Sky’s streaming service NOW (formerly known as NOW TV) is finally coming to Android TV and Google TV devices, such as Google’s Chromecast, the NVIDIA Shield and eight of the UK’s biggest smart TV brands
Up until two years ago, NOW used to sell its own NOW TV streaming stick, which was discontinued in 2021.
Since then, the NOW app has expanded availability across streaming devices and Smart TVs including Amazon’s Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, Samsung and PlayStation, as well as on mobile devices such as iPhones, iPads, Android smartphones and tablets.
But devices based on Google’s TV operating system – Android TV, and later Google TV – were left behind, until now.
From today (Tuesday, November 8), the NOW app will be available to download on the Google Play store of both Google TV and Android TV OS.
NOW is Sky’s original standalone streaming service that doesn’t require a long-term contract and works as an app on any supported device.
Don’t confuse it with the new Sky Stream, which is also a streaming service from Sky – but one that only works with the Sky Stream puck – See our Sky Stream VS NOW comparison.
There are three main content packages (“memberships”) that you can join on NOW:
- NOW Entertainment, at £9.99/m. Sky’s TV channels, including Sky Atlantic, as well as content for kids.
- NOW Cinema, at £9.99/month. Identical to the Sky Cinema plan Sky, with new blockbusters and back-catalogue films.
- NOW Sky Sports, at £33.99/month. Almost identical to Sky Sports on Sky (with Racing, Mix and News being part of this membership instead of Entertainment).
NOW Boost, at £5/month – adds Full HD (1080p) video quality, Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, no adverts (for on-demand content. You’ll still see adverts on Sky’s live channels), and the ability to stream on up to 3 devices at the same time (instead of just one).
NOW On Android TV / Google TV Devices
Somewhat confusingly, Google has two operating systems for TVs – the older Android TV, which is still used on a lot of 3rd party devices and smart TVs, and Google TV, which is primarily used on Google’s own Chromecast With Google TV devices.
While it was already possible to “cast” NOW’s content from a smartphone to devices that supported Google’s Chromecast standard – a native app was not available on those platforms until now.
The NOW app will now be available on both flavours of Google’s TV OS, including:
- NVIDIA Shield
- Chromecast With Google TV HD
- Chromecast With Google TV 4K
The Humax Aura – A Freeview recorder / Streaming box that’s based on Android TV, uses the standard Google Play Store for Android TV, so we were hoping it will get the NOW app as well. As of this writing, it’s not available yet – but Humax will update us in a few days regarding future plans.
Smart TVs based on Android TV OS, from the following brands:
- Sharp
- Phillips
- Panasonic
- Bush
- Hitachi
- Toshiba
- JVC
Sony, which has a line of Bravia Android TVs, already added NOW support back in 2020.
Commenting on the news today, NOW’s MD Marina Storti said:
“With a wealth of incredible home entertainment devices out there, we’re thrilled to be making it easier than ever to get NOW’s app and start streaming.
“Whether you want to watch the latest Premier League derby, binge on House of the Dragon or distract the whole family with blockbusters like Sing 2, NOW and our flexible contract free memberships are just a download away.”
Last christmas 2021 I Purchased the Following TV
Sharp 50BL2KA 50″ 4K UHD Android TV with Freeview Play HD, Google Assist, Chromecast, BT Model 4T-C50BL2KF2AB..
and although the tv was fine I was Dissapointed to Find that Now TV app
was not available in google store , so had to put up with using an external freeview box , somthing i was hoping to get rid off..
also you can plug in an external USB hard drive of USB Dongle Theres No Priovision on the Remote Control For Recording Programs…
Now back to the Now TV Support as of Nov 22 The app is available to download and install But it will Not Run, If you click on the Now button it looks as though its loading screen goes Blank and then it goes back to the apps main screen ( no error codes) , anyone else have this problem ?
Not really sure who to contact for help with this one
any Ideas
Rob in Derbyshire
I never Got any Help Ftom anywhere but I managed to sort this Myself
so if you get this Problem Here goes How i Fixed it
My sharp tv has internal memory and the option to upgrade this by the
addition of an external SD 64gb Card
I have this card installed
I installed now and it wouldent work as per my original post
i was looking through the settings and found that the Now tv ap Had
Installed on The External 64gb SD card
so in the menu was the Option to move the installed app to The TV internal Drive space, so i did this
and The App now works OK No Problem so i am very Pleased with myself
for sorting out this problem
Hope this inf will be of some help to others with this problem and worth a try
Thanks For Reading..Rob in Derbyshire UK
Good news long overdue. Will NOW TV play nice with the Google TV with Chromecast suggest viewing feature. And when All 4 coming?
Finally, the Chromecast integration in the NOWTV mobile app was awful
No sign of the Now TV app on the Humax Aura! did you get a confirmation from Humax?
Not yet, but they’re checking for me – hoping to hear from them in a day or two.
Don’t really care about Now on the Aura. Would be really great if they updated Aura to the next Android release and sorted out the various “bugs”. It’s really silent from Humax with no major updates for months… I suspect there won’t be any.
One slight correction to the article above, Google TV, and android TV are not actually separate operating systems. Google TV refers to the front end user interface, not the core operating system. The core operating system is still android (and Google’s own developer site. The TV variant of android is referred to as android for TV) and Google’s own Chromecast with Google TV is now an android TV 12 as the core operating system
The front end UI may be different on Google TV devices, but the core OS behind-the-scenes is still android/android for TV. Don’t worry about it too much, though, as much of the media gets this wrong and it doesn’t help that Google itself isn’t willing to correct media outlets
If you go to the about page in settings on a Chromecast with Google TV dongle, you will be able to confirm this.
9th November
Hi Or, thanks for your informative reviews etc. On the strength of your comments regarding NOW becoming available on Android OS smart TVs I have been trying to install the NOW app on a Panasonic Viera for the last 24 hours. Unfortunately the app does not recognise my TV (50JX800) and will not install. It comes up with a blank#blocked screen.
Should I give up trying?
Regards Clive.
That’s always the trouble with Smart TVs – with so many models and variations, there’s always the risk that some won’t play nice with software updates and apps. I would wait a few more days (maybe they’ll fix something), and if it still doesn’t work, you can try to contact NOW’s support directly
thanks – will do
Sorry bro but that’s not true. I’ve had the now app from the tv play store for around 1.4years now.
On which device?
If you have a Sony android TV set. If the model year is 2016 or later it will have been supported by Now since 2020,