Exactly one year after raising the prices of their NOW TV Sports Passes, Sky are raising the costs of their streaming-only Sports service yet again, for both the Day Pass and the Weekly Pass.
Cord cutting sports fans have few options to watch their favourite sports without a “traditional” cable/satellite contract. Luckily, they at least have NOW TV’s Sports Pass – but that option will now cost you more. There are still a few “tricks” that might help you get it for a lower price, though.
Like the other NOW TV passes, the Sports Pass offers contract-free viewing, with 10 live sports channels on offer: Sky Sports Premier League, Sky Sports Football, Golf, Cricket and more (read my full NOW TV review right here).
Unlike the other NOW TV passes (Entertainment, Cinema and Kids), which are all monthly, the Sports pass offers three subscription options – A Day Pass, A Weekly Pass, and a Monthly Pass (do note that the monthly pass renews automatically every month, until you cancel it.). Additionally, there’s the limited Mobile Only Sports Pass which was added last year.
Starting this week, Sky has raised the prices of the Daily Pass and the Weekly Pass, by £1 and £2 respectively. The price of the monthly pass has stayed the same, for now.
So the new NOW TV Sports Passes prices, as of this week, are:
- NOW TV Sky Sports Daily Pass – £8.99 (Previously £7.99)
- NOW TV Sky Sports Weekly Pass – £14.99 (Previously £12.99)
- NOW TV Sky Sports Monthly Pass – £33.99 (No change)
Are these passes still worth their cost? That’s a difficult question, since there are very few other offers for UK cord cutters – you can see some sporting events on the BBC and other Freeview channels (don’t forget the TV Licence!), and you can subscribe to Eurosport (for £6.99/month as of this writing) via the Amazon Channels service, but other than that, you don’t have a lot of options.
Still, what NOW TV gives you that a regular Sky TV contract doesn’t, is the flexibility – you can get a Day Pass if there’s only one specific game you’re interested in, or get a monthly pass if you’re all-in, but cancel it on slow months or when you go on holiday, for example. There’s no cancelling of Sky TV contracts while mid-contract…
The Mobile-Only Sky Sports Pass Option
NOW TV’s Sports Pass is still rather expensive – so there’s a way to get it for a cheaper price, with the Sky Sports Mobile Pass, which, as the name suggests, only works on your mobile phone. The cost? Only £5.99/month.
The mobile pass includes 4 Sky Sports channels:
- Sky Sports Premier League – The home of 126 live Premier League games a season.
- Sky Sports Action & Sky Sports Arena – Two channels showcasing a selection of sports, including Rugby Union, Rugby League, Boxing, NFL, Darts and WWE
- Sky Sports News – A 24-hour sports news channel, focusing on football.
Keep in mind, the Mobile Pass only works on a smartphone (iOS/Android), and 6 sports channels from the “full” pack are not included: Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football, Sky Sports Cricket, Sky Sports Golf, Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Mix.
Click Here for NOW TV’s Sky Sports Mobile Pass.
Additionally, NOW TV sometimes offers special deals that lower the price for a short period of time, so always check their deals page.
No it is not a fair deal whatsoever and it is honestly outrageous. They raised their pricing because they know soon enough sports streams in the UK will change and other cmopanies will get involved so NOWTV want to milk it as much as possible with F1 and Premier League. Honestly £34 a month for 720p at 25 frames per second is absolutely GARBAGE and how we can allow a company to get away with that is beyond shocking, honestly shocking. If you want 1080p which is standard HD (HD is nothing special anymore, it is just the norm) it is another £5, so we’re talking £39 a month, it’s cheaper TO GET SKY SPORTS WITH SKY TV OR BROADBAND. How just how can NOWTV get away with offering such a terrible quality of service. There is no online help, it’s so hard to get in touch with them, their apps and software are honestly below par and have lots of lag, the stream quality is the worst out of any service and overall they are the most expensive, something needs to happen.
Imagine watching sport in HD as the norm with 60fps (again the norm) smooth picture with both European football competitions and the Premier league… Oh yea, that is exactly what you get from BT Sport for £25 – which is what NOWTV used to be.
NOWTV is disgusting.