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Cancel streaming subscriptions

Checked on 4 October 2026

Streaming subscriptions usually run month by month and renew automatically. Cancelling is simple in principle. In practice, the catch is the billing date, a prepaid annual plan, or the fact that you pay through Apple, Google or another company.

Here you’ll find the checked route to cancel each service and the rules that apply in the EU and the UK.

Providers in this category

We have guides with a checked link for these 6 providers:

Notice period and minimum term

Most streaming services let you cancel in your account, often under a heading such as “Membership”, “Subscription” or “Plan”. The service keeps working until the end of the period you have paid for.

Monthly subscriptions can often be cancelled at any time and then run until the end of the current billing period. The exact end date is in the provider’s terms and in the confirmation you receive.

Notice periods depend on the law of the country you live in and on your contract, so there is no single answer for every reader. This site has detailed guides for Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain, with the rules that apply there.

In short: in Germany, contracts concluded since 1 March 2022 may require at most one month’s notice and can be cancelled monthly after the first term (§ 309 No. 9 BGB). In the Netherlands, after a tacit extension you can cancel at any time with at most one month’s notice (Art. 6:236 (j) Dutch Civil Code); newspaper and magazine subscriptions may instead renew for up to three months at a time (Art. 6:236 (p) and (q)). In France, the provider must remind you of the renewal deadline (loi Chatel), and contracts concluded online must be cancellable online. In Spain, you can end a contract the same way you entered it, without penalties (Art. 62 of the Spanish consumer law).

If you signed up online or by phone, you can usually withdraw within 14 days without giving a reason. In the EU this comes from the Consumer Rights Directive (Directive 2011/83/EU, Art. 9); in the UK from the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013.

Special cancellation rights

  • Withdrawal in the first 14 days: Contracts concluded online or by phone can usually be withdrawn within 14 days without a reason (Directive 2011/83/EU, Art. 9; in the UK the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013). Withdrawing is not the same as cancelling: it undoes the contract. Under the EU directive, the right can end earlier for digital content and services that start straight away with your consent.

Common pitfalls

  • Paid through Apple, Google or Amazon? Then the subscription runs through that platform and is cancelled there. Cancelling with the service alone is not enough.
  • Watch the billing date: The subscription ends at the end of the paid period. If you cancel just after a renewal, you will usually still pay for the new period.
  • Bundles: If you got the service through your mobile, broadband or TV contract, you cancel with the company that sends you the bill.
  • Free trials: A free trial usually turns into a paid subscription automatically. Cancel before it ends; depending on the service, access then stops at once or at the end of the trial.
  • Annual plans: If you paid for twelve months in advance, the subscription only ends after that. Cancelling stops the next renewal.

Cancellation letter template

Copy the text into an email or a letter and replace the details in square brackets. You’ll find your customer and contract numbers on your invoice or in your account.

Cancellation of my contract “[Provider]”

[First name Surname]
[Street and house number]
[Postcode and town]
[Email address]

To: [Provider]
[Postal or email address of [Provider]]

[Place], [Date]

Customer number: [Customer number]
Contract number: [Contract number, if any]

Dear Sir or Madam,

I hereby give notice to cancel my contract “[Provider]” at the earliest possible date.
Please confirm in writing that you have received this cancellation and the date on which the contract ends.

Yours faithfully,
[First name Surname]

Sources

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Your contract and the law of the country you live in decide. If there is a dispute, your national consumer organisation or, in the EU, the European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net) can help.