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The best TV and streaming alternatives to Netflix in Spain

Netflix, Spain's most popular entertainment platform, is set to introduce a new cheaper package with ads, but there are also a number of alternative streaming services with a lot on offer, if you don't want to go down that route.

Published: 11 October 2021 17:42 CEST
Updated: 15 October 2022 11:04 CEST
The best TV and streaming alternatives to Netflix in Spain
Founder and CEO of Netflix Reed Hastings speaks during a keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 27, 2017. Photo by LLUIS GENE / AFP

Netflix recently announced a new cheaper subscription package for just €5.49 a month, which will be available from November 10th 2022. The only catch is that your viewing will be interrupted by ads. 

The company said that advertising can “reach the right audience” and will ensure that the ads are displayed “are relevant to consumers”. 

The basic plan without adverts will be €7.99 for one device and up to €17.99 for up to four devices. 

As the creator of hugely successful Spanish shows such as La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), Las Chicas del Cable (Cable girls) or Élite, Netflix has attracted many loyal subscribers. But there are other options for those considering switching to a different platform.

These are the other main subscriptions platforms in the country and their prices:

Filmin – €7.99/month or €84/year

Filmin is Spain’s leading subscription platform for independent and arthouse films and TV shows.

Movistar+ Lite – €8/month

Movistar, the major telecommunications provider owned by Telefónica, launched its own VOD platform in 2015. It has established itself as one of the country’s most important VOD platforms.

Amazon Prime Video – €4.99/month or €49.90/year. 

Amazon Prime recently raised its rates on September 15th 2022, from €3.99/month to €4.99/month. They also have special discounted packages for students. 

Disney + – €7.99/month with ads, €10.99/month without or €109.99/year

Disney+ launched in Spain in March 2020 with a broad offering including Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and National Geographic.

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Apple TV+ – €4.99/month

The platform currently offers a 3-month free trial after which it costs €4.99/month with shows like Mare of Easttown and The Morning Show.

HBO Max – €8.99/month or €69.99/year

The maker of “Game of Thrones” and the Harry Potter movies is launching HBO Max in Spain on October 26th, bringing together the entire Warner universe on one platform. The streaming service will replace HBO España which launched in Spain in 2016. Recent blockbusters like ‘Dune’ and ‘The Matrix: Resurrections’ will be available on the streaming platform after their run in cinemas.

Rakuten.tv – €6.99/month

Headquartered in Barcelona, this VOD streaming service includes content from Warner Bros, Disney and Sony Pictures as well as local distributors and independent labels. The monthly subscription offers access to its catalogue, but some of it is also available for free.

Starzplay – €4.99/month

Starzplay is a VOD platform run by American entertainment company Lionsgate, offering Hollywood films and TV shows and children’s programs. It arrived in Spain in 2019, and is also available via Canal+ subscriptions.

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DISCOVER SPAIN

A history of Madrid’s Barrio de las Letras in seven places

To mark World Book Day, Madrid-based Felicity Hughes takes us on a fascinating journey through the Spanish capital's Literary District, retracing the steps of Hemingway, Cervantes, Dumas and other iconic writers who stayed in this barrio.

Published: 23 April 2024 10:13 CEST
A history of Madrid's Barrio de las Letras in seven places

World Book Day on April 23rd marks the date of Cervantes’ death. The author of Don Quijote lived in the Huertas neighbourhood of Madrid when he published his classic, starting a literary tradition in the area that continues to this day. Also known as Barrio de las Letras, Huertas is Madrid’s equivalent to Bloomsbury.

In my new book, A Guide to Madrid’s Literary District, I explore this heritage in-depth. To celebrate the launch of this guide and to get you prepped for World Book Day, here’s a quick history of the neighbourhood told through seven places.

Teatro Español

While the current neo-classical building was constructed in 1849, Teatro Español traces its history back to 1583. Madrid’s first theatre, Corral del Príncipe was built here 16 years before London’s Globe. As in Shakespeare’s London, the theatre was extremely popular but up until this point, Madrid did not have a dedicated venue. Instead, plays were performed in the courtyards of buildings. In the Corral del Príncipe, lower-class spectators stood in a square courtyard to watch actors perform on stage, while wealthier citizens were up in balconies overlooking the action.

Comic farces involving scandalous plots in which lovers switched partners several times were particularly popular. A writer who excelled at this style of drama was Félix Lope de Vega, Shakespeare’s contemporary and one of the Siglo de Oro’s most famous figures. To this day, you can see his name etched into the facade of Teatro Español, alongside other great writers of the time.

