are out there."

It's therefore worth knowing your options.

The options

Nowadays you can get 58 channels at no cost at all through Freeview (once you've forked out about £100 for the box). You could also invest in a Freesat box for less than £50 and get access to more than 200 channels and on-demand TV.

You can invest in a smart box or a smart TV, to connect your TV to the internet, and then you have access to streaming services. These also includes freebies like iPlayer and All4.

Alternatively you can sign up for the likes of Amazon Prime or Netflix for endless TV box sets and films. This will have a monthly cost, but with Netflix costing £7.49 a month, it's a fraction of what most people are paying for TV packages.

If you want sport or movies, there's also Now TV. Here you can buy a daily pass or a monthly pass. If you watch a lot of sport, it's more expensive per-day than signing up for the full service, but if you only want to watch sport once or twice a month, then a day will cost you £5.99, which is a far cheaper option.

Likewise for movies. You'll pay £9.99 a month, but can have a single month, and start and stop at any time. If you tend to watch a great deal around Christmas, but less during the summer months, you can cancel the service in the months when you're less likely to use it.

If you only tend to watch movies a couple of times a month, you may be better off renting them online, and streaming them to your TV. Older films can cost less than £2.50, while newer ones cost around £3.50.

But what do you think? Do you pay for TV? And are you getting value for money? Let us know in the comments.