Virgin Media Flex, previously known as Stream, offers a budget-friendly way to stream both free-to-air content and premium content on a rolling monthly basis.
Flex comes with the Stream box, and offers over 150 TV channels, including Freeview, for a low monthly fee, with wide support for on-demand apps and channel packs.
Customers can add content from Sky Entertainment, Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, TNT Sports, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, and others.
At a glance
| Monthly price | £5 |
|---|---|
| Setup cost | £10 |
| Minimum term | 30 days |
| TV channels | 150+ (inc. Freeview) |
| Channel packs | Essentials Entertainment, Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, TNT Sports, Kids |
| On-demand apps | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, Apple TV+, BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, My5, YouTube |
| TV box | Stream box |
| Requirements | Virgin Media broadband, at least 50Mbps |
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 10% bill credit on all subscriptions paid via the Virgin bill | New £5 monthly fee, when the previous 'Stream' service was free |
| Flexible monthly rolling contract on the main service and all add-ons | Only available for Virgin broadband customers |
| Good on-demand app support, and plenty of HD content as standard | Misses out support for Discovery+, Spotify, Hayu, and NOW apps |
| Package | TV | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
M125 Fibre Broadband + Flex | 150 | 132Mb average | £30 | £10 | 18 months |
 Offer: Reduced price for 18 months | ||||||
|
Volt M250 Fibre Broadband + Flex | 150 | 264Mb average | £36 | £10 | 18 months |
| Offer: Reduced price for 18 months + O2 mobile SIM with 6GB data, unlimited minutes and texts | ||||||
Who is Virgin Media Flex best suited for?
Flex offers a low-cost and flexible alternative to traditional pay TV deals, costing just £5 per month when added to a Virgin Media broadband plan.
It best suits households wanting to watch content on streaming apps, as well as access premium Sky content without lengthy contracts.
While Flex does come with more free content these days - over 150 TV channels, including Pluto TV and Rakuten, as well as Freeview - most users are likely to want to add additional subscriptions from paid apps and channel packs.
Premium content available on Flex covers:
- Sky Entertainment and documentaries
- Sky Sports
- TNT Sports
- Sky Cinema
- Kids TV
The Stream box, supplied with Flex, also offers wide support for on-demand apps, including:
- Netflix
- Amazon Prime Video
- Disney+
- Paramount+
- Apple TV+
- YouTube
- BBC iPlayer
- ITVX
- Channel 4
- My5
Flex customers can add and remove additional content packs and apps on a monthly basis, with no terms longer than 30-days, so households only need to ever pay for what they're currently watching.
The biggest caveat to Flex however, is that unlike Sky TV, it's exclusively available to new and existing Virgin Media broadband customers, so only homes on its network can access it.
You can check availability on our Virgin Media TV & broadband page, however, for those not yet served by Virgin Media, Sky Stream offers a viable alternative that can be taken on any broadband deal and is available nationwide.
What does Virgin Flex offer?
Flex offers a streaming-based TV platform, exclusively for Virgin Media broadband customers.
The service first launched in April 2022 as Stream, but has now been renamed to Flex for both new and existing customers as of October 2024, although the box set remains known as the 'Stream box'.
It provides customers with the Stream box set, 150+ TV channels (including Freeview), and wide support for on-demand apps, for a monthly fee of £5.
Flex can be added to any Virgin Media broadband deal, and as it comes on a rolling 30-day minimum term, the Flex contract runs separately to the broadband service, so it's easy to add at any point for new or existing Virgin customers.
To extend the content available to watch, Flex customers can choose from a range of channel packs, covering entertainment & documentaries, film, sports, and kids TV.
It's also possible to add paid subscriptions to on-demand apps to watch via the Stream box, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, Apple TV+, and others, as well as free catch-up apps like BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, and My5.
One major benefit to Flex is the unique 10% bill credit offer, which applies to any standard priced channel pack or app paid for via the Virgin Media bill. It brings the cost of some services, like TNT Sports, below that of competing platforms.
Virgin Media broadband + Flex
Flex can be added to any of Virgin Media's broadband deals as an 'add-on' service for £5 per month. The rolling monthly 30-day term also means adding the service at a later date won't extend the broadband minimum-term at all, and it can be cancelled at any time.
The Flex service does have a minimum broadband speed requirement of 50Mbps, but this is half the speed of Virgin Media's entry-level M125 broadband plan, which costs from just £25 per month.
Here are the latest prices of Virgin Media broadband with Flex:
| Package | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
M125 Fibre Broadband | 132Mb average | £25 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: Reduced price: £25 per month + No setup fee (was £35) | |||||
|
M350 Fibre Broadband | 362Mb average | £27.99 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: Reduced price: £27.99 per month + No setup fee (was £35) | |||||
|
M500 Fibre Broadband | 516Mb average | £33.99 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: £50 bill credit + No setup fee (was £35) (Ends 06/11/2024) | |||||
|
Gig1 Fibre Broadband | 1.13Gb average | £39.99 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: £75 bill credit + Reduced price: £39.99 per month + No setup fee (was £35) (Ends 06/11/2024) | |||||
At the time of writing, M350 Fibre Broadband is discounted to just £27.99 per month, while M500 and Gig1 Fibre Broadband come with a bill credit offer until 6th November 2024.
