The National Geographic channel, which has been airing in the UK for almost 25 years, is being removed from Sky’s streaming service NOW on June 28, 2022.
This includes both the linear version of the channel (SD and HD versions), as well as all the on-demand National Geographic content on NOW.
On the same day, NOW will be adding a new channel to its mix – UKTV’s Alibi channel, which is dedicated to crime drama. So far, Alibi has only been available on Sky (and Virgin Media), but not on NOW.
While these changes haven’t been officially announced yet, they have been confirmed by NOW’s team, along with some customers who received e-mail notifications regarding the upcoming changes.
Now, which is owned by Sky, is a streaming-only service (See our full NOW review here), which you stream via broadband, with its app available on most of the streaming devices sold in the UK.
NOW offers several flexible “Memberships” – Entertainment (with TV shows and kids content), Cinema and Sports.
National Geographic is currently part of NOW’s Entertainment Membership, which costs £9.99/month.
National Geographic On-Demand Moving To Disney+?
The linear version of the National Geographic channel has been around in some form since 1997, focusing on nature, science and documentaries.
The channel is currently available on various pay-TV platforms (so not on Freeview or Freesat), such as Sky and Virgin Media, with on-demand content also available on NOW.
The channel was added to NOW back in 2020, as a replacement for Nat Geo Wild.
Some of National Geographic’s more popular programmes over the years include Air Crash Investigation, Car S.O.S., Running Wild with Bear Grylls, Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted and more.
However, in the past year, much of National Geographic’s on-demand content has been moving to Disney’s streaming service, Disney+, which has a dedicated National Geographic section.
The removal of National Geographic from NOW, is similar to the shutting down of The Fox Channel last year (with shows like The Walking Dead moving to Disney+), as well as The Disney Channel that closed down in 2020 – with its content finding a new home on Disney+.
While a public announcement hasn’t been made yet, NOW has confirmed June 28 as the removal date on social media:
Hi Conor, thanks for getting in touch. You have until 28 June to view any National Geographic content on NOW. However, as a nature and documentary fan, you can enjoy great factual programming through Sky Documentaries, Sky Nature, and Sky History 😀 – KH
— NOW Help Team (@NOWHelpTeam) June 16, 2022
Losing National Geographic is a blow for NOW – though, perhaps in preparation for this event, three similar in-house channels were added to Sky and NOW in 2020 – Sky Nature, Sky HISTORY and Sky Documentaries.
At this point, there are no changes announced for the National Geographic channel on Sky and Virgin Media, therefore its content is set to remain on those platforms – at least for now.
National Geographic has an additional channel on Sky and Virgin Media – Nat Geo WILD – but that one was already removed from NOW back in 2020.
Alibi Channel Coming To NOW
Alibi, which is owned by the BBC’s UKTV, has been around since 1997 – first as UK Arena, then UKTV Drama, and eventually – Alibi.
The channel is dedicated to crime dramas, with popular local and international programmes like Death in Paradise, Father Brown, Evil and more.
Alibi is already available on Sky and Virgin Media, but was missing from NOW until now.
It will be added to NOW’s Entertainment Membership on June 28.
We approached NOW for further comment on these changes, and will update this article accordingly.
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Why is there a constant playing of load music over the program which prevents you hearing the people talking puts you off watching its is totally unnecessary as it spoils the programme. This as become noticeable on several programs
Dear Or,
Thanks for this overview. The removal of Nat Geo from NOW was a big disappointment for me as it’s one of the only live channels I watch. I’ve just subscribed to Disney+ which doesn’t offer a live online linear broadcast…so basically no Nat Geo available to online customers now. V poor show! Hope they sort it out…
I watched several programmes on Nat Geo and Nat Geo Wild, I don’t watch crime dramas at all. They are dumping an informative channel for more endless re-runs. it just seems to be an endless cycle of losing factual content for boring drama!
Good news for me, as I was about to cancel NOW, and get sky q so that I could watch the Alibi channel, specifically miss scarlet and the duke and evil, thankfully now I don’t have to, I didn’t want an ugly sat dish on the side of the house, I also have Disney + so am not going to miss anything.
Agree with this. Great news.
Evil should be on Paramount+ also.