Madrid's Teatro Español

Madrid’s Teatro Español. Photo: Felicity Hugues

Casa Museo Lope de Vega

Lope de Vega didn’t have far to walk to see his words come to life on stage. His house is just a few minutes walk away at number 11 Calle de Cervantes. Now open to the public, you can still wander into the museum’s pretty garden whenever you fancy. Better yet, book yourself in for a free guided tour and you can see the house and hear all about his exciting and slightly disreputable life. A hit with the ladies, the playwright was a prodigious talent and penned around 500 plays during his lifetime. This prompted Cervantes to call him a “monstruo de la naturaleza” (a freak of nature) in his Eight Comedies and Interludes.

Casa de Lope de Vega by Felicity Hughes

Lope de Vega’s house in Madrid. Photo: Felicity Hugues

Convento de las Trinitarias Descalzas

Miguel de Cervantes’ bones lie just one street away in the Convento de las Trinitarias Descalzas at number 18 Calle Lope de Vega. Someone in town planning must have been having a laugh at the expense of both writers when these streets were named! Cervantes’ freak-of-nature taunt came after Lope de Vega had trashed an advance copy of Don Quijote in a letter announcing: “Of poets I do not say: this is a good century! Many are in the making for the coming year. But there is none so bad as Cervantes; nor so foolish as to praise Don Quijote.”

Lope de Vega, of course, was very wrong. Don Quijote was a smash hit when it came out in 1605 and even though Cervantes was pushing 60 when he published his masterpiece, he did get to enjoy his final years in the spotlight. However, this fame didn’t prevent the destruction of his former house at number 2 Calle de Cervantes nor the misplacement of his bones, which are muddled up with other miscellaneous skeletons in a box inside the convent with the initials MC on it!

Madrid's Convento de las Trinitarias

Madrid’s Convento de las Trinitarias. Photo: John Dapolito

Lhardy

As Madrid’s theatre district, Huertas was a thoroughly disreputable place back in Cervantes’ time and a popular saying went: “Calle de Huertas, más putas que puertas” (Calle de Huertas, more whores than doors). However, in the 19th century, this didn’t deter French chef Emilio Huguenin from opening an upmarket restaurant in the area closer to Sol in 1839. A fan of fine dining, Alexandre Dumas famously dined here when he rolled into town.

However, the restaurant wasn’t affordable for many. In fact, Lhardy was considered so posh that Spain’s answer to Dickens, Benito Pérez Galdós declared that they even “put white ties on their Tahona buns.” It’s still going strong and is a great place to soak up the atmosphere of 19th-century Madrid where heated literary salons or tertulias (social gatherings) were often held in coffee shops and restaurants.

Lhardy madrid

Lhardy in Madrid’s Barrio de Las Letras. Photo: John Dapolito

Ateneo de Madrid

The best tertulias were hosted in Ateneo de Madrid, a deceptively slender building tucked away on Calle del Prado. This cultural institution had a rocky beginning during the tyrannical reign of Ferdinand VII when many of its liberal members had to flee to London. However, it was re-established in 1835 after the king died and has been going strong ever since.

The organisation aimed to promote enlightened values that would modernise Spain by fostering scholarship and lively debate and it continues to stick to this philosophy to this day. While it’s still a private member’s club, the spectacular interior of this tardis-like building can be seen by either booking a visit to the library or attending a talk in the gorgeous Salón de Actos.

Madrid’s Ateneo. Photo: John Dapolito

La Venencia

The rumour exchange during the Civil War, this bar has changed little since it was first opened in 1927. The décor, with its wooden tables and gleaming rows of bottles, is simplicity itself. To this day, music is never played, nothing but sherry is served and photos are strictly forbidden, a policy that goes back to the Civil War when Madrid was full of Nationalist spies. Ernest Hemingway would drop in to pick up information during his time as a correspondent in the city. Of course, this wasn’t enough to slake his thirst: Chicote’s on Gran Via was a firm favourite as was Villa Rosa and Cevecería Alemana, both on Plaza Santa Ana.

La Venencia. Photo: Felicity Hughes

Las Cuevas de Sésamo

Another Hemingway haunt in Barrio de las Letras was Las Cuevas de Sésamo. This underground cave was opened up after the war as a clandestine literary salon by former Republican aviator Tomás Cruz Díaz. One of the main attractions of this bar was its literary prize. Tomás launched the Sésamo Prize for theatrical works in 1952 and the scheme was such a success that a short story and painting prize was added, followed in 1956 by an award for novelists. Though the prize money was negligible, the cultural cachet for winners was huge, with many authors going on to forge illustrious careers. These included Soledad Puértolas, Juan Marsé, and Juan José Millás.

Las Cuevas de Sésamo in Madrid. Photo: Sergio de Isidro

Of course, there’s much more to discover about the history of Barrio de las Letras. If you’re interested in the subject, my book A Guide to Madrid’s Literary District from The Secret Kingdoms Press is out now. 

Felicity Hughes is the author of The Making of Madrid, a blog about the history of Madrid.

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