Watch TV without a decoder in Belgium Compare every App TV plan from €9.95 / month

A plan that lets you watch live TV and replay content without your operator's physical set-top box. Instead, you use an app on your smart TV, smartphone, tablet, Chromecast or Apple TV — streaming the signal over the internet. No rental fee for a decoder, no cable to the meter cabinet, and you can watch on the go from a phone or tablet.

Three providers tie at €9.95 / month: TV VLAANDEREN App TV Light, FASTfiber App TV Light and Mixtus App TV Light. All three offer around 35 TV channels and work on most smart TVs and streaming devices. Key difference: only TV VLAANDEREN is fully standalone — FASTfiber and Mixtus require their own internet subscription.

One route: TV VLAANDEREN App TV Light (€9.95 / month). It is the only Belgian operator that sells a TV plan without a bundled internet or mobile subscription. You then use your mobile 4G/5G or a neighbour's Wi-Fi — though quality usually takes a hit. For a stationary TV viewer without internet: not very practical. For a second home or student room: ideal.

Depends on the operator: 26 to 70 channels. The basics (Eén, Canvas, Ketnet, VTM, GoPlay channels, Eurosport, Discovery) are available everywhere. The differences sit in the number of international channels (Telenet and Proximus carry more), the presence of sports channels (Orange TV Lite includes Eleven channels, others don't), and replay windows (24 hours to 7 days).

All the decoder-less plans work on: Samsung, LG, Philips, Sony and Hisense smart TVs (models from 2018-2019 onwards), Chromecast with Google TV, Apple TV (4K), and iOS / Android phones and tablets. For older smart TVs: check whether the app exists for your model before subscribing. A workaround is a Chromecast (€40) — works on any TV with an HDMI port.

Three things to watch: (1) internet dependency — if your internet goes down, so does your TV; there is no separate coax or antenna fallback. (2) Fewer features than a premium decoder — typically shorter replay windows (24-48 hours instead of 7 days), no local recording on a hard disk, sometimes a cap on simultaneous streams. (3) 4K UHD content is more limited — Telenet and Proximus offer 4K mainly via their premium decoder.

Yes — if you don't need sport or premium content, free platforms are enough. VRT MAX (Eén, Canvas, Ketnet), GoPlay (Play4-Play7), VTM GO (VTM 1-4), Pluto TV (linear TV with 100+ themed channels) and YouTube (VRT NWS, Euronews, Bloomberg). All free, no subscription. Downsides: ads and no Sporza live sport.

An operator decoder is a physical box that plays only that operator's content and often allows local recording onto an internal hard disk. Chromecast or Apple TV are neutral streaming devices — they run your operator app (Pickx, Telenet TV, Orange TV) plus every other streaming app (Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max). Upside: one device for everything, no rental fee. Downside: no local recording.