Your rights
Streaming, apps and digital content: can you still cancel?
Streaming and app subscriptions often start the moment you sign up. Regulation 37 of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 explains when that start affects your right to cancel.
The rule
For digital content not on a tangible medium, the trader must not begin supply before the end of the cancellation period unless you have given express consent and acknowledged that you will lose the right to cancel (reg. 37(1)).
If supply begins inside the period after that consent and acknowledgement, you stop having the right to cancel under regulation 29(1) (reg. 37(2)).
When you bear no cost
If the contract is cancelled and content was supplied in the cancellation period, you bear no cost for it if you did not give prior express consent, gave consent without acknowledging you would lose the right, or the trader failed to send the required confirmation (reg. 37(4)).
What to check
- Your sign-up screen or confirmation email: did it ask you to agree to start now and say you would lose the right to cancel?
- Whether the subscription is a service (for example a streaming service) or a piece of digital content. Many subscriptions mix both, and this page cannot decide that for you.
Quick answers
I ticked 'start now'. Can I still cancel?
If you gave express consent and acknowledged losing the right, and supply began, regulation 37(2) says the right to cancel under regulation 29(1) is lost. You can usually still stop future renewals with the company.
Is this different under the new subscription rules?
The draft 2026 regulations keep a similar digital content restriction for the initial cooling-off period, but they are not yet in force.