New broadband customers can order Virgin Media broadband through the links above, and then add the Flex TV service afterwards, when a Stream box will be sent out to customers to install and setup themselves.
We look in more detail at how the Stream box works and how to install it in our main guide to the Stream box.
While broadband-only plans are the cheapest ways to get Virgin Media, some of the best value for money deals are found with Virgin Media Volt bundles, which include a home phone line, WiFi guarantee and an O2 mobile SIM.
The only downside to the Flex service then is availability being limited to households on the Virgin Media network. However, they've so far covered over 16 million premises, which is around 55% of the UK, and they're expanding to more properties with a target of 23 million by the end of 2026.
Read more about Virgin Media broadband, or check availability in your area.
What TV channels are on Flex?
Flex offers customers over 150 TV channels, including Freeview, at no extra cost. Users don't need an aerial, as it's possible to stream all of the free-to-air content over the broadband connection.
Over the past couple of years, since this service first launched as 'Stream', Virgin Media have been adding more free content to their TV platform, boosting the number of channels that are provided at no extra cost on the Flex service.
This has included a range of new channels, such as Sky Mix HD, PBS America HD, CNN HD, Pluto TV and a range of themed Free Ad-Supported TV channels like History Hunters, CSI: New York, Fear Factor, Great British Menu and Homes Under the Hammer.
Stream boxes also now benefit from Rakuten, which offers free access to over 8,000 titles on-demand plus 150 live streaming channels.
We've included a full list of all free channels on Flex below, but first let's look at the additional paid content that can be added.
Premium channel packs
In addition to the free content available on Flex, customers can also choose from six channel packs, which are all made available on rolling 30-day terms, allowing customers to change their pack selection as often as they like.
The channel packs on Flex are:
| TV channels | Monthly price | |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials Entertainment | 38+ channels in HD, including Sky Entertainment and documentaries | £15 |
| Sky Sports HD | All 9 Sky Sports channels in HD | £34.99 |
| Sky Cinema HD | All 11 Sky Cinema channels in HD | £24.99 |
| Sky Sports & Sky Cinema HD | All Sky Sports and Sky Cinema channels in HD | £49.99 |
| Sky Sports Ultra HD | Ultra HD content on Sky Sports | £7 (plus the Sky Sports pack) |
| TNT Sports | TNT Sports in HD, plus TNT Sports Ultimate in 4K | £18 |
| Kids Pick | 7 kids TV channels, including Nick Jr, Nick Jr Too, Cartoonito, Boomerang, Cartoon Network HD, Nickelodeon HD, Nick Toons | £5 |
In addition to flexible contracts, the main benefit of these packs on Flex compared to Virgin Media and Sky's main TV services, is the unique 10% bill credit offer.
All Flex customers get 10% of any paid subscriptions back on their bill as a credit to put towards future payments. This effectively reduces the price of all channel packs as well as any on-demand app subscriptions paid for via Virgin by 10%.
For example, customers who take the Sky Sports pack would get £3.49 added as a credit to their bill each month, reducing the price down to an effective £31.50 per month.
This bill credit offer can make Flex one of the cheapest ways to watch certain channels, such as TNT Sports at just £16.20 per month, or even subscriptions to Netflix, where customers would pay just £9.90 for Netflix Standard, compared to the usual price of £10.99.
However, it's also worth noting that should a customer want to watch a lot of different content, Flex can become more expensive than pre-made bundles from Virgin Media.
For example, with M125 broadband customers would pay a total of £117.99 for Essential Entertainment, Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, TNT Sports, and the Kids Pick with Flex. While they could get all of this content with the Mega Volt Bundle, with faster Gig1 broadband and Netflix for just £84.99 per month.
Even with Flex's 10% bill credit offer, for those who want a lot of TV, Virgin's pre-made bundles will work out cheaper.
Where Flex does excel however, is for households who want just one or two premium channel packs, and where they may want to switch these up on a monthly basis, for example, taking Sky Sports for a particular sports season, and then switching to Sky Cinema for Christmas.
Flex TV channel list
Essentials Entertainment is the main channel pack that can be added to Flex, and includes over 38 premium TV channels for £15 per month.
Those channels are:
| Sky Showcase HD | Sky Witness HD | Sky Max HD | Sky Comedy HD | Alibi HD |
| Sky Crime HD | Sky Sci-Fi HD | GOLD HD | Sky HISTORY HD | Comedy Central HD |
| Crime + Investigation HD | MTV HD | Comedy Central Extra HD | Sky Replay HD | TLC HD |
| Investigation Discovery HD | Virgin TV Ultra HD | Eden HD | Discovery HD | Animal Planet HD |
| Discovery Science | Discovery Turbo | Discovery History | National Geographic WILD HD | National Geographic HD |
| Sky HISTORY2 HD | Sky Documentaries HD | Sky Nature HD | MTV Music | MTV Live HD |
| MTV Hits | MTV 90s | MTV 80s | Movies 24 | Sky Sports News HD |
| Sky Sports Mix HD | Eurosport 1 | Eurosport 2 |
Most of the above channels are shown in full 1080p HD on Flex at no extra cost, and many include additional plus one channels too. One notable exclusion in the list above, is of course, Sky Atlantic, which is exclusive to the Sky TV platform.
The Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, and TNT Sports packs are all fairly self-explanatory, with each of the packs including all the main channels you'd expect to see. Although, as we've seen, Sky Sports News and Sky Sports Mix is actually in the Essentials Entertainment pack.
In terms of Sky Sports, Flex customers can also add the Sky Sports Ultra HD pack for an additional £7 per month.
For the Kids Pick, customers will get:
| Nick Jr | Nick Jr Too | Cartoonito | Boomerang | Cartoon Network HD |
| Nickelodeon HD | Nick Toons |
All Flex customers also get over 150 channels included within the base £5 monthly subscription fee, this includes the following TV channels:
On-demand apps supported by Flex
The Stream box supplied with Flex is a smart TV box, and offers support for a growing range of on-demand free and paid subscription apps.
Not all apps can be paid for via the Virgin Media bill, but for those that can, which includes Netflix and Disney+, customers will benefit from the 10% bill credit offer on Flex.
Supported apps on Flex include:
- Netflix
- Amazon Prime Video
- Disney+
- Paramount+
- Apple TV+
- YouTube
- BBC iPlayer
- ITVX
- Channel 4
- My5
- STV Player
- UKTV Play
- Fiit
- Pluto TV
- Virgin Media Store
The Stream box also supports some music apps including Vevo, BBC Sounds and RadioLine, and some international news apps including Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, France 24 and Deutsche Welle.
While customers have a broad choice available to them, there are some notable services missing from the line-up of supported apps, including Discovery+, Hayu, Spotify, Twitch and NOW.
The reluctance of Virgin Media to integrate NOW TV services into their Steam Box at least has a basis on logic since they offer many of the same channels within their own Entertainment Essentials and Sky packs.
They have been adding more content gradually however, signing a deal with Paramount+ in November 2022, which became available to new and existing customers of the Stream Box in May 2023. Apple TV+ was also added to the Stream and TV 360 boxes in November 2023.
While Sky Stream Puck does support slightly more apps, Virgin Stream Box has the added benefit of the 10% bill credit offer.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the 10% bill credit offer work?
Virgin Media Flex customers get 10% of any paid subscriptions back on their bill as a credit. This covers channel packs like Sky Sports and Sky Cinema, as well as on-demand apps, as long as they're paid for via the Virgin Media bill.
The 10% bill credit offer only applies to standard pricing and not any discounted offers.
Do I need a TV aerial to watch Freeview on Flex?
Flex TV from Virgin Media streams TV over the Internet, so customers do not need a TV aerial even to watch Freeview channels.
Customers just need a broadband connection of at least 50Mbps, and of course, Virgin Media broadband.
Is Flex any different from Virgin Stream?
Flex is the new name for Stream after Virgin Media renamed the service in October 2024.
Existing customers won't see any changes to their service at all, while new customers will have to pay a £5 monthly fee to get Flex. However, the activation fee has reduced from £35 to just £10.
What channels and apps are on Virgin Flex?
Flex comes with over 150 TV channels including Freeview and a number of Free Ad-Supported TV channels, like Pluto TV.
Customers can also add paid subscriptions to Sky Entertainment, Sky Sports, TNT Sports, Sky Cinema and a kids TV pack. While supported apps include Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, Apple TV+, Youtube, BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, and My5.
Verdict: Is Virgin Media Flex worth it?
Virgin Media Flex offers a budget-friendly flexible way to access premium TV content that has, until recently, been restricted to traditional pay TV services.
It's a useful add-on service for Virgin Media broadband customers, although the new £5 monthly fee may put some off, unless they also want access to those premium channel packs, which are still often cheaper than elsewhere.
Flex has also now replaced Virgin Media's budget Big Bundle, signalling the provider's focus towards the streaming TV platform, and giving those who don't want to spend a lot, only one real option.
Ultimately, the flexibility of Flex is one of its biggest selling points, allowing households to access premium content while still remaining in control over their monthly expenditure so they can cut back if they need to.
The things we like most about Virgin Media Flex are:
- 30-day rolling monthly term on the service and all channel packs
- Wide-range of premium content available to be added from just £15 per month
- Growing support for on-demand apps, including Disney+, Paramount+, and Apple TV+
- Many TV channels in full 1080p HD as standard, with options to access some UHD content too
- Unique 10% bill credit offer on paid subscriptions can make pricing very competitive
The downsides to Flex are its limited availability to Virgin Media broadband; the new £5 monthly fee, which users may not want to pay if they're not also subscribed to other services; no ability to record TV; and some missing apps like Discovery+ and Spotify.
All in all, Flex is a very good value for money service and is an ideal addition to Virgin Media broadband for those who want a smart set-top box for flexible access to premium TV content.
Comments