Reality TV fans with Sky just got an early Christmas present – or whatever the March equivalent of that is. Starting today, a big selection of shows from Hayu, the dedicated reality streaming service, is available to Sky subscribers at no extra cost.
It’s the latest piece of Sky’s big streaming shake-up to go live.
Disney+ arrived on Tuesday, HBO Max follows next Thursday (March 26), and now a curated selection of Hayu content – think The Real Housewives, Below Deck, Vanderpump Rules and more – is available on Sky from today, giving reality TV fans something to dig into while they wait for the complete rollout.
What Is Hayu?
Hayu is a reality TV streaming service owned by NBCUniversal, and it’s been around in the UK since 2016.
It’s dedicated entirely to reality content – no dramas, no documentaries, no films – just an enormous library of guilty-pleasure reality shows, overwhelmingly American, covering everything from the various Real Housewives franchises to dating shows, celebrity docuseries, and high-end lifestyle programming.
The main draw is same-day US access. New episodes of ongoing shows land on Hayu the same day they air in the States, which for reality fans who want to stay ahead of spoilers is the whole point.
Hayu currently costs £5.99 per month as a standalone subscription, and it’s been available as a paid add-on through Sky Marketplace and NOW for a while.
From July, Sky TV customers won’t need to pay for it separately – it’ll be folded into their subscription.
What’s Available Now
Sky is calling today’s launch “A Taste of Hayu” – and it’s a decent-sized taster. Over 150 episodes across 10 of Hayu’s biggest franchises are now available on demand, seamlessly integrated into the Sky TV homepage alongside everything else.
The full list of shows included is:
- The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (Season 12)
- Below Deck (Season 9)
- Vanderpump Rules (Season 10)
- The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (Season 3)
- Below Deck Mediterranean (Season 7)
- The Valley (Season 1)
- Southern Charm (Season 9)
- Summer House (Season 7)
- Married to Medicine (Season 10)
- Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles (Season 15)
Access covers Sky Stream and Sky Glass customers with Sky Ultimate TV, Sky Q customers (except those on Essentials or Basic packages), and Sky+ customers.
Select seasons are available on demand – you’ll find them straight from the Sky TV homepage, no separate app required.
Today’s selection is just the preview. The full Hayu launch on Sky is scheduled for July, at which point the entire Hayu catalogue opens up – hundreds of additional series, plus new episodes of ongoing shows available the same day they air in the US.
If you’re already a Hayu subscriber through Sky Marketplace, nothing changes for you – you keep your existing profiles and billing, and continue watching through the Hayu app as before.
The Bigger Picture: Sky’s Streaming Overhaul
Today’s Hayu update is one piece of a much larger change that Sky has been rolling out over the past few weeks.
Back in February, Sky announced it was bundling four major streaming services – Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix and Hayu – into a single Sky TV subscription.
The idea is that Sky Ultimate TV customers get all of that plus Sky’s own channels and originals for £22 per month right now, rising to £24 per month from April 1 for new customers on a 24-month contract.
Here’s where things stand with each of the four services:
Disney+ went live this week. Eligible Sky customers – Sky Stream and Glass with Ultimate TV, most Sky Q customers, and Sky Essential TV with Sky Cinema – now get Disney+ Standard with Ads included at no extra cost, worth £5.99 per month.
HBO Max launches next week. Sky Stream, Sky Glass and Sky Q customers with eligible packages get HBO Max Basic with Ads included, covering HBO’s full back catalogue: Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, Succession, The Wire, and newer productions like The Pitt.
Sky customers get a proper standalone HBO Max account, meaning they can use the HBO Max app on any device – not just through Sky’s platforms.
Hayu is rolling out in two stages – the taste of it from today, and the full catalogue in July.
Netflix is already included for Sky Ultimate TV customers, as it has been for a while.
NOW subscribers are in a different position throughout all of this. They’re getting HBO Max bundled into their existing Entertainment membership from March 26 – and that turned out to include Warner Bros. back catalogue films too, which was a welcome surprise.
But Disney+ and Hayu remain Sky-exclusive additions, with no sign of either coming to NOW.
Sky’s Own Content Isn’t Standing Still Either
Amid all the platform deals, it’s easy to overlook that Sky has also been busy on the content side. This week, Sky unveiled a packed slate of new originals and exclusive acquisitions at its UP NEXT showcase – including a James McAvoy crime thriller set in Glasgow, Emilia Clarke as a Cold War spy, an A24 crime drama starring Lucy Liu, and the first three hosts for Saturday Night Live UK (which launches this Saturday with Tina Fey).
We covered the full Sky slate here.
For Sky, the timing of all this matters. It’s positioning itself as the one place where you get the major streaming services plus compelling original content you can’t get anywhere else – all in a single integrated experience.
Whether enough viewers find that worth a 24-month commitment remains to be seen, but the pieces are certainly coming together quickly.
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